The Effect of Spray Distance on Porosity, Surface Roughness and Microhardness of WC-10Co-4Cr Coatings Deposited by HVOF

Abstract The paper presents the computational studies on the microstructure of WC-Co-Cr coatings deposited by High Velocity Oxy Fuel spraying (HVOF). The study covers the porosity assessment according to ASTM E2109-01 standard, carried out in ImageJ software, in terms of volume porosity, size and shape of the pores. The evaluation was preceded by scanning electron microscope (SEM) observations at magnifications of 2000x and 5000x. Additionally, topography analysis has been performed by confocal laser scanning microscope (CLSM), and the surface roughness Ra was evaluated by the contact method with use of a stylus profilometer. Finally, the influence of porosity was observed for coatings microhardness HV0.3. According to the results, the total closed porosity was found to be in the range of 5.01 vol.% and 5.38 vol.%. The dominated pores in the coatings were of size 0.1-1.0 μm. Studies showed that HVOF process enabled deposition of dense coatings, characterized by homogenous distribution of pores and low roughness.