Investigation of wear, hardness, microstructure properties and corrosion resistance of coated st52 steel by WC-Ni particles produced by tungsten -gas arc welding process

In this study, surface alloying of steel ST52 was carried out by gas tungsten arc welding using shielding gas and tungsten carbide powder. To evaluate the metallurgical structure, wear and corrosion resistance properties of the coating, optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), hardness and potentiostat test is used. Corrosion test of prepared samples evaluated by uniform corrosion tests. Microstructural evaluation of corrosion surfaces was performed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The results of worn surfaces by SEM showed in general, increasing the amount of reinforcing particles of WC increased matrix resistance against deformation and ultimately improve the wear resistance of the samples. Also, the most wear resistance of the sample is obtained with 20 percent of the WC. Corrosion test results showed that the uniform corrosion potential of samples increased by increasing reinforcement phase compared to steel potential. Also, with increasing percentages of tungsten carbide reinforcing particles corrosion resistance of samples has increased.