Corrosion behavior of thermal sprayed WC cermet coatings containing metallic binders in saline environment

A series of electrochemical and long-term corrosion tests were carried out in a neutral saline (5% NaCl) vapor of 35 °C on thermal sprayed WC cermet coatings containing different kinds of metallic binders in order to examine the effect of composition of binder materials on the corrosion behavior. The experimental results revealed that the overall corrosion resistance of WC-Co coating was inferior to that of WC-Co-Cr coating. For the coatings without Cr, WC-Co, general corrosion occurred in binder materials in addition to galvanic corrosion between WC particles and metallic binders in the neutral environment. By contrast, the formation of passive film in the form of surface oxide in the coatings containing Cr, WC-Co-Cr, suppressed the binder and metallic binders to be eroded. It is found that the chemical composition of metallic binder materials is one of the important factors influencing the corrosion resistance of HVOF sprayed WC cermet coatings in the neutral vapor.