The influence of TiN content on erosion–corrosion behavior of Ti(C,N)-based cermets

•Cermet's grain size and thickness of rim are substantially decreased by TiN addition.•TiN addition has no direct relationship to the hardness of cermets.•Cermet with 7.5 wt.% TiN has the most erosion–corrosion resistance.•Wear mechanism changes from corrosion dominated to erosion leading.

Four groups of titanium carbonitride based cermets with different TiN addition were fabricated by traditional powder metallurgy and the effects of TiN content on the microstructure and properties were discussed. A series of erosion–corrosion experiments were conducted in the slurry with 0.5 mol/L H2SO4 and 5 wt.% Al2O3 particles. Grains are greatly refined and the thickness of rims decreases remarkably with TiN addition. The results indicate that in severe erosive condition the erosion–corrosion resistance is improved with the increase of TiN, and the Ti(C,N)-based cermet with 7.5 wt.% TiN introduction shows the best performance. Results also show that the erosion–corrosion is a complicated process containing both the effects of erosion and corrosion. The wear mechanism changes from chemical corrosion dominated to mechanical erosion leading as the impinging time increasing. The two wear mechanisms together accelerate the mass loss of material.