Fabrication of conventional and nanostructured NiCrC coatings via HVAF technique

The conventional and nanostructured NiCrC (with chemical composition of 80%NiCr-20%CrC) coatings with high quality were fabricated via high velocity air-fuel(HVAF) spraying technique. The microstructures of these coatings were characterized by means of metallographic microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy and X-ray diffractometry. A Vickers microhardness tester was used to determine the mechanical properties of the as-sprayed coatings. The single-line approximation(SLA) method was employed to calculate the grain size and microstrain of as-sprayed nanostructured coating based on the XRD data. The results show that nanostructured NiCrC coating possesses a more uniform and denser microstructure, much higher microhardness and better fracture toughness than its conventional counterpart. Both TEM observation and calculation results based on XRD profile show that as-sprayed nanostructured NiCrC coating has a homogeneous nanocrystalline microstructure with an average grain size of 40 nm.