G.R.C.Pradeep et. al.

/ International Journal of Engineering Science and Technology

Vol. 2(11), 2010, 6507-6510

A REVIEW PAPER ON HARDFACING

PROCESSES AND MATERIALS
G.R.C. PRADEEP*,
Research Scholar, Dept of Mechanical Engg, JNTUA, Anantapur, India
&
Associate Professor, Dept of Mechanical Engg, S.V. Institute of Technology, Hampapuram, Anantapur (Dt),
A. RAMESH,
Principal, Gates Institute of Technology, Gootyanantapuram (Vill), Gooty, Anantapur, India

B. DURGA PRASAD

Associate Professor, Dept of Mechanical Engg, JNTUCEA, Anantapur, India

Abstract:

Wear is the predominant factor that controls the life of any machine part. Metal parts often fail their intended
use not because they fracture, but because they wear, which causes them to lose dimension and functionality.
Different categories of wear exist, but the most typical modes are – Abrasion, Impact, Metallic (metal to metal),
Heat, Corrosion etc. Most worn parts don't fail from a single mode of wear, such as impact, but from a
combination of modes, such as abrasion and impact etc. Research is going on over years to reduce the wear
either in the form of using a new wear resistant material or by improving the wear resistance of the existing
material by addition of any wear resistant alloying element etc. Many methods are in practice. In the last years
hardfacing became an issue of intense development related to wear resistant applications. In this paper an
attempt has been made to review few hardfacing processes and materials used for the same and the current
research being done.
Key Words: Hardfacing, Welding, Weld Consumables, Wear resistance

1. Introduction
Hardfacing, also known as “Hardsurfacing”, is the application of build-up of deposits of specialized alloys by
means of welding process to resist abrasion, corrosion, high temperature, or impact. Such an alloy may be
deposited on the surface, an edge, or merely the point of a part subject to wear. Welding deposits can
functionalize surfaces and reclaim components extending their service life [Agustín et al., (2010)]. Welding is a
key technology to fulfil these requirements and to apply hardfacing alloys [Kirchgaßner et al., (2008)].
A hard-faced part should be thought of as a composite, with the base material selected for strength and
economy, and the hard-facing material (which might be unsuitable as well as too costly for use in fabricating the
complete part) selected for the specific wearing conditions to which the critical sections of the part will be
subjected in service. Hardfacing may be applied to a new part during its production, or it may be used to restore
a worn-down surface. Hard-facing increases the service life of a part and there by extend the lifetime of
machinery equipment efficiently [Kirchgaßner et al., (2008)]. Core components such as crushers are exposed to
heavy wear and require efficient surface protection measures to avoid costly downtimes and to reduce costs for
expensive spare parts [Kirchgaßner et al., (2008)]. This process has been adopted across many industries such as
Cement, Mining, Steel, Petro-chemical, Power, Sugar cane and Food [Kirchgaßner et al., (2008)].

2. Hardfacing Processes

Hardfacing can be applied by a number of welding processes. Selection of the most suitable welding process for
a given job will depend on a number of factors like: Nature of Work to be Hardfaced, Function of the
component, Base metal composition, Size and shape of component, Accessibility of Weld equipment, State of
repair of worn components, Number of same or similar items to be hardfaced etc. There are various processes
for Hardfacing. They can be grouped in the following ways:
 Hardfacing by Arc Welding - Shielded Metal Arc Welding [Amado et al., (2008)], Flux Cored Arc Welding
[John J. Coronado et al., (2009)], Submerged Arc Welding [Chang et al., (2003)].

 
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Vol. 2(11), 2010, 6507-6510

 Hardfacing by Gas Welding - Deposition by Oxy-Acetylene Gas Welding [Buchely et al., (2005)].
 Hardfacing by combination of Arc and Gas - Tungsten Inert Gas Welding [Kashani et al., (2007)], Gas
Metal Arc Welding [Fouilland et al., (2009)].
 Powder Spraying - Flame Spraying [Navas et al., (2006)], High Velocity Oxy-Fuel Process [Lin M.C. et al.,
(2006)], Electric Arc Spraying [Vernon E. Buchanan, (2009)], Plasma Transferred Arc [D’Oliveira et al.,
(2002)] etc.
 Laser Hardfacing (Laser Cladding) [Qian Ming et al., (1998)].

3. Weld Consumables and Base Materials in Hardfacing

3.1 Weld Consumables

Many different hard-facing alloys are available. They fall into four general categories:
 Low-alloy iron-base alloys [Berns et al., (1997)], materials, containing up to 12% alloy components,
usually chromium [Berns et al., (1997)], molybdenum [Xinhong et al., (2008)], and manganese [Jun–ki et
al., (2001)].
 High-alloy iron-base alloys, materials with 12-50% alloy content; in addition to the chromium found in all
iron- base hard-facing alloys, some of these alloys may also contain nickel [EL Mansori et al., (2007)] or
cobalt [Fouilland et al., (2009)].
 The cobalt-base [Fouilland et al., (2009)] and nickel-base alloys [EL Mansori et al., (2007)], which contain
relatively small amounts of iron (1.3 to 12.5%). Of these, the most costly, but also the most versatile, are
the cobalt-chromium-tungsten alloys [Riddihough, (1970)]. All the cobalt- base and nickel-base alloys have
high resistance to corrosion and oxidation; they possess low coefficients of friction, making them especially
suitable for applications involving metal-to-metal wear; and they are almost always selected for
applications involving temperatures of 5500C or higher. The cobalt-base alloys retain much of their original
hardness at red heat (8000C).
 Tungsten carbide materials [Blombery et al, (1974)]. Tungsten carbide is one of the hardest materials
available for industrial use. It cannot be melted by any flame. It is also rather brittle. For hard-facing
purposes, it is crushed and applied in conjunction with a “binding” metal. The tungsten carbide particles are
usually enclosed in a steel tube rod. Recently, a tube rod enclosing tungsten and vanadium carbides has
been introduced. It is said to give more uniform surface coverage than the straight tungsten carbide rod.

3.2 Base Materials

Almost 85% of the metal produced and used is steel. The term steel encompasses many types of metals made
principally of iron. The various types of steels used in the industry for making different components for different
applications are grouped in to the following types:
 Low-Carbon Steels and Low-alloy Steels - These steels include those in the AISI series C-1008 to C-1020
[Wang et al., (2008)]. Carbon ranges from 0.10 to 0.25%, manganese ranges from 0.25 to 1.5%,
phosphorous is 0.4% maximum, and sulfur is 0.5% maximum. Steels in this range are most widely used for
industrial fabrication and construction. These steels can be easily welded with any of the arc, gas, and
resistance welding processes. The low-alloy high-strength steels represent the bulk of the remaining steels
in the AISI designation system. These steels include the low-manganese steels, the low-to-medium nickel
steels, the low nickel-chromium steels, the molybdenum steels, the chromium-molybdenum steels, and the
nickel-chromium-molybdenum steels. These alloys are included in AISI series 2315, 2515, and 2517.
Carbon ranges from 0.12-0.30%, manganese from 0.40-0.60%, silicon from 0.20-0.45% & nickel from
3.25-5.25%.
 Medium-Carbon Steels - These steels include those in the AISI series C-1025 to C-1050 [Wang et al.,
(2005)]. The composition is similar to low-carbon steels, except that the carbon ranges from 0.25 to 0.50%
and manganese from 0.60 to 1.65%. Medium-carbon steels are readily weldable provided some precautions
are observed. These steels can be welded with all of the processes mentioned above.
 High-Carbon Steels - These steels include those in the AISI series from C-1050 [Kwok et al., (2001)] to
C-1095. The composition is similar to medium-carbon steels, except that carbon ranges from 0.30 to 1.00%.
Special precautions must be taken when welding steels in these classes. High-carbon steels can be welded
with the same processes mentioned previously.
 Other steels are Low-Nickel Chrome Steels (AISI 3120, 3135, 3140, 3310, and 3316), Low-Manganese
Steels (AISI 1320, 1330, 1335, 1340, and 1345), Low-Alloy Chromium Steels (AISI 5015 to 5160 and the

 
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Vol. 2(11), 2010, 6507-6510

electric furnace steels 50100, 51100, and 52100) which can be welded without special precautions when
carbon is at low end of the range.

4. Results and Discussion from Current Research

Research is going on in the area of Hardfacing using various processes and different weld consumables and
different base materials mentioned above. Most of the research is carried out studying the wear characterisation,
as the basic aim of hardfacing is to improve or extend the life of various components used across the industry
owing to the high cost of replacement of original part.
The different hardfacing layers produced by shield manual arc welding (SMAW) process with a bare
electrode coated with fluxes and to which different measures of ferrotitanium (Fe–Ti), ferrovanadium (Fe–V),
ferromolybdenum (Fe–Mo) and graphite had been added showed good resistance to cracking and wear when the
amounts of graphite, Fe–Ti, Fe–V and Fe–Mo were controlled within a range of 8–10%, 12–15%, 10–12% and
2–4%, respectively [Xinhong et al., (2008)]. The coated tubular electrodes presented a favorable performance in
comparison to the conventional coated electrode, making possible to reach lower dilutions yet keeping the same
deposition rates. These results encourage further researches aiming the exploitation of this fabrication
conception of SMAW electrodes [Amado et al., (2008)]. FCAW welds presented higher abrasive wear
resistance than the SMAW deposits [John et al., (2009)]. Fe-based hardfacing alloys containing molybdenum
compound have been deposited on AISI 1020 steel substrates by shield manual arc welding (SMAW) process.
The hardfacing layer with good cracking resistance and wear resistance could be obtained when the amounts of
Fe–Mo was controlled within a range of 3–4 wt.%. The improvement of hardness and wear resistance of the
hardfacing layers attributed to the formation of Mo2C carbide and the solution strengthening of Mo [X.H.Wang
et al., (2008)].
Gas welding is often a convenient and relatively inexpensive method of applying wear-resistant surface
coatings [Bell, (1972)]. In the analysis of microstructure and properties of TiC particles reinforced Fe-based
surface composite coatings produced by gas tungsten arc welding (GTAW), the results showed that in situ
synthesized TiC particle reinforced composite coatings can be achieved under suitable welding parameters. The
wear resistance of multi-layers composite coatings is about three to four times higher than that of 1045 steel
substrate [X.H.Wang et al., (2006)]. A multiple carbide particle reinforced Fe-based surface coating has been in
situ synthesized by gas tungsten arc welding (GTAW) melting a precursor mixture of graphite, ferrotitanium
(Fe–Ti) and ferrovanadium (Fe–V) alloy powders on AISI 1020 steel substrate. The results showed that (Ti,V)C
multiple carbide particle and TiC carbide particle can be synthesized via reaction of Fe–Ti, Fe–V and graphite
during GTAW melting process [Wang Xinhong et al., (2009)].
A series of high chromium Fe–Cr–C hardfacing alloys were produced by gas tungsten arc welding (GTAW).
Chromium and graphite alloy fillers were used to deposit coatings on ASTM A36 steel substrates. X-ray
diffraction analysis and microstructure characteristics showed Cr–Fe solid solution (α), (Cr,Fe)23C6 and trace
amounts of (Cr,Fe)7C3. Massive (Cr,Fe)23C6 contain (Cr,Fe)7C3 in the center, and causes high hardness value up
to HRC 70 [Fan et al., (2006)]. A series of high carbon Fe–Cr–C hardfacing alloys were produced by gas
tungsten arc welding (GTAW). Chromium and graphite alloy fillers were used to deposit hardfacing alloys on
ASTM A36 steel substrates. Depending on the four different graphite additions in these alloy fillers, this
research produced hypereutectic microstructures of Fe–Cr phase and (Cr,Fe)7C3 carbides on hard-facing alloys.
The microstructural results indicated that primary (Cr,Fe)7C3 carbides and eutectic colonies of [Cr–
Fe+(Cr,Fe)7C3] existed in hardfacing alloys. With increasing the C contents of the hardfacing alloys, the fraction
of primary (Cr,Fe)7C3 carbides increased and their size decreased. The hardness of hardfacing alloys increased
with fraction of primary (Cr.Fe)7C3 carbides [Choa-Ming et al., (2010)].
The FE-based hardfacing alloy has excellent wear resistance, excellent cavitation erosion resistance, and
excellent corrosion resistance, thereby being substituted for a cobalt-based satellite alloy, which has been used
for the hardfacing of a nuclear power plant valve. When the provided Fe-based hardfacing alloy is used for the
hardfacing of the nuclear power plant valve, inexpensive Fe can be substituted for expensive Co and radiation
fields formed by 58Co and 60Co radioactive isotopes can be efficiently reduced [Seon-Jin Kim et al., (2005)].
A Cobalt-based alloy composition having a relatively small lanthanum addition and relatively large carbon
content provides remarkable oxidation resistance and wear resistance at high temperatures. The Cobalt based
alloy composition has a suitable combination of ductility and wear resistance at high temperatures to be
effective as a hardface material for limiting the effects of chattering of blades during the operation of a gas
turbine engine [James E. Arnold, Wayne C.Blake, (2006)].

5. Conclusions
 Hardfacing is the most versatile process to improve the life of the worn out component
 Hardfacing is the best chosen process these days for reducing the cost of replacement.

 
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 Hardfacing reduces downtime because parts last longer and fewer shutdowns are required to replace them.
 Hardfacing can be done on any steel material using wide variety of welding processes.
 Different alloying elements can be introduced in to the base metal in the form of weld consumables to
achieve any desired property like hardness, wear resistance, abrasive resistance, crack resistance etc.

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