Slurry Erosion Resistance of Microwave Derived Ni-SiC Composite Claddings

Hydro machinery components such as turbines, pipes, guide vanes, and pumps suffer from severe slurry erosion caused by the abrasive particles entrained in working fluid. In the current work, an array of systematic slurry erosion tests were executed to study the influence of impact angle on slurry erosion rates of Ni-SiC based composite claddings developed on SS 316 L through microwave hybrid heating. Various microstructural and mechanical characterizations such as micro and nano-indentation, x-ray diffraction (XRD), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) were performed on the developed claddings. The claddings contain 5 wt.% of SiC particles of different size fractions from nano to micro (unimodal) and combination of both in the matrix (bimodal). Slurry erosion studies were performed on the developed claddings at different impingement angles. The claddings exhibited good metallurgical bonding with the substrate without any pores throughout. The developed claddings exhibited high hardness and elastic modulus compared to the substrate material. A significant improvement in the erosion resistance of the claddings was observed with the addition of bimodal sized SiC secondary particles. The enhanced erosion resistance of the claddings could be attributed to the higher fracture toughness and hardness of the developed coating. Among the developed coatings, the bimodal sample with 5% SiC claddings showed at least two times better erosion resistance than hydro-turbine steel at almost all the impact angles. SEM studies performed on the eroded samples showed micro-cutting and plowing as the main modes of material removal at lower impact angles.