3.2.1. Erosion Rate and Velocity Exponent
Figure 5 shows steady erosion rates of SA213-T22 steel and the Stellite-6 and WC-12Co coated on SA213-T22 steel tested using of silicon carbide as erodent particle with impingement velocity of 12.8, 22.5 and 38.9 m·s
-1, and impingement angles of 30
o and 90
o. All of the erosion rates increased with an erodent particle velocity. For Stellite-6 and WC-12Co coatings, the erosion rates at the 90
o were lower than those at 30
o. Especially when the velocity was 12.8 m·s
-1, the ratios of erosion rates at 90
o to those at 30
o (E
90/E
30) of Stellite-6 and WC-12Co coatings were up to 1.58 and 1.30, respectively. The values of erosion rates as well as E
90/E
30 of all samples were summarised in
Table 5. Stellite-6 and WC-12Co coatings exhibited E
90/E
30 values of more than 1, responding the erosion of the brittle mode. Conversely, the erosion rates of SA213-T22 steel, uncoated samples, exhibited the ductile mode with higher erosion rates at the 30
o than those at 90
o, thus the E
90/E
30 values were less than 1. According to the erosion test results, Stellite-6 coating showed better wear tolerance than WC-12Co coating [
38].
Principally an erosion rate is related to kinetic energy of erodent particles. Hardness, Young’s modulus, mechanical properties, and surface morphology of erodent particles and substrates are also important factors leading to elastic and inelastic collision. Particle velocity is the most influential parameter affecting erosion. Empirically, the erosion rate at room temperature can be expressed by velocity exponent of the following equation; [
6,
24,
28,
29,
39,
40,
41].
where E is the erosion or wastage rate,
v is the impingement velocity,
K is a material constant and
n is a velocity exponent dependent on materials of erodent particles and substrates. The erosion rates were fitted well using equation (2) as shown in the
Figure 5 by solid lines (90
o impingement angle) and dotted lines (30
o impingement angle) with the correlation coefficients of more than 0.91. The value of the velocity exponent is another parameter used to determine the ductile or brittle erosion. Such as for SA213-T22 steel which showed the ductile erosion behavior, the velocity exponent widely changed from 2.31 at 30
o to 3.23 at 90
o impingement angle. This drastic change indicated the sensitivity to erosion of the surface condition of the material [
7]. The value at 30
o was under Basu, who suggested that the velocity exponent value was 2.3-2.7 for ductile materials. While SiC embedment at 90
o impingement caused the SA213-T22 surface to become a composite or brittle material, therefore the velocity exponent could exceed 3 [
3,
42]. For ductile erosion, erosion rates were higher at 30
o than at 90
o impingement angle. A surplus amount of energy was required at 90
o impingement angle for target deformation [
24,
29,
38,
43].
Thus higher velocity exponent responded to lower erosion rates than those at 30
o. The values of velocity exponent are also summarized in
Table 5. The velocity exponents of Stellite-6 and WC-12Co coatings were approximately 2; this followed the traditional rules using SiC as an erodent particle, as reported in other literature [
3,
27,
42].
When the erodent particle velocity was 38.9 m/s, the erosion rates of uncoated SA213-T22 substrates were 0.2–0.3 mg/g, and those of samples with Stellite-6 and WC-12Co coatings were approximately 0.4 and 2.0 mg/g, respectively. The result of uncoated samples was comparable to the erosion rates of steels reported by Sapate, when alumina was used as erodent particle [
43]. In comparison to Singh’s report, coated samples had a slightly higher erosion rate [
14]. SiC erodent particles have a stronger hardness of 2,481 Hv than alumina particles, resulting in the difference [
24]. In addition to the above factors, the porosity, density, and chemical composition of coated samples also play a role in erosion behavior.
3.2.2. Surface Morphology and Chemical Composition Analysis
To understand the erosion behaviour, the surface of the sample after the erosion test was investigated using FE-SEM with EDX. The SEM micrographs with EDX analysis results of uncoated SA213-T22 steel, the Stellite-6 and WC-12Co coated samples after the erosion tests at 30
o and 90
o impingement angles are shown in
Figure 6,
Figure 7 and
Figure 8.
The EDX analysis of eroded SA213-T22 surface at 30
o and 90
o impingement angles is shown in
Figure 6a,b. The detected chemical composition of Fe, Cr, Mo, C, Mn, S, P and Si is in conformance with the SA213-T22 steel. The presence of Si along with C clearly indicates that the erodent (SiC) has incrusted the substrate, as the Si to C ratios by mole after the erosion tests at 30
o and 90
o impingement angles were 1:1.12 and 1:0.98, respectively. The same result was reported for SiC embedding [
1]. Thus, the embedment of SiC on the steel surface misled to low erosion rates of the aforementioned results. However, the velocity exponent was quite sensitive to this phenomenon, and showed high sensitivity to erosion of SA213-T22. Inclusion of SiC mass after erosion tests at 90
o was twice more than that at 30
o. This was also the reason for the low erosion rate at normal angle of ductile materials.
The surfaces of Stellite-6 coating tested under impingement angles of 30
o and 90
o are shown in
Figure 7a,b, respectively. The composition indicated Co, Cr, W, Fe and small amount of oxide. On the other hand, W, C, Co, Cr, Fe and O were detected in WC-12Co coatings as shown in
Figure 8a,b. According to both EDX results, no detection of Si, thus SiC embedment did not occur on samples with Stellite-6 and WC-12Co coatings.
In general, the erosion characteristics of ductile materials at shallow impingement angles are dominated by ploughing, crater, cutting and shear deformation. Meanwhile at the normal impingement angle, low cycle fatigue and localization of plastic flow can occur. As is well known, erosion mechanisms are controlled by the ratio of erodent particle hardness (H
p) to target hardness (H
t). The ratio of erodent particle hardness to target surface hardness (H
p/H
t) is to be considered for evaluating coating erosion behavior. Experimental results indicated that abrasive particles would cause plastic scratching and indent the surface, only if H
p/H
t was more than 1.2 [
1,
6,
44]. In cases where the particle was softer than the target (H
p/H
t is less than 1), very low erosion rates were observed [
45]. In the case of SA213-T22 steel, the H
p/H
t ratio of 17.23 indicated ductile erosion with plastic deformation resulting in SiC particles penetration into the substrate surface. The SEM image in
Figure 6a shows the morphology after the erosion test at 30
o. Tracks of ploughing lines can be clearly found. The surface after the 90
o test in
Figure 6b shows microcutting, and embedded SiC. Sequentially, shielding affects against erodent particles due to embedment of hard SiC can lead to apparently low erosion rates. The impingement at an angle at 30
o results in more ploughing lines but less SiC embedment.
On the impingement surface of Stellite-6 and WC-12Co coatings, erosion behaviour played a role in crack nucleation and propagation.
Figure 7a,b show microcracks and lips within the Stellite-6 coating. In spite of the fact that the E
90/E
30 ratio was greater than 1, ductile erosion was also observed on the Stellite-6 coating. As the H
p/H
t ratio of Stellite-6 coating was 4.85 Hv, this indicated that plastic deformation such as libs were possible to be detected when much harder erodent particles were used in the test. In addition, Stellite-6 should exhibit metal ductility and toughness rather than brittle materials since it is a metal matrixed composite. In contrast,
Figure 8a,b show microcracks and deep cavities showing de-bonding due to only brittle erosion on the WC-12Co coating. Deep cavities were clearer on the eroded surface tested at the impingement angle at 90
o in
Figure 8b than that found at 30
o in
Figure 8a. The H
p/H
t ratio of WC-12Co coating was 3.33 Hv, the lowest among all samples with the E
90/E
30 ratio exceeding 1 which indicated brittle erosion. The brittle behaviour was also caused by the cermet composite material itself. Porosity was another factor that affected the morphology after erosion testing as well as the H
p/H
t ratio of WC-12Co coating. This resulted in high erosion rates despite the higher hardness than Stellite-6 coatings. The improvement in erosion resistance of Stellite-6 coating was also contributed to by the increase in strength and toughness due to the added cobalt content [
19]. Further, the HVOF process’ compatibility resulted in the coating’s high hardness and low porosity.