Improvement of the abrasive wear resistance of an Fe-Cr-Mn-C coating through V addition

ABSTRACT The aim of this work is to increase the abrasive wear resistance of a coating, applied on plates of AISI 1020 carbon steel, using tubular coated electrodes with the Fe-Cr-Mn-C alloy system. In order to achieve this increase, V was added to the alloy system. The resulting coating were studied using optical microscopy (MO), X-ray diffraction and microhardness tests. Wear tests were carried out in accordance with the procedure of ASTM G 65-B. Results showed that the addition of V to the Fe-Cr-Mn-C system caused significant microstructural modifications, decreasing the amount of martensite in the coating, and increasing the dimensions of the eutectic zone. Also, V originated the formation of VC, in addition to the Cr7C3 carbides present for the two alloy systems. These microstructural modifications provoked that coatings deposited using the Fe-Cr-Mn-V-C alloy system show a significantly higher abrasive wear resistance.