Erosion wear performance of HVOF sprayed WC-10Co-4Cr + 2% TiO2 coating on SS-409 using slurry jet erosion tester

Erosion is a phenomenon and is the primary cause of failure in numerous slurry transportation equipment such as pump impellers, pipeline fittings, etc. It reduces the working life of the equipment and is thus an essential factor in the design, choice, and operation of any system. Pipeline materials used to convey slurry often experience severe wear from erosive forces. Researchers are interested in minimizing erosion wear using different coatings to increase equipment life. The High-Velocity Oxy-Fuel (HVOF) spray technique was employed to deposit WC-10Co-4cr + 2% TiO2 coating on the SS409. The erosion wear was evaluated using a slurry jet erosion tester of uncoated and coated materials with sand as the erodent. The impact of impingement angle, velocity, time, and other parameters was studied. On the erosion wear of uncoated and coated materials, it was found that the influence of jet velocity was greater than the impact of other parameters. The deteriorated surfaces were analyzed using a scanning electron microscope (SEM). The erosion wear resistance of SS 409 was significantly improved by the WC-10Co-4cr + 2% TiO2 coating. The coating demonstrated a brittle mechanism of erosion wear. Furthermore, image processing software investigated the mechanism of erosion wear.