Tribological wear behavior of diamond reinforced composite coating

Abstract

In the present study, diamond reinforced composite (DRC) coating has been applied on mild steel substrate using thermal spray coating technique. The composite powder consists of diamond, tungsten carbide, and bronze, which was mixed in a ball mill prior deposition by thermal spray. The microstructure and the distribution of diamond and tungsten carbide particle in the bronze matrix were studied. The DRC-coated mild steel substrates were assessed in terms of their high stress abrasive wear and compared with that of uncoated mild steel substrates. It was observed that when sliding against steel, the DRC-coated sample initially gains weight, but then loses the transferred counter surface material. In case of abrasive wear, the wear rate was greatly reduced due to the coating; wherein the wear rate decreased with increase in diamond content.