Elucidating the microstructure and erosive wear of ceramic powder alloying on AISI 1050 steel

This study details the separate application of the gas tungsten arc welding process to two types of ceramic powder, clad WC and TiC, onto the surface of AISI 1050 medium carbon steel. The paper characterizes the microstructures and erosive wear properties of the clad layers. The experimental results show that the two clad layers have different microstructures. A vein-like eutectic Fe3W3C was observed in the microstructure of the WC clad layer, whereas in the TiC clad layer, TiC ceramic powder melted partially and re-bonded with each other to form a TiC reinforcement with larger grain size, which spread within the TiC clad layer matrix. The hardness and the morphology of strengthening phases affected erosive wear performance of the clad layer. In the low impact angle, the erosion resistance of the clad layer was superior to that of the medium carbon steel substrate. This result was due to the strengthening phase of the clad layer to resist the plastic flow of the matrix during impacting of the particles, in which the erosive wear resistance of the impacted surface was enhanced. From middle to high impact angles, the erosive wear mechanism was complex, which is dependent on the bonding strength of the interface between the strengthening phase and the matrix, strengthening phase distribution, the ratio of tangential and normal force of erodent acting on the impacted surface, and impacting velocity.