Preparation and Characterization of Tungsten Silicide Cladding on Carbon Steel

In this research tungsten silicide powder was successfully produced from tungsten and silicon powders using mechanically activated self-propagating high temperature synthesis and then cladded on St37 substrate by gas-tungsten arc welding method. X-Ray diffraction analysis showed that the best milling time for activation of elemental powders was 10 h. Microstructure evaluation of coating by scanning electron microscope demonstrated that tungsten silicide mainly dispersed in dendrite phase and inter-dendritic phase rich from Iron. Hardness measurements revealed that the surface hardness of substrate increased from 200 to 850 HV. The wear resistance of substrate was improved by six fold via increasing surface hardness.