Tungsten Carbide-Nickel (WC-Ni) Coating as Potential Wear and Corrosion Protection for Metal

Tungsten carbide-based composite / cermet coatings have been deposited to improve metal properties such as hardness, corrosion resistance, and wear resistance. In this study, the evaluation of two deposition methods, which are high velocity oxy-fuel (HVOF) and electrodeposition (ED) is done to compare their performance as metal protection from corrosion and wear. The HVOF powder was deposited using oxygen and natural compress gas and sprayed at 700 m/s. Watt’s Bath was used as an electrolyte in ED coating method. The corrosion and wear behavior was assessed using electrochemical and weight loss methods, respectively. The HVOF coating shows more positive corrosion potential, Ecorr at -0.75 V showing higher corrosion resistance than the ED coating at 1.15 V. The wear rate for HVOF coating is lower than the ED coating at 0.0001 g/m compared to ED coating at 0.0002 g/m. In can be concluded that the HVOF coating has higher wear and corrosion resistance compared to ED coating.