Influence of Carbon and Boron Additions on the Wear Resistance of Fe3Al Based Laser Claddings

Strengthened iron aluminides exhibit excellent mechanical properties up to 600°C, and are promising candidates to replace Co-, Cr- and Ni- rich coatings for high temperature wear protection. To improve their hardness, different strengthening mechanisms can be chosen accordingly. For this study, precipitation hardening with carbon and/or boron was used to strengthen Fe₃Al-based iron aluminides. Carbon and boron were alloyed in the range from 0-20 at.% as well as combined up to 10 at.% each to precipitate carbides, borides and carboborides to show the influence on microstructural evolution, hardness as well as wear resistance. A thorough material analysis of the developed laser claddings materials and the present phases was conducted using scanning electron microscopy, electron backscatter diffraction, hot hardness testing, nanoindentation as well as high temperature abrasion testing. Results show that the hardness can be significantly increased from ~260 HV10 (claddings without any strengthening of the Fe₃Al phase) to ~850 HV10 with boride precipitations (20 at.% B). Strengthening with carbon and boron leads to a hardness of ~670 HV10 due to the formation of carboborides as well as graphite islands (10 at.% B and 10at.% C). Alloying with carbon causes the formation of graphite lamellae as well as perovskite-type carbides Fe₃AlC0.6 and lower hardness of a max. of ~350 HV10 at 20 at.% C. Wear results indicate a strong dependence on the present phases, whereas a significant reduction of the wear rates can be pointed out when strengthened; comparable to classical FeCrC-based hardfacings, but with the advantage of a significantly reduced ecological impact.