The Influence of Steel and Cast Iron as Substrate Materials on the Microstructure, Microhardness and Wear Resistance of Nickel-base Ti-Al Plasma Spray Coatings

This paper studies the influence of different substrate materials on the phase composition, microstructure, microhardness, and wear resistance of Ni-Cr-B-Si-C-Ti-Al plasma spray coatings. Two types of substrate metals were studied – AISI 1045 steel and Pig-P3 Si grey cast iron. It has been found that in the as-coated condition the surface layers have a phase composition of γ-Ni, Cr23C6, γ-TiAl, TiN, and α-Ti(N, O) on steel substrate, and γ-Ni, α-Ti, TiN, Ni3B, CrB, Cr23C6, α-Ti(N, O), Ni3Si on cast iron. The microhardness and wear resistance of the plasma sprayed Ni-Cr-B-Si-C-Ti-Al coatings is tested. The wear volume of the coatings has been tested for up to 60 min. The deposits on cast iron substrates demonstrate lower wear than those on the steel substrate.