Experimental investigation of wear behaviour of WC-10Co-4Cr-coated SS304 on slurry pot tester

Purpose The paper aims to investigate the effects of slurry erosion on hydro turbine components, focusing on the experimental analysis of SS-304 using sand as the erodent material. The study was conducted on a tester under varying parameters to assess the material’s erosion behavior. In this work, the experimental investigation of SS-304 with sand was done with sand as the erodent material on a tester with various parameters. Further, the materials were made more resistant to wear by a WC-10Co-4Cr coating, done by the high-velocity oxygen fuel method. The mass loss of the specimens with and without coating was calculated. SEM was carried out on the specimens. The specimens with coating showed greater erosion resistance than the base material; however, wear mechanisms such as craters, lip formation, pores, etc. were discovered on the specimens. Design/methodology/approach The wear tests were carried out on the specimens with parameters of rotating speeds of 1,000, 1,150, 1,300 and 1,450 rpm; time duration 80, 130 and 180 min with sand concentrations of 30% and 50% in water. The base material was coated with WC-10Co-4Cr by the HVOF method of thermal spray. Findings In the results, it was observed that the wear resistance of the coated specimen increased significantly as compared to the uncoated material. Concentration proved to be the major factor influencing the wear erosion followed by rotational speed and time period. Various surface defects such as ploughing, crater formation, lip formation and micro-cutting were also found. Originality/value Slurry concentration was found to be the more dominant factor in increasing the wear of the specimens. The tests proved that the coating proved to be highly wear-resistant as compared to the uncoated base material and increased the wear resistance up to 3 times.