Hardmetal compositions for thermal spray coatings

Cobalt and nickel are the most widely used binder metals. In the majority of
commercially available materials, the amount of metallic binder phase lies in
the range 20-30 vol. %. Carbides with very different grain sizes have been used
for feedstock powder and coating preparation, while the available commercial
compositions remained largely unchanged.

While for cutting operations hardmetal compositions were modified by the

introduction of a second hard phase with a cubic crystal lattice, for thermal
spray, large additions of chromium carbides (or chromium) are applied. By
addition of chromium, the melting point of WC-Co hardmetals is reduced by
more than 100 K.

These additions significantly exceed the amounts of chromium carbide added

for grain growth inhibition in bulk hardmetals.
The high chromium content reflects differences in service conditions compared
to sintered hardmetals.

Nowadays, the composition WC-10Co-4Cr is widely used for the preparation of

coatings having simultaneously high wear and corrosion resistance.
According to the patent, freedstock powders of the composition WC-(W,Cr) 2C-Ni
can be preferably prepared from 70% WC, 24% Cr 3 C2 and 6% Ni. There are
variations in the contents of the components in the range of 1-4% from
different manufactures, but feedstock powders of this composition are currently
traded with designations such as WC-'CrC'-Ni, WC-'Cr 3 C2'-Ni or WC-NiCr.

The phase composition depends on the progress of the metallurgical reactions

between WC and Cr3C2, which occurs in most cases already during feedstock
powder preparation but also during the spray process.

The corrosion resistance of WC and Cr3 C2 based coatings with cobalt or nickel
binder is often not satisfactory. Thus, WC and Cr 3 C2 based compositions with
alternative and complex binder alloys have also been introduced to the market.

Feedstock materials

Since in thermal spraying the coating is formed from solid feedstock quality is
essential to the coating properties. The dominating feedstock for hardmetal
coating are powders consisting of granules commonly in the size range 10-45
um; however, the particle size range is adapted to the needs of each spray
process. This so called 'cut' characterizes the nominal lower and upper particle
sizes, but is not measure for the particle size distribution.

Following the tendencies in bulk hardmetal production, where the advantages

of small carbide grain sizes have been shown, there have been many
developments in order to introduce nanosized carbides into feedstocks and
coatings sprayed there of. Hwever, the influencing factors on carbide grain size,
the dependence on alloying carbides and on the carbon content, have been
studied only for WC-Co and much less systematically than for sintered
hardmetals.