Influence of SiC-Ti/Al on the Microstructural and Mechanical Properties of Deposited Ti-6V-4Al Alloy with Cold Spray Technique

Titanium alloy (Ti-6Al-4 V) is widely used in aeronautical and biomedical industries owing to its wide variety of properties such as bio compatibility, corrosion and mechanical resistance. However, titanium is known to have low hardness and wear resistance properties required for aerospace applications. In this research, cold gas dynamic spray (CGDS) of titanium alloy with SIC-based cermet was studied and performed for improved surface properties. The characterizations of the fabricated coatings where obtained using the optical microscopy (OM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis. An investigation of various properties of coatings such as wear resistance and hardness was also carried. The microstructures of the coatings were constituted by phases such as SiC, Ti; SiC and SiC, Al. Experimental results indicated that the developed SiC based cermet coating contributed to improved properties in contrast to the untreated Ti-6Al-4V alloy. An improvement in hardness was attained in all the coatings with the best performing coating having a 120% improvement. High hardness values were attributed to the percentage of SiC powder in the matrix branded by a combination of high hardness and wear properties.