Molybdenum-on-chromium dual coating on steel

Molybdenum and chromium coatings were deposited on AISI 4130 steel using the Laser Induced Surface Improvement11LISI™ is a registered trademark of the University of Tennessee Research Corporation. ™) process. In this process a mixture of precursor material is pre-placed on the substrate and then laser melted, resulting in the formation of a thin surface layer of alloy on the underlying material. First, a chromium coating was deposited on steel using the Cr–CrB2 eutectic composition, and subsequently a molybdenum coating using the Mo–MoB eutectic composition was deposited on the chromium layer. Both the coatings have been individually characterized and compared using scanning electron microscope, energy dispersive spectrometry, Vicker’s hardness, X-ray diffraction, wear and erosion. The chromium layer exhibited superior erosion resistance (ASTM G76) while the molybdenum-on-chromium coating performed better in sliding wear (ASTM G77).