A correlation between carbide morphology and wear resistance of a chromium based hard facing plate

Two chromium-rich carbide hard-faced plates, alloy—A and alloy—B, were subjected to a 3-body dry sand abrasion test. The difference was in the coating microstructure. Alloy-A contains globular chromium carbide (M₇C₃ type) in the austenite matrix, whereas alloy—B is composed of a banded structure with an alternate layer of carbide and austenite. Alloy B showed a superior abrasion resistance (nearly 40%) than alloy—A. A detailed microstructural investigation was made on the abraded surface. The higher abrasive wear resistance of alloy-B was attributed to the coating morphology, the composite-like microstructure resulted in an effective strain distribution among the austenite matrix and carbides. This postulate was supplemented by higher average misorientation, which was observed at sub-surface regions of the worn-out specimen, leading to form a strain-induced martensite. However, in alloy—A, the abraded surface contained abundant broken carbides.