The Comparative Effect of Sugarcane Juice on the Abrasion-Corrosion Behavior of Fe-Cr-B Electric Arc Sprayed and Fe-Cr-C Weld Coatings

Abrasion-corrosion tests were conducted on two commonly Fe-Cr-C shielded metal arc welding (SMAW) hardfacings used in the sugar industry and an arc sprayed Fe-Cr-based coating. The tests were performed on a modified block-on-ring tester with the coatings sliding against compressed sugarcane fiber in the presence of abrasive slurry. The findings showed that, in the presence of sugarcane juice and sand slurry, the SMAW coatings had similar wear performance while the abrasive wear of the arc-sprayed coating was superior to the SMAW coatings. In the presence of a neutral solution, the material loss from the arc-sprayed coating was similar to that obtained in the sugarcane juice while the SMAW coatings showed a marked decrease; this demonstrated that the arc-sprayed coating was more desirable in an abrasive-corrosion environment. The study also showed that the resistance to material does not follow the expected trend, in which wear resistance increases with increasing hardness.