Surface Wear Improvement of Al-Alloys by Amorphous Iron-Based Flame-Sprayed Coatings

Partially amorphous iron-based coatings were produced onto aluminium using a powder flame-spraying process with a commercially available feedstock powder (Nanosteel SHS-7170) obtained from the Nanosteel Company Inc.. Several coating properties such as the microstructure, porosity, phase content, micro-hardness, and wear resistance were evaluated in the as-sprayed condition. As shown by the results obtained, the powder flame iron-based coatings perform relatively well in term of wear resistance in comparison with similar coatings produced using other expensive thermal spray techniques. Furthermore, this study shows that all the coating properties (microstructure, porosity, phase content, hardness and wear performance) depend strongly on the flame spraying parameters used. Finally, this paper demonstrates clearly that the flame-spray process may be used to produce amorphous iron-based coatings having a good wear resistance, and that this process appears to be a suitable inexpensive alternative to plasma or HVOF processes based on the present results.