Investigation on Microstructural and Mechanical Behaviour of Atmospheric Plasma Sprayed Stellite 6 Alloy Coatings on AISI 304 Stainless Steel

Abstract

Stellite 6 alloy has been extensively used in industrial applications to prevent wear and corrosion because of its high strength, high hardness, and corrosion resistance. The wear and frictional properties of a material depend largely on the normal load and hardness of the mating surfaces. Wear resistance characteristics of the material can be improved substantially by reorienting the microstructure of the grain size of the metal along with imparting a higher hardness on the mating surfaces. In the present study, an effort is made to deposit Stellite 6 powder having a regular spherical shape with diameters ranging between 15 µm to 45 µm on an AISI 304 stainless steel substrate without any intermittent layer using an atmospheric plasma spray deposition process. The effect of coating thickness (74 µm, 128 µm, and 215 µm) on metallurgical, morphological, and mechanical characteristics was investigated. Optical microscopy, Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), and EDS were employed to study the Stellite 6 coating morphology, and the structural analysis was used to identify the phase formation by using XRD. From the experimental analysis it is observed that, the Stellite 6 coating is uniform and homogenous in nature. Sample coated with Stellite 6 powder having 128 µm coating thickness is exhibiting the best microstructure and mechanical properties as compared to the other two coated samples.