INTRODUCTION

Cladding is the bonding together of dissimilar materials in metallurgica

l process. The present work is aimed at developing microwave cladding and inves
tigating the effect of speed, slurry concentration and particle size on Nickel b
ased (EWAC) cladding on Stainless Steel (SS-304) subjected to slurry erosion wit
h the help of Design of Experiment (DOE).The developed cladding is subjected to
slurry erosive wear tests to withstand as against erodent.
OBJECTIVE OF THE WORK
1.
Development of Nickel based cladding on SS 304 through microwave energy.
2.
To characterise the developed clad in the form of metallurgical (SEM, X
RD and Micro hardness) and functional (Slurry erosion).

EXPERIMENTATION
Table1: Microwave exposure time and its effect on cladding.
Trial
Processing
time (s)
Observation
1
600
No melting, hence no cladding
2
900
Partial melting of the powder particles and poor bonding
with substrate
3
1080
Better melting of the powder particles, poor bonding with
Substrate
4
1380
Cladding with good metallurgical bonding

Trial No 1
Specimen dimension- 65x25x5mm
Powder thickness- 1mm approximate
Heating Time- 600 Seconds
Result: No clad
No melting of powder, no clad formation.
Fig: 1 No clad specimen
Trial No 2
Specimen dimension- 65x25x5mm
Powder thickness- 1mm approximate
Heating Time- 900Seconds
Result: Incomplete cladding
Partial melting of the powder particles and poor bonding with substrate

Fig: 2 Incomplete cladding

Trial No 3
Specimen dimension- 65x25x5mm
Powder thickness- 1mm approximate
Heating Time- 1080 Seconds
Result: Un uniform cladding
Better melting of the powder particles, poor with substrate.
Fig: 3 Un uniform cladding
Trial No 4
Specimen dimension- 65x25x5mm
Powder thickness- 1mm approximate
Heating Time- 1380Seconds
Result: Uniform cladding
Cladding with good metallurgical bonding.
Fig: 4 Uniform cladding

PREPARATION OF CLADDED SPECIMEN FOR FUNCTIONAL CHARACTERIZATION

2HOLES DIA 4.5

DIA 8.5
Drilling
Drilling is done as following steps:
1.
Work piece is marked for exact location and mounted on the work table
2.
Drill bit is then located by moving the radial arm and drill to the mark
ed location.
3.
By starting drill spindle motor, holes or drilled.
Polishing
Cladded specimens are polished for functional characterization by using
silicon carbide (SiC) sheets of different grit size. It is necessary to remove i
mpurities which are formed on the clad surface during cladding and to get good s
urface finish.
Polishing is done in following steps:
1.
First rough surface is removed using emery sheet of coarser grit size (2
20).
2.
Then 600 grit size emery sheets are used get smooth surface.
3.
Sic sheets of size 1000 and 1200 grit are used to obtain good surface fi
nish
4.
Polishing involves the use of abrasives, suspended in a water solution,
on a cloth-covered electrically powered wheel.
5.
Beginning with 25-micron suspended aluminum oxide particles (suspended i
n water) on a Nylon-cloth with a rotation rate of 150-200 rpm.
6.
Proceed to the 5-micron stage where a separate polishing wheel with 5- m
icron particles; using lighter pressure and a gradual rotating motion across the
polishing cloth.
FUNCTIONAL CHARACTERIZATION
Erosion study
The slurry erosion tests were performed through slurry pot tester with various p
arameters, such as duration of test, impinging particle size and rotational spee

d. The wear rate for all the parameters were calculated and compared by plotting
graphs for all the parameters. It has been observed the results varied from one
parameter to the other. Erosion wear of the samples is calculated on the basis
of their mass loss in milligrams. The developed microwave clad samples were weig
hed at weighing machine of 0.0001 accuracy.
Table2: Specification of Slurry erosion
testing machine
Details Remarks
Capacity
1.5kw
I/O
200-240v,1Phase,8.7A,50-60Hz
O/P
7.0A,1.5kw,0-1500Hz
No. of work stations
6
Speed 100-1500rpm
Slurry vessel size
120mm dia ,120mm depth
Sample holders 900 angular holders
450 angular holders
300 angular holders
150 angular holders
Fig: 6 Slurry erosion testing machine

Detailed procedure for slurry erosion

1.
Thoroughly clean and rinse the slurry chamber to remove the remnants of
slurry from previous test.
2.
Weigh 600gms of abrasive (Silica sand) and fill to the slurry vessel
3.
Fill 600gms of water over abrasive on each vessel.
4.
Weigh the specimen to the nearest 0.0001gm and record the values.
5.
Locate the specimen on the slot of each holder and clamp along with stir
rer, repeat the same for all holders.
6.
Close the outlet port on cooling tank; fill water till the level is 10mm
from the top.
7.
Switch on the power supply.
8.
Press on UP position to raise cooling tank to butt firmly against rubber
surface.
9.
Set test duration 180mins and press START switch to begin test.
10.
Since the stirrer is fitted below is specimen, the stirrer during rotati
on begin to agitate slurry mix, to prevent whirl action during rotation all vess
els are provided with vertical fins to arrest the slurry rotation along with spe
cimen.
11.
The motor switches OFF automatically on completion of time duration set
on TIMER MODULE.
12.
Press on DOWN switch to lower the cooling tank, clean the surface of eac
h specimen with cloth remove slurry.
13.
Allow the specimen to cool to room temperature and removed from specimen
holder, rinse to clean and dry specimen.
14.
Weigh each specimen and compute mass loss.

PARAMETERS FOR THE SLURRY EROSION TEST:

Table: 3 Experimental design using orthogonal array and the wear test results (f
or trails).
So. no
e in
1
2
3

Speed in rpm
Initial weight
1500
425
1500
425
1500
425

Sand particle size

Time in mins
Impingement angl
in gms Final weight in gms
Weight loss in gms
180
15
180
30
180
45

Note:
Weight loss = Initial weight

Final weight.

Fig: 7. Eroded samples of microwave Ni based clad.

Effect of sand concentration
It was observed that the mass loss of cladded steel 304 increases steepl
y with increase in slurry concentration. However, a marginal increase in mass lo
ss is observed in case of the developed coating. This extensive material removal
observed in cladded steel 304 samples at all the slurry concentration studied c
an be attributed mainly to its poor wear and erosion resistance. The increased m
ass loss with increase in slurry concentration can be attributed to fact that, i
ncreased abrasive particle concentration in the slurry.
Effect of test duration:
It was observed that increased test duration results in increased mass l
oss continuously for cladded steel 304. This may be due to fact that, continuous
and repeated impinging action of sand particles in the slurry on the target mat
erials results in increased mass loss. Under identical test conditions, cladded
SS 304 steel exhibits a maximum reduction in mass loss for test duration of 180
minutes respectively. It was observed that the mass loss was linear with test du
ration.
WORK DONE
?
Referring the related journals about the slurry erosion wear behaviour o
f microwave cladding.
?
Development of Nickel based (EWAC) cladding on Stainless steel (SS-304)
through microwave energy.
?
Functional characterization of slurry erosion test is conducted for trai
l pieces
WORK TO BE DONE
?
The cladded specimens will be characterized metallurgical to study the m
icrostructure by using SEM.
?
Characterized functionally to study the erosion behaviour. Experiments a
re conducted as per Taguchi s standard orthogonal array.
References:
1.
H. Ocken, "Surface and Coating Technology" 76-77 (1995) 456-461.
2.
S.C.Mishra, S.Praharaj, Alok Satpathy, Evaluation of erosion wear of a c
eramic coating with Taguchi approach, Journal of Manufacturing Engineering, 4(2)

(2009) 241-246
3.
Zu, J.B., Hutching, I.M., and Burstein, G.T., 1990, Design of a Slurry Er
osion Test Rig, Wear, 140, pp.331-344.
4.
C.S. Ramesh, Suresh Kumar, D.S. Devaraj, R. Keshavamurthy, Slurry Erosi
ve Wear Behavior of Plasma Sprayed Inconel-718 Coatings on Al6061 Alloy, JMMCE,
10(5) (2011) 445-453
5.
Asai S, "Recent developments and prospect of electromagnetic processing
of materials, Science and Technology of Advanced" Materials, 1 (2000), 191-200.
6.
Burstein, G.T., and Sasaki,K., 2000, Effect of Impact Angle on the Slurry
Erosion-corrosion of 304L Stainless steel, Wear,240, pp.80-94.