Electrochemical corrosion and erosive wear behaviour of microwave processed WC-10Co4Cr clad on SS-316

WC-10Co4Cr cladding over an austenitic stainless steel (SS-316) was fabricated by using a cost- effective microwave technique. Cladding was performed with 1.20 kW power and a frequency of 2.45 GHz in an industrial microwave oven. The XRD surveillance reveals a cluster of carbide phases adjunct to W-Cr-Fe based hexagonal matrix. The SEM examination reveals a solid microstructure and a homogeneous reinforced skeleton with porosity measures of less than 1% in the clad specimen. Tungsten (W) distributed equally in matrix and carbides, resulting in bulk hardness and matrix micro hardness increasing gradually and reaching a peak at 750HV, respectively, which is significantly greater than the base metal (SS-316) hardness (about 220HV). The clads erosive wear was measured at various impact angles (30°, 60°, and 90°) by utilizing a solid particle erosion with alumina as the erodent. In addition, corrosion testing found that in the NaCl solution of 3.5 wt% the cladded specimen exhibited the less corrosion resistance than that of the base metal.