The Abrasive Wear Resistance of Coatings Manufactured on High-Strength Low-Alloy (HSLA) Offshore Steel in Wet Welding Conditions

Some marine and offshore structure elements exploited in the water cannot be brought to the surface of the water as this will generate high costs, and for this reason, they require in-situ repairs. One of the repair techniques used in underwater pad welding conditions is a wet welding method. This paper presents an investigation of the abrasive wear resistance of coatings made in wet welding conditions with the use of two grades of covered electrodes—an electrode for underwater welding and a commercial general use electrode. Both electrodes were also used for manufacturing coatings in the air, which has been also tested. The Vickers HV10 hardness measurements are performed to demonstrate the correlation in abrasive wear resistance and the hardness of each specimen. The microscopic testing was performed. For both filler materials, the coatings prepared in a water environment are characterized by higher resistance to metal–mineral abrasion than coatings prepared in an air environment—0.61 vs. 0.44 for commercial usage electrode and 0.67 vs. 0.60 for underwater welding. We also proved that in the water, the abrasive wear was greater for specimens welded by the general use electrode, which results in a higher hardness of the layer surface. In the air welding conditions, the layer welded by the electrode for use in the water was characterized by a lower hardness and higher resistance to metal–mineral abrasion. The microstructure of the prepared layers is different for both the environment and both electrodes, which results in abrasive wear resistance.