Lecture

Introduction to Weld surfacing and Thermal

Spraying
 Weld Surfacing
• Surfacing is a process of depositing one metal or alloy over another (base metal

or substrate) to improve its wear resisting properties like resistance to abrasion,

corrosion, friction, or for achieving dimensional control, and met­allurgical needs.

• The processes commonly used for surfacing are the fusion- welding processes like

gas welding, arc welding, etc. The process of surfacing appears to have been

developed initially for the needs of oil-well drilling industry but is now widely

used on all types of equipment, implements, and containers to enhance their lives

against wear and chemical action.

 Weld Surfacing
• A weld applied to a surface, as opposed to making a joint, to obtain desired

properties or dimensions.

• Surfacing is a welding process used to apply a hard, wear-resistant layer of

metal to surfaces or edges of worn-out parts. It is one of the most economical

methods of conserving and extending the life of machines, tools, and

construction equipment.
 Need and importance of weld surfacing
• Surfacing is the process of rebuilding and/or protecting metals by adding metal alloys or ceramics.  These materials can be

applied to a metal as either a powder or a solid.  Surfacing might seem like a needless, time-consuming task when you want to

just grab your gun and weld, but it has some real advantages. Surfacing a part using a metal alloy or other material can: 

• Maintain certain dimensions

• Increase part service (by using low alloy materials and only coat the areas with the expensive alloy where there would be

extensive wear)

• Lower production costs

• Lower parts cost

• There are many good reasons to surface metals.  Surfaces wear because of abrasion, fatigue, chemical or atmospheric

corrosion, and metal transfer or adhesion.  Bearing surfaces, metal rock crusher surfaces, and earth moving equipment are

examples of machines with components that wear very fast. 

 Thick and Thin coated metal surfacing or
metal rebuilding

• Metal surfaces can be rebuilt by adding metals and metal alloys. These materials

are applied by either hard facing & cladding or thermal spraying. 

• There are various methods of hard facing & cladding . One such method is done

with materials enclosed in a hollow metal wire using flux core arc welding (FCAW)

process. Various arc welding processes can also be employed for the hardfacing

& cladding operations.

• Thermal Spraying is done using a solid or powder of metallic or non-metallic

materials and is generally applied with a Plasma arc process.

 Types of Surfacing
• Surfacing is of different types viz., cladding, hardfacing, build up, and buttering to achieve corrosion

resistance (for chemical wear), wear resistance (for physical wear), dimensional control (to rebuild

worn components), and metallurgical needs, respectively.

• Cladding : A thick layer of some weld metal like stainless steel is laid onto a carbon or low alloy steel

plate to make it corrosion-resistant. Cladding must also resist localised corrosion such as pitting,

crevice corrosion, inter granular corrosion, and stress corrosion cracking.

• For cladding, stainless steel or one of the nickel-base alloys are nor­mally used though copper-base

alloys, silver and lead are also used for some specific applications.
 Cladding
• Although the main advantage of cladding is the creation of low cost corrosion-resistant

surface but it also combines a high strength material like low alloy steels for the backing

with corrosion resistant material like stainless steel. However, as a general rule the

strength of the cladding material is not accounted for in the design of the component.

• The main use of cladding is made in the production of vessels for chemical, paper mill,

petroleum refining, and nuclear power plants. Copper- lined reactors are used for the

production of beer which is also corrosive while food processing and packaging plants

make extensive use of stainless steel to avoid the corrosive action of foods.
 Hardfacing
• In hardfacing a metal is deposited over another surface to increase the hardness of the surface and to make it

resistant to abrasion, impact, erosion, galling, and cavitation. Like in cladding, the strength of hardfacing layer

is not included in the design of the component.

• Abrasion resistance is the most important application of hardfacing. In general, a maximum of three layers of

hardfacing alloys are deposited. Be­cause excessive dilution reduces the effectiveness of hardfacing it is

therefore essential to avoid excessive penetration and poor tie-in of adjacent beads. The design must be such

as to provide adequate support for the surfacing and as far as possible it should be loaded in compression

rather than tension or shear. Under these conditions hardfacing can prove effectively its economic advan­tages.

• Hardfacing finds extensive use in construction equipment including bulldozer blades, scraper blades, and rock

chutes as well as for textile equip­ment and engine valve facings.

 Build up
• Build-up overlay is the rebuilding of worn out parts to restore them to original shape and

dimensions. Unlike cladding and hardfacing the strength of the weld metal forming the

build-up is a necessary consideration in the compo­nent design because the material has to

replace some of the original part of the component which has worn away.

• Build-up method of surfacing is extensively used in earth moving equipment, for example

the teeth of dragline buckets, edges of bulldozer blades and scrapers are reclaimed by

build-up. Railways also make use of build-up for restoring the wear of the railway wheels

as well as rail points and junctions.

 Buttering
• Buttering is the process of depositing one or more layers of a material between those metallurgically non-compatible materials which

individually have compatibility with the material forming the buttering layer. It is used especially for joining of stainless steel to a carbon or

low alloy steel base metal.

• If no buttering layer is used the corrosion resistance of stainless steel will be reduced but if a layer of high nickel or Ni-Cr material is

deposited on the bass metal before depositing the high alloy stainless steel no deterioration of corrosion resistance is observed.

• A common example of this process is found in the nuclear power plant for joining of stainless steel clad to low alloy steel nozzle buttered

with Ni-Cr-Fe alloy to stainless steel piping using a Ni- Cr-Fe filler metal. It can also be used for joining carbon steel to low alloy steel when

the stress relieving of the completed weld is to be avoided.

• The component can be heat treated after buttering. The strength of buttering layer must be taken into consideration while designing the

joint.

• Though build-up and buttering are commonly used terms but they have no official status; surfacing or more often used term cladding is

supposed to include them.