Surface engineering analysis of detonation-gun sprayed Cr3C2–NiCr coating under high-temperature oxidation and oxidation–erosion environments

Detonation-gun (D-gun) spray technology is a novel coating deposition process which is capable of achieving very high gas and particle velocities approaching 4–5 times the speed of sound. This process provides the possibility of producing high hardness coatings with strong adherence. In the present study, this technique has been used to deposit Cr3C2–NiCr coating on T22 boiler steel. Investigations on the behaviour of this coating subjected to high-temperature oxidation in air and oxidation–erosion in actual boiler environment at 700 ± 10 °C under cyclic conditions have been carried out. The weight change technique was used to establish the kinetics of oxidation. X-ray diffraction (XRD), field emission-scanning electron microscopy/energy-dispersive spectroscopy (FE-SEM/EDS) and EDS elemental mapping techniques were used to analyse the oxidation/oxidation–erosion products. The uncoated boiler steel suffered from a catastrophic degradation in the form of intense spalling of the scale in both the environments. The Cr3C2–NiCr coating showed good adherence to the boiler steel during the exposures with no tendency for spallation of its oxide scale.