High-strength and wear-resistant Babbitt alloy coatings prepared through in-situ alloying

Abstract

Babbitt alloy, a commonly used wear-resistant coating material , has a low hardness. This causes severe plastic deformation , detachment or heavy wear to easily occur under low speed and heavy-load service conditions, reducing its service life. To solve these problems and improve the bonding strength and wear resistance of the tin-based Babbitt alloy coating, a higher laser cladding power was adopted to achieve in-situ alloying of the cladding layer and enhance the strength of the coating. The increase in strength was verified through the Fleischer theory and Orowan empirical formula to mainly result from the enhancement of solid solution strengthening and dispersion strengthening. Meanwhile, due to dispersion strengthening and the presence of dendritic FeSn, the occurrence of delamination wear was effectively prevented. The bonding strength of the final sample reached 147 MPa, and the wear rate was as low as 4.24 × 10–5 mm3/N・m. Thus, a high-strength and wear-resistant Babbitt alloy cladding layer was obtained. • The in-situ alloying of cladding layer was achieved by dissolution and diffusion of Fe from substrate. • FeSn affects the diffusion of Sb and Cu, and refining Cu 6 Sn 5 and SnSb. • Dendritic FeSn inhibits Sn plastic flow during wear, alleviating delamination wear.