Surfacing of Metals: Meaning, Types and Selection |

Metallurgy
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After reading this article you will learn about:- 1. Meaning of Surfacing 2. Types of Surfacing 3.
Selection of a Surfacing Process 4. Material of Substrate 5. Selection of a Surfacing Material 6.
Applications.
Meaning of Surfacing:
Surfacing is a process of depositing one metal or alloy over another (base metal or substrate) to
improve its wear resisting properties like resistance to abrasion, corrosion, friction, or for
achieving dimensional control, and metallurgical needs.

The processes commonly used for surfacing are the fusion- welding processes like gas welding,
arc welding, etc. The process of surfacing appears to have been developed initially for the needs
of oil-well drilling industry but is now widely used on all types of equipment, implements, and
containers to enhance their lives against wear and chemical action.

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Surfacing is equally applicable to the manufacture of new products and the reclamation of worn
products. In both cases it extends the service life of the product and saves expensive material.
This results in considerable economic gains.

Types of Surfacing:
Surfacing is of different types viz., cladding, hardfacing, build up, and buttering to achieve
corrosion resistance (for chemical wear), wear resistance (for physical wear), dimensional control
(to rebuild worn components), and metallurgical needs respectively.

These four types of surfacing methods are discussed in brief in this section:
1. Cladding:
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In cladding a thick layer of some weld metal like stainless steel is laid onto a carbon or low alloy
steel plate to make it corrosion-resistant. Cladding must also resist localised corrosion such as
pitting, crevice corrosion, inter granular corrosion, and stress corrosion cracking.

For cladding, stainless steel or one of the nickel-base alloys are normally used though copper-
base alloys, silver and lead are also used for some specific applications.

Although the main advantage of cladding is the creation of low cost corrosion-resistant surface
but it also combines a high strength material like low alloy steels for the backing with corrosion
resistant material like stainless steel. However, as a general rule the strength of the cladding
material is not accounted for in the design of the component.

The main use of cladding is made in the production of vessels for chemical, paper mill, petroleum
refining, and nuclear power plants. Copper- lined reactors are used for the production of beer
which is also corrosive while food processing and packaging plants make extensive use of
stainless steel to avoid the corrosive action of foods.

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2. Hardfacing:
In hardfacing a metal is deposited over another surface to increase the hardness of the surface
and to make it resistant to abrasion, impact, erosion, galling, and cavitation. Like in cladding, the
strength of hardfacing layer is not included in the design of the component.

Abrasion resistance is the most important application of hardfacing. In general, a maximum of

three layers of hardfacing alloys are deposited. Because excessive dilution reduces the
effectiveness of hardfacing it is therefore essential to avoid excessive penetration and poor tie-in
of adjacent beads. The design must be such as to provide adequate support for the surfacing and
as far as possible it should be loaded in compression rather than tension or shear. Under these
conditions hardfacing can prove effectively its economic advantages.

Hardfacing finds extensive use in construction equipment including bulldozer blades, scraper
blades, and rock chutes as well as for textile equipment and engine valve facings.
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3. Build-up:
Build-up overlay is the rebuilding of worn out parts to restore them to original shape and
dimensions. Unlike cladding and hardfacing the strength of the weld metal forming the build-up is
a necessary consideration in the component design because the material has to replace some of
the original part of the component which has worn away.

That is why the composition and properties of the deposited weld metal are usually similar to
those of the base metal to be built up.

Build-up method of surfacing is extensively used in earth moving equipment, for example the
teeth of dragline buckets, edges of bulldozer blades and scrapers are reclaimed by build-up.
Railways also make use of build-up for restoring the wear of the railway wheels as well as rail
points and junctions.

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4. Buttering:
Buttering is the process of depositing one or more layers of a material between those
metallurgically non-compatible materials which individually have compatibility with the material
forming the buttering layer. It is used especially for joining of stainless steel to a carbon or low
alloy steel base metal.

If no buttering layer is used the corrosion resistance of stainless steel will be reduced but if a
layer of high nickel or Ni-Cr material is deposited on the bass metal before depositing the high
alloy stainless steel no deterioration of corrosion resistance is observed.

A common example of this process is found in the nuclear power plant for joining of stainless
steel clad to low alloy steel nozzle buttered with Ni-Cr-Fe alloy to stainless steel piping using a Ni-
Cr-Fe filler metal. It can also be used for joining carbon steel to low alloy steel when the stress
relieving of the completed weld is to be avoided.
The component can be heat treated after buttering. The strength of buttering layer must be taken
into consideration while designing the joint.

Though build-up and buttering are commonly used terms but they have no official status;
surfacing or more often used term cladding is supposed to include them.

Selection of a Surfacing Process:

The selection of a surfacing process depends upon the material of the substrate, type and nature
of deposit required, production rate, size and shape of the component to be surfaced, the service
condition to which it is to be put and the availability of equipment.

Oxy-acetylene surfacing is used for many applications both in shop and field jobs, where carbon
pick-up is not a problem. This process produces slow heating and cooling of the substrate thus
the chance of stress development and cracking is less. The equipment cost is low. It is usually
used for application of specialized cobalt alloys on relatively thin edge; coal cutter bits, for
example, are often hardfaced by oxy-acetylene surfacing process.

Surfacing by shielded metal arc welding process is faster and overall less expensive if large
number of components are involved. The skill required is lower than in the case of oxy-fuel gas
surfacing process. However, due to faster heating and cooling rates the thermal stresses
developed in the base metal and the overlay are quite high resulting in increased susceptibility to
cracking.

This process is extensively used for general purpose repair and building up for which the desired
electrodes are available. The process is economical and is easily available in most of the shops
and field workshops. It finds extensive use in surfacing shaped components, earth moving parts,
dredger cutter heads, shafts, and tools, etc.

Submerged arc surfacing is employed at shops and not in the field. It is best suited to repealing
applications when the same or similar parts are surfaced on routine basis, for example, roller
track shoes, drums, power shovel ring gear. Submerged arc process employing stainless steel
strip electrodes are often used for surfacing nuclear vessels to enhance their service lives and to
reduce the initial cost.
Surfacing by FCAW process can be employed for applications where SMAW is usually used
however it requires the availability of tubular flux- cored wire in spooled form. It can be used both
in shop and field duty such as for surfacing dipper lip.

GMAW is often used for build up applications such as small shafts both in its semi-automatic and
automatic modes. It is also mainly employed for surfacing small components of complex shapes
which are difficult to handle if slag needs to be removed between different runs. Surfacing by the
short-circuiting arc i.e. dip transfer technique can be advantageously applied to cylindrical
components with a diameter of 8 to 200 mm.

GTAW process is used for surfacing to lay excellent quality deposits requiring least post process
machining, for example tools and dies.

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Plasma arc surfacing method is used for applications similar to those handled by GTAW process.
However, due to very high temperature of the plasma it can be used in those cases where
surfacing by GTAW is not possible.

Electroslag surfacing method is used for depositing large, amount of metal or for special
applications, for example it is widely used for rebuilding crusher hammers. For this application
special fixtures are employed to accelerate the completion of the job in short time.

Emergency jobs can be best handled by furnace fusing provided a suitable furnace is available to
undertake the operation.

Material of Substrate in Surfacing:

While the selection of surfacing material is based on its intended service, the selection of the
base material lo act as substrate is dictated not only by its weldability and the mechanical
properties but also by the structural design or forming considerations.

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For general purpose applications the best base material is usually unalloyed carbon steel with a
carbon content of 0.20 to 0.95 percent which covers the major part of low-and medium carbon
steels, and lower grades of high carbon steels. The plain carbon steel base metal with a carbon
content of 0.45% is quite popular because of its good weldability and strength after surfacing.

Steels with carbon content of 0.50% or above may be satisfactorily surfaced with oxy-acetylene
process because of low heat input and protracted cooling cycle due to the spread of heat.
Preheating to a temperature of 260 to 315°C is essential to avoid thermal shock of initial heating
and the rapid dissipation of heat when surfacing is done with shielded metal arc welding process.

Low alloy steel components may be surfaced by following nearly the same procedure as used for
plain carbon steels having similar tendencies to harden.

For very tough substrate, austenitic manganese steel popularly know as Hadfield steel is
probably the toughest available and is quite cheap in the form of castings. It is weldable and has
a yield strength of about 380 MPa.

Grey cast irons because of their brittleness require special precautions in surfacing with steel
base alloys; however some of the low melting point austenitic alloys, cobalt-base alloys, and the
nickel and copper base alloys are applicable.

White cast iron and malleable cast iron are not recommended for use as substrate for surfacing
as they lose their basic characteristics due to heating. Copper, brass, and bronze also do not suit
well as substrates for surfacing.

Selection of a Surfacing Material:

The choice of a surfacing alloy depends upon the nature of wear to which the surfaced
component is to be subjected during service.

These wear producing conditions usually result from the following six types of combinations:
1. Abrasion without heavy impact,

2. Combined abrasion and heavy impact,

3. Rolling, sliding, and metal-to-metal contact,

4. Erosion and corrosion,

5. Cutting edges operating at normal temperatures, and

6. Surfaces subjected to service at elevated temperatures.

Surfaces subjected to abrasion without heavy impact such as plough shares, shovels, tractor
rollers, rotory oil-well bits, mould boards, dredge stud clamps and chutes for conveying bulk
material are surfaced with material like chromium carbide.

Combined abrasion and heavy impact are encountered in equipment like power shovel dippers
and teeth, rock crusher cones, bulldozer lip, clam shell teeth and chutes on which heavy pieces
are being dumped. Materials best suited for surfacing these components are semi-austenitic
steels and manganese steels.

Screw conveyors and earth drilling tools are generally protected by hard materials like carbides.
Stainless steels are used to provide corrosion resistance and protection against erosion in water
pumps and implications requiring good impact resistance.

Surfaces subjected to rolling, sliding, and metal-to-metal contact in such parts as sprocket teeth,
sleeves and bushings, roll surfaces, crane wheels and shafts that are to operate with lubrication
can be surfaced with austenitic Mn- steel or austenitic stainless steels while bearings operated at
high temperatures are surfaced with chromium carbide, stainless steels, and high-chromium and
Ni-alloys.

Combined effect or erosion and corrosion such as is encountered in valves and their seats to
control steam, water, oil, etc., can be reduced and compensated by deposits made by surfacing
with austenitic stainless steel alloys.

Cutting edges operating at normal temperatures such as metal shears, punches, feed choppers
(for fodder), earth scraping tools, earth drilling bits, shredder blades, etc., are required to be
surfaced with material having self- sharpening properties; tungsten carbide deposits serve this
condition well.

Surfaces subjected to hot services such as i.e. engine valve seats, hot drawing or hot forming
dies, etc., require toughness, hot strength, creep resistance, oxidation resistance, and exhaust
gas erosion-resistance. The surfacing material best suited for these applications are Cr-Co-W
alloys, austenitic steels, martensitic medium carbon steels and Ni-Cr-Mo type alloys.

Applications of Surfacing:
Surfacing is equally applicable to the manufacture of new and the reclamation of worn
components. In both cases it extends the service life of the product and saves expensive
materials.

There are innumerable engineering products which are surfaced regularly to keep them in service
till it is economically viable.

More specifically, surfacing is employed in the manufacture or reclamation of the following types
of equipment:
1. Parts of agricultural and earth moving equipment like support rolls of tractors, dipper teeth,
plough shares, drill cones, bulldozer trunion, dragline buckets, cultivator sweeps, digging anus,
etc.

2. Coal and cement crushing equipment and metallurgical plants like moulds, crusher jaws, blast
furnace cones, crusher rolls and hammers, conveyor screws, coal recovery augers, asphalt mixer
paddles, etc.

3. Forge and press components like dies, punches, etc.

4. Drill rigs and coal cutters, for example, drill bits, cutter teeth, etc.

5. Cutting tools like blooming mill shares, cutting, drilling, reaming and milling tools, and so on.

6. Rolling mill rolls.

7. Railway wheel rims, rail points, junctions, and frogs.

8. Valves and valve seats for internal combustion engines.

9. Pressure vessels and storage tanks.

10. Knives and cutters like feed chopper (for fodder), grader blades, pug mill knives, etc.