Investigation on wear resistance of insitu (Ti,V)C reinforced Fe-based composite material

A series of Fe-Ti-V-C hardfacing alloys with different vadium contents were prepared by laser cladding. The microstructure and carbides morphology were investigated by means of optical microscope(OM) scanning electron microscopy(SEM) and X-ray diffraction(XRD). The results shows that the matrix transforms from ferrite to ferrite plus martensite, the volume fraction of primary (Ti,V)C complex carbides increase as the V content increase, the morphology of primary (Ti,V)C changes from globular to exploded shape when the V content is higher than 13.3%. In addition, the results of wet sand rubber wear tests indicate that proper V content significantly improves the abrasion resistance of hardfacing alloys. when V content is 13.3%, the microstructure characteristic with a high volume fraction of globular(Ti,V)C complex carbides are distributed uniformly and dispersly in the ferrite and lath martensite matrix, which suggests that the cladding layer has a excellent wear resistance.