Effects of Graphite Additions on Microstructures and Wear Resistance of Fe-Cr-C-Nb Hardfacing Alloys

Abstract

Hardfacing alloys with varying amounts of graphite content were prepared on a surface of 45 steel using flux-cored wire open-arc overlaying. Testing was conducted using SEM, TEM, XRD, a Rockwell hardness apparatus and an abrasion tester to study the effect of variation of graphite content on the microstructure, hardness and abrasive resistance of the hardfacing alloy. The results show that the microstructure of the hardfacing layer consisted of martensite, austenite and NbC. As graphite content increased, martensite content increased, austenite content decreased, and the size of in situ-generated NbC particles increased. Additionally, the abrasive resistance of the hardfacing alloy, which could exceed 4 times that of the 45 steel base material, was related to the microstructure and the size of NbC particles, and generally shared the same variation trend as the hardness changes in the hardfacing layer.DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5755/j01.ms.23.3.16678

Keywords

• open-arc overlaying, in situ formation, NbC, graphite, wearing layer