An Investigation of the CSC-MIG Welding Process for Deposition of Conventional, Ultrafine and Nanostructured MMC Coatings

Welding based coating deposition techniques allow high rates of material deposition and form a permanent metallurgical bond between the coating and the substrate material. Welding based methods can also provide an economic alternative over other industrial coating deposition processes where high initial capital investment and running costs can be restrictive. As with all technological sectors, the need for new and improved machinery and processes to meet industrial needs provides a drive for continued research. The controlled short-circuit MIG (CSC-MIG) welding system is a newly developed welding apparatus built to overcome several shortcomings associated with traditional MIG welding. It allows for greater control of many welding parameters and has reduced heat input during deposition when compared with conventional MIG welding systems. This project was conducted to understand the CSC-MIG welding system as a process and as a hardfacing deposition technique through examination of the microstructural features and transformations of Ni/WC coatings.;This thesis contains the first journal articles submitted for publication using results from experiments conducted with a CSC-MIG welding system.;Several coatings deposited with a Ni/WC electrode wire, with heat input ranging between 10 J/mm and 110 J/mm, were examined. It was found that the detrimental decarburization reactions acting on the WC particles, as seen in thermal spray systems, do not occur when welding with the CSC-MIG. Although the energy input during welding with the CSC-MIG system is significantly lower than for traditional MIG, dissolution of the reinforcing phase is an issue to be contended with and must be minimized through proper selection of welding parameters. Precipitation of a reaction layer around the WC/W2C reinforcing phase was identified as WC; the average thickness of which increased from 3.8 mum to 7.2 mum for the low and high heat input condition, respectively. Precipitation of newly formed WC particles was also observed; their size distribution increased from D50 = 2.4 mum in the low heat input weldment to D50 = 6.75 mum in the high heat input weldment. The hardness of the deposited coatings decreased from 587 HV10 to 410 HV 10 when the energy input was increased from 10.1 J/mm to 108.7 J/mm. Using a pre-placed powder method, as in submerged arc welding, several coatings were embedded with either conventional, ultrafine or nanostructured WC powder. In the analysis of these tests, it was found that the method of embedding the WC particles into the coating had an effect on the overall dissolution of the reinforcing phase. Although the loss of the nanostructure was observed in coatings embedded with the nanostructured WC feedstock, the precipitation of ultrafine WC single crystals is likely to increase the wear resistance compared with conventional sized WC additions.