The surface of key components in marine engineering equipment is continuously exposed to corrosion, wear, and other damages, which directly determine service life and reliability. High-entropy alloys (HEAs), due to their tendency to form a single solid solution phase, can simultaneously offer excellent mechanical properties as well as wear and corrosion resistance. Laser cladding features a rapid cooling rate, and the powder experiences rapid melting/solidification, which is similar to a short-term artificial aging treatment, thus increases the coating hardness but may also introduce higher residual stress. In this work, Fe-based amorphous alloy powder is selected as the binder to reduce cracking and improve compatibility between the coating and the steel substrate. Thus, a NiCrMo HEA coating modified with Fe-based amorphous powder is prepared via laser cladding. The hardness, wear resistance, corrosion resistance, and the stability of the passive film under wear-corrosion coupling are characterized by Vickers hardness tests, sliding wear tests, and three-electrode electrochemical tests. The microstructure and wear scar morphology are analyzed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and three-dimensional profilometer. Ni, Cr, and Mo powders (99.99% purity) and Fe-based amorphous alloy powder (Fe77Si9B14) at 0, 10, and 20wt.% are mixed by ball milling, followed by vacuum drying for 24 h. Before cladding, the substrate is degreased using a Mopa laser. The main cladding parameters are as follows: laser power of 2 000 W, scan speed of 600 mm/min; the laser head is tilted by 10° with -6 mm defocus; spot diameter of 3 mm, overlap rate of 50%, powder feeding rate of 10 g/min, protective gas pressure of 10 L/min, and protective gas flow rate of 10 L/min. After cladding, the samples are air-cooled to room temperature, cut by wire cutting, and ground and polished to a mirror surface for microstructural observation and phase identification by SEM and X-ray diffraction (XRD). The wear behavior is tested with a reciprocating tribometer, and the corrosion behavior is tested with an electrochemical workstation. The stability of the passive film under wear-corrosion coupling is tested by coupling the electrochemical workstation with the tribometer (detailed parameters and equipment information will be given later). XRD and microstructural observation indicate that the coating mainly contains FCC, BCC, and σ phases, with a typical dendrite-interdendrite structure and an obvious eutectic structure evolution. The introduction of an appropriate amount of Fe-based amorphous powder into the NiCrMo matrix significantly increases hardness and reaching 1 200HV0.2, which is 1.3 times higher than that of the NiCrMo coating. However, the hardness increase is not linear with Fe-based amorphous powder content. When the Fe-based amorphous powder content increases to 20wt.%, the average hardness decreases to 723HV0.2. Under room-temperature dry sliding, the friction coefficient becomes more stable after adding Fe-based amorphous powder, and the wear scar changes from severe spalling to smooth furrows, indicating that the wear mechanism changes from adhesive wear to abrasive wear. Under a stable open-circuit potential, the passive current density decreases from 1 mA to 100 μA, reducing by one order of magnitude. The double-layer structure increases charge transfer resistance and thereby reduces the corrosion current density. The coating with 10wt.% Fe-based amorphous powder shows the response closest to an ideal capacitor and exhibits the best corrosion resistance. In the passive film, Cr2O3 serves as a protective framework and reacts with water to form Cr(OH)3, contributing to film stability. Mo4+ (MoO2) enhances passive film stability, while Mo6+ (MoO42-) can migrate to defect sites to inhibit pitting corrosion. The formation of SiO2-Cr2O3 composite oxides by Si and Cr further enhances film stability. Under wear-corrosion coupling, the stability of the passive film is significantly improved, and the friction coefficient trends in electrolyte are consistent with those under dry sliding conditions. The NiCrMo/ Fe-based amorphous powder system combines the hardness of Fe-based amorphous and the corrosion resistance of NiCrMo, resulting in excellent wear and corrosion resistance.
Key words
laser cladding /
NiCrMo /
amorphous powder /
wear and corrosion resistance
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Funding
The Key Research and Development Program of Shandong Province (2023CXGC010406, 2023ZLGX05); The Key Program of National Natural Science Foundation of China (52331004); The National Natural Science Foundation of China-Shandong Joint Fund for Marine Science Research Centers (U2106216); The National Natural Science Foundation of Chian (52101188); The Key Program of Natural Science Foundation of Shandong Province of China (ZR2022ZD12 and ZR2024ZD14); The Qingdao Marine Science and Technology Innovation Project (25-1-1-gjgg-44-hy); The Taishan Scholars of Climbing Plan (tspd20230603)
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