Sunday, March 4, 2018

The Overall Methods Of Tungsten Carbide Coatings Application

By Richard Patterson


Tungsten is a wolframite metallic chemical element that is believed to have a very high adhesive power. On the other hand, carbide is a carbon alloy consisting of a semiconductor with a cohesive ability. A blend of the two chemical components forms a highly adhesive and cohesive, wear resistance coating to vexing, erosion and fretting. The tungsten carbide coatings are majorly applied by thermal sprays to achieve the densest and most well-bounded coatings.

Several techniques which include: thermal and plasma sprays are employed to get the opted coating texture which primarily depends on the application procedures used. A further coating operation is usually used which is aimed for secondary and tertiary fusibility purposes to produce a stronger metallic luster. It thus portrays appealing results and facilitates consistency in application.

The application process entails a sequential chemical procedure. A fuel gas together with oxygen is com-busted in high pressure and temperature chamber. This produces a hot, high-pressure gas which is jetted through the minute radial nozzle. It is also accelerated at turbo speed in a long barrel. Tungsten carbide powder is then injected into the nozzle to blend with the high-velocity gas.

The speeding mixture of the powder and the gases impart terrific amounts of the motion energy, including the kinetic energy on the on the injected powder particles. This makes the energetic particles to strike the surface making the velocity to yield zero and also the adoption of the kinetic energy which makes them cling instantly to the workpiece in question. This results in the formation of a very dense, cohesive and adhesive coating. Therefore, low porosity and a high bond strength coating are realized.

In instances where the specific coating is needed, a binder material is chemically mixed with the carbide compound. This yields a harder component with relatively a higher melting point due to its brittleness. The resulting coating manifests hardness and higher resistance to frictional wear. This is centrally determined by the grain size and the volume of the binder material used.

Similarly, the chemical procedure employed instills a greater influence on the coating characteristics and its ability to withstand abrasive processes like erosion, corrosion and wear. Owing to the above features, the coating technique is widely applicable in industrial production. For instance, in paper production where the rolling surface is coated to attain the desired paper output regarding quality and texture specifically.

Similarly, the coating is applicable in power generation mostly where coal is the chief fuel source. This is because the component surfaces must be keenly protected from extreme cases of gouging like an abrasion. Also, the coating is also widely used in steel and metal products throughout the entire process. It thus accrues a benefit in that it dramatically manifests reduced maintenance costs and advanced production quality.

The introduction of these coatings has accrued tantamount benefits in the engineering community. It has led to operational and maintenance cost reduction in the cases of entirely solid plants that involved combustion chambers in their production. Therefore, it has led to obsolesce of other coating methods like hard chromium coatings which are characterized by undesirable attributes.




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