Structure and properties of graphene reinforced ti-based composite coatings on tc4 alloy

The work aims to study the graphene reinforced titanium-based composite coating is prepared on the surface of TC4 alloy by argon arc cladding technology to improve its wear resistance. In this work, the Graphene power and Ti powder are ball-milled and mixed. The mixed powder was coated on the surface of TC4 alloy, and the ceramic particle-reinforced titanium-based cladding coating is prepared by alloy melting the precoated powder by argon arc cladding technology. The phase of the cladding coating was analyzed by X-ray diffraction analyzer. The composition and distribution of ceramic particles in cladding coating was analyzed by optical microscope and scanning electron microscope and optical microscope. Microhardness and wear properties of the cladding coating was measured by vickers hardness tester and universal friction and wear tester. The thickness of cladding coating of this paper is 1.0 mm, without obvious defects like pores, cracks on the surface and cross section.The phases of the cladding coating mainly include α-Ti and TiC. However, the results show that the microstructure of different areas in the coating is different. The dendrite structure is mainly distributed in the middle and upper part of the coating, while the dendrites in the bottom part decrease gradually. The cladding coating and the substrate are metallurgically bonded, and the structure is dense. The enhanced phase is granular and petal. The microhardness of the coating is as high as 845.4HV, the wear loss of, the pure copper matrix and the cladding layer is 0.153 g and 0.0123 g under the same wear conditions, respectively. and the wear amount of the cladding layer is significantly reduced; there is no adhesion mark on the wear of the cladding coating, and the wear mechanism is abrasive wear. Compared with the pure copper matrix, the microhardness of the cladding layer is increased by about 2.5 times, and the wear resistance increased by 12 times. The TiC ceramic particle cladding coating can significantly improve the wear resistance of theTC4 alloy surface.