Study of worn weld deposit with added tungsten carbide particles

Nowadays we can see the application of special protective surface layers, which perform many different functions. These protective layers are applied and used to protect components against wear that occurs in various forms in the construction, mining and metal industries. Among these so-called protective layers we can include special hard-facing, using metal matrix (in the context of this article alloyed iron matrix) in combination with tungsten carbide particles that can be assigned to a group of composite materials. High hardness of the carbides combined with the use of relatively tough matrix allows us to get high
wear resistance. This resistance then considerably increases the service life of machine parts and significantly contributes to reducing the expenses of industrial companies to repair or replacement of the worn parts. The main focus of this article is to study characteristics of generated weld deposit with tungsten carbide reinforced iron matrix on common structural steel S235JR substrate. This includes the evaluation of hardness of formed layer and its resistance to the abrasive wear. Lower wear resistance of high boron A864 M layer with externally incorporated tungsten carbide particles was observed compared to standard F-Durit G iron based layer with microscopic tungsten carbide particles included in cored wire. This is the result of the fact that most of big tungsten carbide particles were placed on the bottom of the weld deposit and do not protect the surface of the weld deposit effectively.