Design of experiment for advanced nanostructured WC-12Co coating HVOF: Dry solid particle erosion tests

Abstract One of the economical and fast solution for failure against erosive wear in oil and gas industries is deposition of cermet using HVOF thermal spray coating. Recently, especially with the new development of bimodal feedstock powders, the composition percentages of the mixed powders play a key factor in the final coating performance. In the present study, a design of experiment (DOE) software was implemented to study the influence of different powder percentages on the coating performance. The coating mechanical properties and its performance are investigated through dry solid particle erosion tests, hardness mesurement and SEM respectively. Results show that both the hardness and erosion resitance of the coating increases as the composition percentage of nanostructured WC-12Co increase due to the strong adhesion of WC nano size grains at the substrate/coating interface through improved mechanical interlocking .