THE EFFECT OF CARBURIZATION OF ASTM A36 STEEL SUBSTRATE IN IMPROVING WEAR PROPERTIES OF PLASMA SPRAYED WC-12% Co COATING

Thermally sprayed coating is commonly used to modify the surface to improve the mechanical properties of the substrates to meet their functional requirements. Numerous research works were carried out to assess the suitability of the WC-Co coating for industrial applications using thermal spray process. Meanwhile, few researchers expressed about the deterrent effect of the decarburization on mechanical properties of the coating due to processing at high temperature in thermal spray process which reduces the efficiency of the coating process. In this research work, coating of WC-12% Co powder over ASTM A36 steel substrate through plasma spray process was considered to investigate the effect of introducing the carburization process on wear properties of the resultant coating. Carburization process was introduced on the ASTM A36 steel substrate before the application of the plasma spray coating to compensate the loss of carbon during the process. Characterization of the deposited coating was done by scanning electron microscope, X-ray diffraction, hardness, corrosive resistivity test and wear tests. The results of the tests indicated that introduction of the carburization process remarkably increased the hardness of the coating and corrosive resistivity besides improving the wear resistance.