No abstract

This paper describes how acoustic emission (AE) measurements can be used to supplement the mechanical information available from an indentation test. It examines the extent to which AE data can be used to replace time-consuming surface crack measurement data for the assessment of fracture toughness of brittle materials. AE is known to be sensitive to fracture events and so it was expected that features derived from the AE data may provide information on the processes (microscale and macroscale fracture events and densification) occurring during indentation. AE data were acquired during indentation tests on samples of a WC-12%Co coating of nominal thickness 300 lm at a variety of indentation loads. The raw AE signals were reduced to three stages and three features per stage, giving nine possible indicators per indentation. Each indicator was compared with the crack profile, measured both conventionally and using a profiling method which gives the total surface crack length around the indent. A selection of the indents was also sectioned in order to make some observations on the subsurface damage. It has been found that reproducible AE signals are generated during indentation involving three distinct stages, associated, respectively, with nonradial cracking, commencement of radial cracking, and continued descent of the indenter. It has been shown that AE can give at least as good a measure of cracking processes during indentation as is possible using crack measurement after indentation.

Sliding wear evaluation of nanostructured coatings deposited by Suspension High Velocity OxyFuel (S-HVOF) and conventional HVOF (Jet Kote (HVOF-JK) and JP5000 (HVOF-JP)) spraying were evaluated. S-HVOF coatings were nanostructured and deposited via an aqueous based suspension of the WC-Co powder, using modified HVOF (TopGun) spraying. Microstructural evaluations of these hardmetal coatings included X-ray Diffraction (XRD) and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) equipped with Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy (EDX). Sliding wear tests on coatings were conducted using a ball-on-flat test rig against steel, silicon nitride (Si 3 N 4 ) ceramic and WC-6Co balls. Results indicated that nanosized particles inherited from the starting powder in S-HVOF spraying were retained in the resulting coatings. Significant changes in the chemical and phase composition were observed in the S-HVOF coatings. Despite decarburization, the hardness and sliding wear resistance of the S-HVOF coatings was comparable to the HVOF-JK and HVOF-JP coatings. The sliding wear performance was dependent on the ball-coating test couple. In general a higher ball wear rate was observed with lower coating wear rate. Comparison of the total (ball and coating) wear rate indicated that for steel and ceramic balls, HVOF-JP coatings performed the best followed by the S-HVOF and HVOF-JK coatings. For the WC-Co ball tests, average performance of S-HVOF was better than that of HVOF-JK and HVOF-JP coatings. Changes in sliding wear 1 Corresponding author R.Ahmed@hw.ac.uk 2 behavior were attributed to the support of metal matrix due to relatively higher tungsten, and uniform distribution of nanoparticles in the S-HVOF coating microstructure. The presence of tribofilm was also observed for all test couples.

The aim of this review is to survey the state of the art relating to the rolling contact fatigue (RCF) investigation of various overlay coatings and also, to ascertain the influence of design parameters such as the type of deposition process, coating material and thickness on the RCF performance. Rolling contact fatigue is a significant factor in the failure of components in rolling/sliding contact. Although, sintered ceramics have provided improvements in RCF life of components in rolling/sliding contact, e.g. hybrid ceramic bearings, the economic and technological constraints associated have so far limited their use to specialist applications. Physical and chemical vapor deposition (PVD, CVD) as well as thermal spraying are methods of depositing overlay coatings. The designer must thus choose a deposition method based on economic and technical flexibility, e.g. material choice, functional grading, etc. Amongst this family of overlay coatings, PVD coatings are already finding commercial use whilst others are at a research and development stage. The available literature on the RCF testing of various types of overlay coatings is considerable, but it is generally difficult to synthesize all of the results to obtain a comprehensive understanding of the parameters which can have a significant effect on a coating's resistance to rolling contact fatigue. This review thus compares the RCF performance of these overlay coatings and discusses the results in terms of coating processes, materials, thickness, residual stress and tribological conditions of contact stress and lubrication.