Friction and sliding wear behavior of induction melted FeCrB metamorphic alloy coating

Induction melted FeCrB metamorphic coatings deposited onto Q235 steel were produced using ultrasonic frequency inductive cladding (UFIC) technique. The measurements of X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy-dispersive spectrometer (EDS), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), microhardness tester and ball-on-disc wear tester were used to determine the microstructure, microhardness and dry-sliding wear resistance coupled with wear mechanism of clad coatings. The experimental results show that C+ clad coating consists of austenite γ-Fe, interdentritic lamellar eutectics γ-Fe/(Cr,Fe)2B and borides (Cr,Fe)2B as the reinforcing phase whilst the phases of ferrite α-Fe, borides Cr1.65Fe0.35B0.96 and eutectics α-Fe/Cr1.65Fe0.35B0.96 are identified in M clad coating. The average microhardness of the C+ and M clad coating is more than 3-times than that of the substrate. The wear resistance of the C+ and M clad coating improves 5.18, 6.08 times compared with that of the substrate at applied load of 20 N, respectively, which contributes to the occurrence of the crystalline-amorphous phase transition by friction treatment and uniformly distributed borides embedded in the ductile solid solution matrix.