An Investigation on the Reinforcement of a Cast Stainless Steel with WC-MMC †
1
Department of Metallurgical and Materials Engineering, University of Porto, R. Dr. Roberto Frias, 4200-465 Porto, Portugal
2
LAETA/INEGI-Institute of Science and Innovation in Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, R. Dr. Roberto Frias, 4200-465 Porto, Portugal
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
†
Presented at the Materiais 2022, Marinha Grande, Portugal, 10–13 April 2022.
Mater. Proc. 2022, 8(1), 124; https://doi.org/10.3390/materproc2022008124
Published: 11 July 2022
(This article belongs to the Proceedings of MATERIAIS 2022)
Austenitic stainless-steel grades are outstanding materials due to their excellent corrosion resistance combined with their mechanical strength, toughness, and ductility. These properties combined with a high weldability have led to their widespread use in components for the maritime, petrochemical, chemical, nuclear, biomedical, and food industries. Notwithstanding their wide range of industrial applications, these alloys have a poor wear resistance that restricts their use in more demanding service conditions. Therefore, the development of a localized reinforcement with hard carbide particles would improve the surface wear performance while preserving the corrosion resistance level and mechanical strength of austenitic stainless steel [1,2,3,4].
This work addresses the process of reinforcing cast austenitic stainless-steel specimens with WC-metal matrix composite (MMC). For that purpose, WC and Fe powders were selected, mixed in a volume ratio of 40:60, and cold-pressed at 230 MPa into parallelepiped preforms that were then inserted into selected regions of a sand mold before pouring the stainless steel. After casting, the specimens were subjected to standard solubilization at 1075 °C for two hours to dissolve chromium carbides that may have precipitated at the grain boundaries during solidification, causing a detrimental effect on the intergranular corrosion susceptibility of the steel. The microstructure of the WC-MMC reinforcement and bonding interface was characterized by SEM/EDS, EBSD, and XRD, whereas the mechanical response was evaluated by micro-abrasion and hardness tests.
The results showed that the WC-MMC reinforcement behaves as a graded material with a variable chemical composition and microstructure along its depth. The zone nearest to the surface is characterized by WC, (Fe,W,Cr)6C and (Fe,W,Cr)3C carbides randomly distributed in a martensite matrix. In the inner zones, (Fe,Cr,W)7C3 and (Fe,Cr,W)23C6 carbides have precipitated in the interdendritic regions of the austenite, forming a multi-carbide interdendritic network. The WC–MMC reinforcement led to an increase of six times the hardness of the stainless steel and a decrease of the wear rate by nearly 70%.
Author Contributions
Conceptualization, A.B.M.; validation, L.M.M.R. and M.F.V.; formal analysis, L.M.M.R. and M.F.V.; investigation, A.B.M.; writing—original draft preparation, A.B.M.; writing—review and editing, L.M.M.R. and M.F.V.; supervision, L.M.M.R. and M.F.V.; funding acquisition, M.F.V. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.
Funding
This work was funded by national funds through FCT—Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, I.P., under project references UIDB/50022/2020 and UIDP/50022/2020, and by FEDER through program P2020|Norte2020, Programas doutorais (NORTE-08-5369-FSE-000051).
Institutional Review Board Statement
Not applicable.
Informed Consent Statement
Not applicable.
Data Availability Statement
Not applicable.
Conflicts of Interest
The authors declare no conflict of interest.
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MDPI and ACS Style
Moreira, A.B.; Ribeiro, L.M.M.; Vieira, M.F. An Investigation on the Reinforcement of a Cast Stainless Steel with WC-MMC. Mater. Proc. 2022, 8, 124. https://doi.org/10.3390/materproc2022008124
AMA Style
Moreira AB, Ribeiro LMM, Vieira MF. An Investigation on the Reinforcement of a Cast Stainless Steel with WC-MMC. Materials Proceedings. 2022; 8(1):124. https://doi.org/10.3390/materproc2022008124
Chicago/Turabian StyleMoreira, Aida B., Laura M. M. Ribeiro, and Manuel F. Vieira. 2022. "An Investigation on the Reinforcement of a Cast Stainless Steel with WC-MMC" Materials Proceedings 8, no. 1: 124. https://doi.org/10.3390/materproc2022008124
