Indentation size effect on mechanical properties of HVOF sprayed WC based cermet coatings for a roller cylinder

The present paper concerns the determination of mechanical properties such as hardness, elastic modulus and yield strength of WC-based cermet coatings for a roller cylinder. With this regard, Co and Ni containing WC-based coatings were sprayed on Ni–Al deposited 316 L stainless steel substrates by using High Velocity Oxygen Fuel (HVOF) technique. These HVOF sprayed coatings were analyzed by Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) with an Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy (EDS) system attachment. Mechanical properties of the coatings were examined by Shimadzu Dynamic Ultra-micro hardness test machine in order to determine the Young's modulus through load–unload sensing analysis. In addition to mechanical investigation, hardness–depth and hardness–force curves of WC-based coatings were investigated. It was found that both of these characteristics exhibit significant peak load dependency. Experimental indentation studies were carried out to determine load–unload curves of WC-Co and WC-Ni based coatings under 300 mN, 350 mN, 400 mN and 450 mN applied peak loads. Hardness and Young's modulus of WC-based coatings were calculated from experimental indentation test data of samples. It has been observed that the hardness and Young's modulus of the coating depends on the contact area and indentation size. The originality of this study is to determine the indentation size effect and contact area variations on mechanical properties of HVOF sprayed WC-based coatings.