Investigations on flexural performance and residual stresses in nanometric WC-12Co microwave clads

Abstract

The flexural strength and residual stresses significantly influence the mechanical, structural and tribological performance of the coatings/claddings on metallic substrates. In this study, micrometric and nanometric WC-12Co clad were developed on stainless steel substrates using microwave hybrid heating technique. The flexural strength of the WC-12Co clads was evaluated using a three-point bend test. The nanometric clads exhibited approximately 14% higher flexural strength compared to the micrometric clads. The presence of eutectics of nanocarbides in the nanometric clads restricted crack propagation in the decohered ductile metallic matrix. The residual stresses in the micrometric and nanometric clads were evaluated through the sin2ψ technique using X-ray diffraction. The nature of residual stresses was observed to be compressive in the micrometric and nanometric clads. However, the magnitude of the stresses in the nanometric clads was observed to be ~68% higher than the micrometric clads. © 2016.