A comparative study of plasma sprayed TiB2–NiCr and Cr3C2–NiCr composite coatings

• A dense TiB2 based cermet coating prepared by a thermal spraying technique.
• A low-frictional and hard coating but with less wear damage to counterpart.
• Less adhesive wear tendency of boride based cermet coating.

Thermally sprayed composite coatings have been extensively used in a variety of industrial applications. The mechanical property and sliding wear performance of a plasma sprayed boride based composite coating (TiB2–NiCr) was tested and compared to a traditional carbide based composite coating (Cr3C2–NiCr). The results indicated that the boride based composite coating presented higher microhardness and improved wear resistance under dry sliding condition. The coefficient of friction of boride based coating wearing against cast iron was lower. Moreover, the boride composite coating displayed less wear damage to the iron counterpart.