Effect of oxyacetylene flame remelting on wear behaviour of supersonic air-plasma sprayed NiCrBSi/h-BN composite coatings

NiCrBSi alloy coatings are widely used in wear and corrosion protection at higher temperature. As a primary hard phase forming element, B element can effectively improve the coating hardness. In this study, the low coefficient of friction of BN with three ratios (10%, 20%, and 30%) was added in order to reduce the wear rate and provide additional B element. The NiCrBSi/h-BN composite coatings were successfully prepared on a cast-iron substrate using supersonic air-plasma spray technology. The phase constitution, microstructure characterization, and microhardness of the coatings before and after oxyacetylene flame remelting were investigated by means of scanning electron microscope (SEM), X-ray diffraction, and energy dispersive analysis of X-ray techniques, respectively. The wear resistance of composite coatings was also tested in this paper. It was found that the microstructure was well refined by remelting treatment and this was beneficial for the adherence between the coating and the substrate, which was nearly 33MPa. The wear resistance of the NiCrBSi alloy coating was also improved with the increasing component of h-BN in remelted samples. When the h-BN content reached 30%, the friction coefficient decreased to 0.38 for the remelted coating. The effect of the remelting process on the anti-abrasive property and extension of the material's wear life was quite important.