Heat Treatment Effects on Mechanical Properties of Atmospheric Plasma Sprayed FexB Coatings on Al Substrate

In this work, we draw attention to determination of heat-treatment effects on mechanical properties of atmospheric plasma sprayed (APS) FexB coatings on aluminum substrates by micro-indentation technique. With this regard, iron boride powders of Fe-18.8B-0.2C-0.5Si-0.8Al (wt.%) were deposited onto Al substrates by APS in order to improve the mechanical properties of Al surface. As-sprayed coatings are composed of mainly FexB and iron matrix supersaturated with boron owing to the rapid solidification of molten droplets flattened on a substrate. It was observed that APS coatings exhibited characteristic wavy layered structure having porosity, inclusions, and semi-melted particles. The postfurnace treatment of APS coatings was carried out at temperatures ranged from 450 to 550 degrees C in an argon atmosphere. The post-treatment applied for APS deposits led to increase in hardness of 40% without showing cracks. Furthermore, micro-mechanical properties of FexB coatings were examined by Shimadzu Dynamic Ultra-Microhardness Tester for estimating Young's modulus and hardness due to load-unload sensing analysis by applying different loads such as 160, 320, and 640 mN to determine load and indentation depth dependency of APS FexB on Al substrate for each samples, in details