Three-body abrasive wear behavior of CC/high-Cr WCI composite and its interfacial characteristics

The high-Cr white cast iron (WCI) reinforced with cemented carbide (CC) particles was prepared by using the vacuum infiltration casting process. The interfacial structure between CC particle and the iron matrix was analyzed with optical microscope, energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). Owing to partial dissolution of the CC particles and diffusion of elements such as W, C, Cr and Fe, compounds such as Fe₃W₃C and Co₃W₃C were formed, which ensured metallurgical bonding at the interface. The wear behavior of the composite was studied by three-body abrasive wear tester. The wear tests included four periods (each period of 30 min duration); with the increase of the periods, the wear volume loss of the composite decreased firstly until reached the minimum at the third period, and then it increased. Meanwhile, it increased gradually with increasing abrasive particle size in the tests. The wear volume loss of the CC/high-Cr WCI composite was much less than the heat-treated high-Cr WCI, but there was no significant difference in the wear volume loss between CC/high-Cr WCI composite and WC/high-Cr WCI composite.