Abrasive performance of chromium carbide reinforced Ni₃Al matrix composite cladding

Abstract

The Microstructure and room temperature abrasive wear resistance of chromium carbide reinforced Ni₃Al matrix composite cladding at different depth on nickel base alloy were investigated. The results showed that there is a great difference in microstructure and wear resistance of the Ni₃Al matrix composite at different depth. Three kinds of tests, designed for different load and abrasive size, were used to understand the wear behaviour of this material. Under all three wear conditions, the abrasion resistance of the composite cladding at the depth of 6 mm, namely NC-M2, was much higher than that of the composite cladding at the depth of 2 mm, namely NC-M1. In addition, the wear-resistant advantage of NC-M2 was more obvious when the size of the abrasive was small. The relative wear resistance of NC-M2 increased from 1.63 times to 2.05 times when the size of the abrasive decreased from 180 μm to 50 μm. The microstructure of the composite cladding showed that the size of chromium carbide particles, which was mainly influenced by cooling rate of melting pool, was a function of distance from the interface between the coating and substrate varied gradually. The chromium carbide particles near the interface were finer than that far from interface, which was the main reason for the different wear resistance of the composite cladding at different depth.