Effect of Experimental Parameters on Erosive Abrasive Wear Behavior of Plasma Transferred Arc Hardfaced Surfaces - A Comparative Evaluation

Material damage caused by the attack of particles entrained in a fluid system impacting on a surface at high speed is called 'erosive abrasive wear'. Carbon steels are the most common ones used in the fabrication and construction of boilers and furnaces. Typical erosive abrasive wear situations encountered in boilers are caused by the impact of hard particles such as ash and clinker entrained in flue gases. These situations can lead to serious damage. Engineering components encountering erosive abrasive wear conditions during operation can be improved by hardfacing with a wear resistant material. In this paper an attempt has been made to analyze in detail the effects of different experimental parameters on the erosive abrasive wear behavior of iron based alloy (stainless steel), cobalt based alloy (stellite) and nickel based alloy (colmonoy) surfaces produced by plasma transferred arc (PTA) hardfacing process. From this investigation, it is found that the wear resistance of cobalt base alloy is four times better than the carbon steel base metal. Similarly, nickel base alloy exhibits three times higher wear resistance and stainless steel surface shows double the wear resistance compared of base metal.