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Surface Modification of 304 Stainless Steel by Electro-Spark Deposition

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Abstract

Electro-spark deposition (ESD) is a pulsed microwelding process that is used to apply surface coatings for the repair of damaged high value and precision products or modify their surfaces for specific properties. The low heat input, minimal heat-affected zone and the ability to form metallurgical bonding of coating to substrate are major advantages of the ESD process. Many applications require the components to have excellent surface performance, such as wear and corrosion resistance. ESD technique provides an approach to modify the component surface without compromising the bulk properties. In this study, surface modifications of 304 stainless steel by ESD were investigated. Titanium carbide (TiC), tungsten carbide (WC) and molybdenum (Mo) were employed as coating materials. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy-dispersive x-ray spectroscopy (EDX) analysis were conducted to characterize the microstructure and composition of the coatings. The coatings thicknesses were all around 40 µm. The results showed that TiC and WC coatings showed a dramatic increase in the microhardness, up to 5 times. WC coating improved the wear resistance by more than 5 times, while TiC and Mo coatings also improved it by approximately 2.5 times. Electro-chemical tests were conducted to investigate the corrosion resistance of the coatings. Mo coating exhibited a significant improvement in the corrosion resistance in 5% NaCl solutions, corroding 350 times slower than stainless steel. Synchrotron x-ray diffraction was performed to investigate the microstructure changes of the Mo-coated sample. Heat treatment was also carried out to investigate the corrosion behavior of Mo-coated 304 stainless steel at elevated service temperature in air or argon.

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Acknowledgments

Financial support from the National Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC), Ontario Centres of Excellence (OCE) and Huys Industries Ltd is gratefully acknowledged. The authors thank TechnoCoat Co., Ltd for materials support. The authors would like to thank Dr. Joyce Koo and Dr. Mehrdad Iravani from University of Waterloo, for wear test experiment and valuable discussions. Mr. Dominic Leung and Kevin Chan from Huys Industries are highly acknowledged for their technical support.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre for Advanced Materials Joining, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON, N2L 3G1, Canada

    Z. Jiao, L. Felix, R. Liang & Y. Zhou

  2. Department of Mechanical and Mechatronics Engineering, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON, N2L 3G1, Canada

    Z. Jiao, L. Felix, R. Liang, E. Toyserkani & Y. Zhou

  3. Department of Materials Science and Engineering, The Ohio State University, 1248 Arthur E. Adams Drive, Columbus, OH, 43221, USA

    J. P. Oliveira

  4. Institute of Materials Research, Helmholtz-Zentrum Geesthacht, Max-Planck-Str. 1, 21502, Geesthacht, Germany

    N. Schell

  5. Huys Industries Ltd., 175 Toryork Drive, Unit 35, Weston, ON, M9L 1X9, Canada

    Z. Jiao, S. Peterkin & N. Scotchmer

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  1. Z. Jiao
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  2. S. Peterkin
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  3. L. Felix
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  4. R. Liang
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  5. J. P. Oliveira
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  6. N. Schell
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  7. N. Scotchmer
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  8. E. Toyserkani
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  9. Y. Zhou
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Correspondence to Z. Jiao.

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Jiao, Z., Peterkin, S., Felix, L. et al. Surface Modification of 304 Stainless Steel by Electro-Spark Deposition. J. of Materi Eng and Perform 27, 4799–4809 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11665-018-3579-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11665-018-3579-0

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