Thermal Conductivity and Wear Behavior of HVOF-Sprayed Fe-Based Amorphous Coatings

To protect aluminum parts in vehicle engines, metal-based thermal barrier coatings in the form of Fe59Cr12Nb5B20Si4 amorphous coatings were prepared by high velocity oxygen fuel (HVOF) spraying under two different conditions. The microstructure, thermal transport behavior, and wear behavior of the coatings were characterized simultaneously. As a result, this alloy shows high process robustness during spraying. Both Fe-based coatings present dense, layered structure with porosities below 0.9%. Due to higher amorphous phase content, the coating H-1 exhibits a relatively low thermal conductivity, reaching 2.66 W/(m·K), two times lower than the reference stainless steel coating (5.85 W/(m·K)), indicating a good thermal barrier property. Meanwhile, the thermal diffusivity of amorphous coatings display a limited increase with temperature up to 500 °C, which guarantees a steady and wide usage on aluminum alloy. Furthermore, the amorphous coating shows better wear resistance compared to high carbon martensitic GCr15 steel at different temperatures. The increased temperature accelerating the tribological reaction, leads to the friction coefficient and wear rate of coating increasing at 200 °C and decreasing at 400 °C.