Title: Mechanical properties of Fe+SiC metal matrix composite fabricated on stainless steel 304 by TIG coating process

Authors: Anjani Kumar; Anil Kumar Das

Addresses: Department of Mechanical Engineering, National Institute of Technology Patna, Bihar 800005, India ' Department of Mechanical Engineering, National Institute of Technology Patna, Bihar 800005, India

Abstract: In this work, metal matrix composite (MMC) coatings were fabricated by tungsten inert gas (TIG) arcing process on stainless steel AISI 304 with iron (Fe) and silicon carbide (SiC) powder. The influence of ceramic (SiC) on the wear behaviour and hardness of 10%, 20%, and 30% SiC by weight were investigated. XRD diffraction pattern revealed that the formation of metal silicide (NiSi, Fe₂Si, CrSi₂, and Ni₃Si), iron carbide (Fe₂C and Fe₃C), and intermetallic compund (NiFe). EDX analysis confirmed the presence of Fe, Ni, Si, and C in coating. SEM was employed to investigate coating morphology and mode of wear mechanism. The magnified image reveals that fine-grained homogeneous structure has evolved in 20%-SiC, while agglomerated SiC particles in 30%-SiC coating due to improper dispersion of SiC in the coating during heating. Maximum microhardness was measured 663 HV_0.1 in 30%-SiC and 660.5 HV_0.1 in 20%-SiC; whereas average hardness was 507.7 HV_0.1 and 499 HV_0.1 respectively as compared to substrate hardness 220 HV_0.1. Minimum wear loss was observed in 20%-SiC coating (wear height loss 301.5 μm), which is lower than two times as compared to substrate material (wear height loss 621.7 μm).

Keywords: TIG coating; metal matrix composite; MMC; microhardness; SEM-EDX; friction; wear.

DOI: 10.1504/IJMATEI.2020.108880

International Journal of Materials Engineering Innovation, 2020 Vol.11 No.3, pp.181 - 197

Received: 17 Aug 2019
Accepted: 19 Dec 2019
Published online: 05 Aug 2020 *

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