WC-Co coatings are widely used on critical components such as marine helicopter landing gears. In actual marine service environments, corrosion, wear, and their synergistic effects can drastically accelerate coating damage. Clarifying the evolution law of coating failures under complex marine conditions is an urgent need to ensure the long-term safe service of marine equipment.
To investigate the tribo-corrosion behavior and failure mechanisms of WC-14Co coatings in simulated seawater environments at different pH values, a 3.5% NaCl solution was employed to simulate the marine environment. Tribo-corrosion behavior was examined in the 3.5% NaCl solution at pH values of 3, 5, 7, 9, and 11 through electrochemical testing and sliding tribo-corrosion testing. A deep-field microscope, an optical 3D profilometer, and a scanning electron microscope were used to observe the cross-sections of the coating surface and the morphology of wear scars, and to obtain parameters such as 2D profiles and wear volume; A fully automatic Vickers hardness tester was used to measure the microhardness of the coating, and an X-ray photoelectron spectrometer was employed to analyze the corrosion products. For coating preparation, 30CrMnSiA steel was used as the substrate. After thoroughly cleaning the substrate surface, it was subject to sandblasting. Using a JP-5000 flame spraying system with an oxygen flow rate of 49 m3/h, a kerosene flow rate of 22.5 L/h, a spraying distance of 330 mm, and a powder feed rate of 65 g/min, a WC-14Co coating approximately 250 μm thick was deposited onto the steel surface. For the electrochemical tests, a saturated calomel electrode (SCE) served as the reference electrode, a Pt electrode as the auxiliary electrode, and the test specimen as the working electrode. The pH was adjusted using 0.1 mol/L NaOH solution and 0.1 mol/L HCl solution. When it came to sliding tribo-corrosion testing, a ball-on-plate contact configuration was employed, with a 6-mm-diameter YG6 tungsten steel ball as the wear partner. The test parameters were set as follows: load of 150 N, test duration of 60 min, wear frequency of 5 Hz, and displacement amplitude of 4 mm.
The results indicated that within the pH range of 3-7, both the self-corrosion current density and the wear volume of the coating decreased gradually as the pH increased. At pH=7, both the self-corrosion current density and wear volume of the coating reached their minimum values, at 1.073×10-5 A/cm2 and 6.1×10-2 mm3, respectively. When the pH ranged from 7 to 11, both the self-corrosion current density and wear volume of the coating gradually increased as the pH rose. The total volume loss due to corrosion and wear in different pH environments was primarily attributed to pure wear volume loss. The synergistic effect of corrosion and wear was significantly suppressed in neutral environments (accounting for only 4.78%), while it was substantially enhanced in acidic and alkaline environments, reaching as high as 34.14% in strongly alkaline environments. The failure mechanism of the coating in acidic, neutral, and weakly alkaline environments is the dissolution of the Co binder phase and slight oxidation of the WC hard phase, whereas in strongly alkaline environments, the failure mechanism is a dual failure involving the dissolution of the Co binder phase and the erosion of the WC hard phase.
Key words
WC-14Co coating /
tribo-corrosion /
pH value /
synergistic effect /
failure mechanism
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Funding
Sichuan Provincial Science and Technology Program (2022ZYD0029); National Key R&D Program of China (2024YFC3908103)
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