Fabrication of TiC-Fe cermet coating by plasma spraying of Fe-Ti-C powder using sucrose as carbon source.

A mixture of ferrotitanium and sucrose was heated to carbonise the sucrose, so the ferrotitanium particles were bound by the carbon obtained from the pyrolysis of sucrose. Then a Fe-Ti-C composite powder was made for reactive thermal spraying, which could avoid separation of Ti and C during spraying. The carbon is a reactive constituent as well as the binder in the composite powder. While this powder was used to deposit cermet coating by plasma spraying, a mass of TiC particles were in situ synthesised and uniformly distributed within metallic matrix. Average microhardness and surface hardness of the TiC-Fe coating are about 1672·5 HV0·2 and 91·4 HR(15 N) respectively. Adhesive strength value of the coating reaches 61·86 MPa. Finally, the cermet coating has good wear resistance performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]