High Cavitation Resistance Performance of Al0.3CoCrFeNi Coating Reinforced by Ternary Cr2AlC Compound

Cavitation resistance in hydraulic machinery requires the turbine and water pump surface to simultaneously possess high hardness and plasticity. To keep the FCC structure of the AlxCoCrFeNi alloy matrix and introduce the particle strengthening effects, the suitable weight content of Cr2AlC particles was calculated and added into Al0.3CoCrFeNi powders. Due to the decomposition of Cr2AlC during laser cladding, the microhardness of Al0.3CoCrFeNi was enhanced by Al atoms and the eutectic-like Cr7C3 structure. In comparison with 5.81 GPa of Al0.3CoCrFeNi coating measured by nanoindentation, the values of the eutectic-like structure and the matrix were measured as 7.76 GPa and 5.93 GPa in 12 wt.% Cr2AlC/Al0.3CoCrFeNi coating. Attributed to the pinning effect of hard Cr7C3 and high plastic matrix, the mass loss was reduced from 7.25 × 10−4 g/mm2 for Al0.3CoCrFeNi coating to 1.91 × 10−4 g/mm2 Cr2AlC/Al0.3CoCrFeNi coating with a ratio of 73.8%.