Tribo-performance analysis of HVOF sprayed 86WC-10Co4Cr & Ni-Cr2O3 on AISI 316L steel using DOE-ANN methodology

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to carry out erosion wear investigation on high-velocity oxy-fuel (HVOF)-deposited 86WC-10Co4Cr and synergistic Ni/Chromia powder (i.e. 80Ni-20Cr2O3) on AISI 316L. Design/methodology/approach Design of experiments-artificial neural network (DOE-ANN) methodology was adopted to calculate the erosion wear. Taguchi’s orthogonal array L16 (42) was used to perform set-of-erosion experiments followed by lower-the-better rule. The artificial neural network (ANN) model is used on erosion wear data obtained from the experiments. Findings Experimental results indicate that 86WC-10Co4Cr provided better erosion wear resistance as compared to Ni/Chromia. The erosion wear of 86WC-10Co4Cr and synergistic Ni/Chromia coatings increases with an increase in time duration, solid concentration and time. The magnitude of erosion generated by ashes was comparatively lower than sand. The arithmetic mean roughness (Ra) of finished AISI 316L, 86WC-10Co4Cr and Ni/Chromia coating was found as 0.46 ± 0.13, 6.50 ± 0.16 and 7.04 ± 0.23 µm, respectively. Surface microhardness of AISI 316L, 86WC-10Co4Cr and Ni/Chromia coating was found as 197 ± 18, 1,156 ± 18 and 1,021± 21 HV, respectively. Practical implications The present results can be useful for estimation of erosion wear in slurry pumps used in mining industry for the conveying of sand and in thermal power plants for the conveying of ashes to the dyke area. Originality/value The erosion wear of HVOF-sprayed 86WC-10Co4Cr and Synergistic Ni/Chromia powders was studied experimentally as well as predicted by the ANN model, and wear mechanisms are well discussed by scanning electron micrographs.