Tribological Properties of Plasma Sprayed TiC-Graphite Composite Coatings

doi:10.15541/jim20210521

Abstract

Abstract:

Plasma sprayed TiC coating has now been a frequent choice for wear-resistant applications in extreme environments owing to its good comprehensive performance. Meanwhile, graphite is an excellent self-lubricating material. Here, spherical TiC-Graphite composite powders with different contents of graphite (1.25%, 2.5%, 5%, and 10% in mass) were fabricated by spray drying and vacuum sintering, and then TiC-Graphite composite coatings were prepared by atmospheric plasma spray (APS) technology. The phase composition, microstructure and mechanical properties of the coatings were characterized, and its tribological performances were evaluated. The results showed that the TiC-Graphite coatings were mainly composed of TiC and graphite phases. With the increase of graphite addition, the micro-cracks in the section and the roughness of the TiC-Graphite coatings increased while the hardness gradually decreased. Compared with low load, graphite had more significant effect on wear performance of the TiC coating under high load. Under the load of 50 N, wear rate of the TiC-Graphite coating first decreased and then increased, but the friction coefficient kept decreasing with the increase of graphite addition. When the graphite addition was 0.25%, the minimum wear rate of 0.67×10^-5 mm³/(N·m) was obtained, whereas the friction coefficient was 0.35, which were reduced by 72.4% and 27.8% compared with the pure TiC coating, respectively.

Key words: TiC-Graphite composite coatings, tribological property, atmospheric plasma spray, microstructure, mechanical property

CLC Number:

TQ174

HONG Du, NIU Yaran, LI Hong, ZHONG Xin, ZHENG Xuebin. Tribological Properties of Plasma Sprayed TiC-Graphite Composite Coatings[J]. Journal of Inorganic Materials, 2022, 37(6): 643-650.

Figures/Tables 10

Table 1 Atmospheric plasma spray parameters for Si and TiC-Graphite coatings

Parameter	Si	TiC-Graphite
Powder/kW	30-40	35-45
Primary gas Ar/(L·min^-1)	34-40	36-42
Secondary gas H₂/(L·min^-1)	5-10	7-12
Powder feed speed/(r·min^-1)	15-20	13-18
Spray distance/mm	100-130	100-130

Fig. 1 Low (a) and high (b) magnification morphologies, particle size distribution (c) and EDS analysis (d) of TG2.5 powder

Fig. 2 XRD patterns of TiC-Graphite powders (a) and coatings (b)

Fig. 3 Surface morphologies (a-e) and corresponding EDS analysis (f) of TiC-Graphite coatings

Fig. 4 Cross-sectional morphologies of TiC-Graphite coatings (a-e), oxygen element mapping (f) of cross section of TG2.5 coating and EDS analyses (g-i) of different areas among (d) and (e)

Fig. 5 Surface roughness (a) and Vickers hardness (b) of TiC-Graphite coatings

Fig. 6 Change of friction coefficients of the TiC-Graphite coatings with time under 20 N (a) and 50 N (b)

Fig. 7 Change of friction coefficients and wear rates of the TiC-Graphite coatings with graphite amount under 20 N (a) and 50 N (b)

Fig. 8 Morphologies of the wear tracks of TiC-Graphite coatings (a-e, g, h), oxygen element mapping (f) of the wear tracks of TG2.5 coating and elements content of the wear tracks of TiC-Graphite coatings (i)

Fig. 9 Morphologies (a-e), and EDS analysis of wear debris (f) of wear debris of TiC-Graphite coatings

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