Effect of powder particle size and substrate hardening on the formation of nanostructured TiC coating on AISI-D2 steel by mechanical milling

摘要

In this study TiC coating was formed on AISI-D2 steel by mechanical milling. In this regard, steel sample, balls and the powder were placed within a milling vial. Ball milling were carried out with annealed and quench-tempered samples using TiC powder having particle sizes of 44 and 200 μm for 5, 10, 15, 20, 50 and 100 h. During milling treatment, sample surface was exposed to high energy collisions and powder particles trapped between balls and sample adhered to the surface through cold welding. It was shown that the thickness and the structure of the coating depended on powder particle size; hardness and milling time. The thickness of the coating increased at first and decreased thereafter with milling time. The results showed that the substrate hardening decreased the thickness of the coating. Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) was employed to investigate the structural characteristics of the coatings. X-ray Diffraction (XRD) analysis was also conducted to determine the kind of phases in the coating. SEM investigations showed that the greatest thickness of the coating was reached after 20 h of milling. Furthermore, no new phases were detected in the XRD results after 100 h. It was shown that the thickness and hardness of coatings with coarse particle size were lower than that of the other.