Metallic tribological compatibility of laser clad Mo2Ni3Si/NiSi metal silicide coatings

Novel wear-resistant Mo2Ni3Si reinforced metal silicide coatings were fabricated on a substrate of austenitic stainless steel AISI 321 by laser cladding with Mo–Ni–Si alloy powders. Microstructure of the coating was characterized by optical microscopy (OM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and energy dispersive X-ray analysis (EDS). Wear resistance of the coatings was evaluated under block-on-wheel dry sliding wear test condition at room temperature. Results indicate that the coatings have excellent wear resistance and tribological compatibility to a metallic counterpart under dry sliding wear test conditions coupling with conventional metallic materials because of the high hardness and strong atomic bonds of the ternary metal silicide Mo2Ni3Si with MgZn2 type Laves crystal structure.