Influence of Chemical Composition of WC Cermet Powders on Cold Spraying

Abstract From the appearance of high velocity oxygen fuel (HVOF) thermal spray system in the 1980s, WC cermet coatings have been used as anti-wear coatings in many industrial manufacturing applications. Recently, WC cermet spray materials were applied using new thermal spray methods such as warm spray and cold spray, which are still in the research phase. In HVOF spraying, WC-Co and WC-Ni powders are regularly used as coating materials. On the other hand, using cold spray, WC-Fe alloy series can be deposited as dense and thick coatings, better than WC-Co. In this study, WC-Fe alloy powders were sprayed by cold spray to investigate the influence of binder metal on the coating properties and compared with those of HVOF WC-CoCr coatings. It was observed that the lower metal ratio and FeCrNi chemical composition exhibited improved results.