Tungsten-copper coating development on superalloy substrates using Taguchi method

The current study investigated the deposition behaviour of the tool particles made from powder metallurgical (PM) green compact tool of W-Cu for coatings on Inconel 800 superalloy substrate using the electric discharge alloying (EDA) process. The effect of process variables such as compact load (CL), voltage (V) and duty factor (DF) is systematically analysed over the output responses, i.e., material deposition rate (MDR), tool wear rate (TWR) and surface roughness (Ra). The results indicated a maximum TWR of 225.325 mg/min, a maximum MDR of 47.250 mg/min and a minimum Ra of 3.5 µm. The alloyed layer is further characterized by FESEM analysis. The weight and atomic percentage of the migrated particles are determined by EDS analysis. The elemental mapping further confirmed the enrichment of tool particles and other base material constituents within the alloyed surface. The XRD analysis further showed the existence of tool elements and the development of new compounds in the alloyed layer. The alloyed layer exhibited an average layer thickness of 11.354 µm.