Surface and Coatings Technology 173 – 174 (2003) 1070–1073

NiCr coatings on stainless steel by HVOF technique

N.F. Aka,*, C. Tekmena, I. Ozdemira, H.S. Soykanb, E. Celika
a
Faculty of Engineering, Department of Metallurgical and Materials Engineering, Dokuz Eylul University, Bornova, Izmir 35100, Turkey
b
Faculty of Engineering, Department of Metallurgical and Materials Engineering, Kocaeli University, Izmir 41040, Turkey

Abstract

This paper demonstrates the successful application of NiCr coatings on stainless steel substrates using a high velocity oxy-fuel
technique for corrosion applications. We present preliminary results of fabrication and microstructural characterization of NiCr
coatings. These coatings were characterized by means of an optical microscope, image analyzer, scanning electron microscope
and X-ray diffraction (XRD). A microhardness tester was used in order to determine the mechanical properties of the coating.
Microstructural observations pointed out that the NiCr layers possessed porosity, oxidized, unmelted and semimelted particles,
and inclusions. XRD results indicated that the outstanding phase of NiCr powder and coating was Ni. It was also found that the
microhardness values decreased from the coating to substrate.
䊚 2003 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

Keywords: NiCr; Microstructure; HVOF; Microhardness; Corrosion

1. Introduction is able to make a denser and less-oxidized coating

Thermal spraying coatings have been applied in many
different industries to provide wear, erosion and corro-
sion protection. It is common knowledge today that high
velocity oxy-fuel (HVOF) systems are capable of pro-
ducing better carbide–metal cermet coatings with high
density, high hardness, superior bond strength and less
decarburization than many of the other thermal spray
methods w1x. In this technique, oxygen and a fuel gas
flow at high pressures and flow-rates with internal
combustion to produce very high particle velocities with
relatively low temperatures compared with other thermal
spray processes such as air or vacuum plasma spraying
w2 x .
In recent years, there has been considerable growth
in the use of HVOF spraying to produce low porosity,
metallic, ceramic and carbide protective coatings, which
are typically 100–300 mm thick w2–6x. As a result of
their importance for wear resistance applications, WC–
Co coatings have been particularly widely studied, but
there is now an increasing interest in the deposition of
metallic alloys, such as those based on NiCr for protec-
tion against aqueous corrosion w7x. The HVOF spraying
*Corresponding author. Tel: q90-232-388-2880; fax: q90-232-
388-7864; http:yywww.deu.edu.tr.
E-mail address: funda.ak@deu.edu.tr (N.F. Ak).
compared with other methods such as plasma spraying
w8x. Furthermore, this spraying system enables the metal
and the alloy with the high melting point up to approx-
imately 2000 8C to be deposited on the substrate. These
features are suitable for an application to the corrosion
resistant coating w9x. However, there is also a need for
coatings which can combine the properties of high
hardness and wear resistance with the ability to resist
aqueous corrosion, as a possible replacement for electro-
deposited hard chrome coatings. Recently, a number of
researchers have indeed investigated the structure and
properties of plasma sprayed coatings with amorphous
or nanocrystalline microstructures using FeCr- or NiCr-
based alloys w6x.
The principal purpose of the study reported herein
was to investigate microstructure formation in HVOF-
sprayed NiCr coating technique and this paper describes
the results obtained using the optical microscope, scan-
ning electron microscope (SEM), X-ray diffraction
(XRD) and microhardness tester.
2. Experimental study
A Metco Diamond Jet (DJ) 2600 system was used to
deposit the coatings, under a range of spray conditions,
onto stainless steel coupons which had been grit blasted

0257-8972/03/$ - see front matter 䊚 2003 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/S0257-8972Ž03.00367-0
 N.F. Ak et al. / Surface and Coatings Technology 173 – 174 (2003) 1070–1073 1071

Table 1 powder carrier gas. Flat substrates approximately

Spray parameters employed for coating deposition
Parameter
Chamber length (mm)
Spray distance (mm)
Substrate traverse rate (m sy1)
Number of passes
Gun velocity (vertical) (mm sy1)
Powder delivery rate (kg hy1)
Nitrogen carrier gas flow (l miny1)
Hydrogen fuel gas flow (l miny1)
Oxygen gas flow (l miny1)
Coating thickness (mm)
scfha: standard cubic feet per hour
for a period of ;30 s with alumina using compressed
air at a pressure of ;400 kPa. Substrates were then
degreased immediately prior to deposition. In this work,
hydrogen was used as a fuel gas with nitrogen as a
50=25=2 mm3 thick were coated using the following
Value procedure. The spray parameters are detailed in Table
1. The coupons were mounted on holders placed on the
12
250
circumference of a turntable, which had a vertical axis
;1 of rotation and which was rotated at 80 rev. miny1 to
40 give an effective horizontal traverse rate across the spray
5 path ;1 m sy1. The HVOF gun was placed in front of
;1.1
18 (40 scfha) the coupons at a stand-off distance of 250 mm to give
400 (890 scfh) a horizontal spray jet and scanned vertically at 0.005
130 (290 scfh) m sy1. Additional cooling was supplied during coating
200–250 by two air jets aimed radially at the turntable at a
pressure of ;6 bar. Deposition thicknesses of 200–250
mm were achieved from approximately 30 vertical pass-
es of the gun.
Microstructural characterization studies were carried
out by both using the optical microscope and SEM.
Additionally, the phase analyses of NiCr powder and

Fig. 1. A typical microstructure of the coating characterized in an image analyzer.

Fig. 2. SEM micrograph of HVOF-spray coated samples. The magnifications are (a) =400 and (b) =1800.
1072 N.F. Ak et al. / Surface and Coatings Technology 173 – 174 (2003) 1070–1073
Fig. 3. XRD patterns of NiCr powder and coating.
coating were determined by means of XRD techniques.
Porosity and coating thickness measurements were per-
formed by an image analyzer (LUCIA 4.21). The
Fig. 4. Cross-sectional microstructure of HVOF coating after taking microhardness.
microstructure of samples was examined via an optical
metallography. A standard microhardness machine deter-
mined the microhardness of the coating.
3. Results and discussion
It is well known that the microstructure plays a
predominant role in determining material behaviour.
Material scientists, therefore, seek to control microstruc-
ture through processing. Processing studies have tradi-
tionally focused on optimizing microstructural
characteristics with the intent of producing a uniform
microstructure throughout the material. Increasing
microstructure uniformity has long been considered a
fruitful means of improving properties. Depending on
this standpoint, the uniform microstructures have been
produced by improving processing technique. HVOF is
one of them, because the uniform and dense coatings
are produced using this method. Fig. 1 shows a typical
microstructure of the coating produced by HVOF spray-
ing. Metallographic observations showed that these coat-
ings usually possess porosity, oxidized, unmelted and
semimelted particles, and inclusions. The coating con-
tains approximately 2.2% porosity, which were deter-
mined by image analyzer. The coating thickness was
90–100 mm.
Fig. 2 depicts SEM micrographs in different scales of
the HVOF sample. It is evident from Fig. 2a that the
coating contains porosity, unmelted and semimelted
particles. The porosity can clearly be seen in SEM
picture with =1800 magnification. The dark areas indi-
cate the porosities of the coating. SEM observations
confirmed that the unmelted or semimelted particles
 N.F. Ak et al. / Surface and Coatings Technology 173 – 174 (2003) 1070–1073
Fig. 5. Microhardness results of HVOF-spray produced sample.
were near-spherical as seen in Fig. 2a. The near-spherical
particles were approximately 16 mm in size. The phase
analyses of NiCr powder and coating were determined
by XRD. Because NiCr powders have a composition of
80% Ni and 20% Cr, the outstanding phase of the
powder and the coating is Ni as indicated in Fig. 3. In
addition, even though Ni, Cr and Cr3Ni2 phases were
found from the NiCr powder, Ni, Cr3Ni2, Cr–Ni,
Fe0.93Ni0.056, Ni–Cr–Fe and Fe–Cr phases were deter-
mined after the coating process. It is clear that there is
still considerable controversy over the mechanisms of
oxide formation during thermal spraying, and since
oxides appear to be sites of preferential attack when
aqueous corrosion takes place, a fundamental under-
standing of their formation during spraying is important
for achieving improved coating performance w10x.
The microhardness values were measured as from the
edge of the coatings, as marked in Fig. 4. As seen from
Fig. 5, the hardness values changed from the edge of
the coatings. Hardness values of the HVOF-sprayed
coatings strongly depend on porosity, oxidized, unmelted
and semimelted particles, and inclusions. Due to the
fact that the porosity, oxide and inclusion decrease the
hardness values of the NiCr coating, hardness values
decrease from coating to substrate. We have a good
agreement with the work of Wang and Shui w1x. As
explained in Scrivani et al. w8x, NiCr coatings deposited
by HVOF improve microhardness due to the fact that
the coatings show a high density and cohesive strength
of the individual splats because of the high impact
1073
velocity of particles. Moreover, the other effect is
process-induced residual stresses influence the mechan-
ical properties. Thus, compared to stainless steel the
hardness values of the coating are higher than that of
substrate.
4. Conclusion
Main results obtained from the study can be summa-
rized as below:
● NiCr powders with a composition of 80% Ni and
20% Cr were deposited by HVOF spraying to give
coatings that were approximately 90–100 mm thick.
● It has been found that, samples produced by HVOF-
spray possess porosities.
● XRD results revealed that the coating had Ni,
Cr3Ni2, Cr–Ni, Fe0.93Ni0.056, Ni–Cr–Fe and Fe–Cr
phases after the coating process.
● The microhardness properties of the coating strongly
depend on porosity, oxide, unmelted and semimelted
particles, and inclusions and the porosity, oxide and
inclusion decrease hardness values.
Acknowledgments
The authors gratefully acknowledge the authorities of
Plasma Teknik, Inc., Istanbul for coating process. Our
thanks also to Dokuz Eylul University, Faculty of
Engineering.
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