Microstructural and High Temperature Wear Characteristics of Plasma Transferred Arc Hardfaced Ni–Cr–Si–B-C Alloy Deposits

Abstract

Due to the tough working environments, wear damage to nuclear reactor components is frequent. Usually, nuclear elements run at 573 k to 873 k. The feed water controller valves, used for the thundering of coolant flow, wear out faster among the reactor components. Austenitic stainless steels, using different methods for hardfacing, improve wear resistance to the cobalt and nickel alloys. Nickel based hardfacing is more resistant to wear than cobalt based hardfacing at high temperatures thanks to the solid oxide layers. Austenitic stainless-steel substrates generally favor nickel-based hardfaced (Ni–Cr-Si–B-C) over cobalt-driven hardfacing because this reduces radiation-induced nuclear activity. A well-known surface method for depositing nickel hardfacing, minimal dilution, alloys is the Plasma Transfer Arc (PTAs) weld technique. In this study the Ni-based alloy is hardfaced over a 316 L (N) ASS substratum with PTA hardfacing, for a dense of approximately 4–4.5 mm. The substrates and deposits were tested at different temperatures with a pin on disc wear (room temperature, 150 and 250°C).When grinding with 1000 grain SiC abrasive paper, the wear test samples were polished to the roughness value (Ra) of less than 0,25 m.The deposit showed a variety of wear mechanisms regarding the test temperature. Using friction and wear values and wear analysis, the wear mechanisms were determined. There was a considerable wear loss at room temperature (RT).At 423 K operating heat, mild ploughing at short sliding distances and tribo-oxidation were carried out with increasing sliding time.The primary wear mechanism was adherence at the time of operating temperature at 623 K, but as the sliding distance widened, tribo-oxidation improved. In combination with a working hardened substrate, the formation of an oxide layer could significantly reduce the wear loss of nickel-based alloys.