Characterization of mechanical properties of FeCrBSiMnNbY metallic glass coatings

This article investigates mechanical characteristics of Fe-based metallic glass coatings. A series of the coatings were fabricated by conventional wire-arc spray process. The microstructure of the coating was characterized by means of X-ray diffraction, scanning election microscopy equipped with energy dispersive X-ray analysis, transmission electron microscopy, and differential scanning calorimeter. The coating is very dense smooth, adhering well and with no cracking. The microstructure of the coating consists of amorphous phase and α(Fe,Cr) nanocrystalline phase. The nanocrystalline grains with a size of 30 to 60 nm are homogenously dispersed in the amorphous phase matrix. The crystallization temperature of the amorphous phase is about 545 °C. The mechanical properties, such as porosity, adhesive strength, microhardness, elastic modulus, and abrasive wear resistance, were analyzed in detail. The experimental results indicate that the coating has high microhardness (15.74 GPa), high elastic modulus (216.97 GPa), and low porosity (1.7%). The average adhesive strength value of the coating is 53.6 MPa. The relationship between abrasive wear behavior and structure of the coating is discussed. The relatively wear resistance of metallic glass coating is about 7 and 2.3 times higher than that of AISI 1045 steel and 3Cr13 martensite stainless steel coating, respectively. The main failure mechanism of metallic glass coating is brittle failure and fracture. The Fe-based metallic glass coating has excellent wear resistance.