Effect of substrate temperature on the electrospark deposition, structure, and mechanical properties of coatings. I. Kinetics of substrate heating during electrospark deposition

A method is developed for determining the temperature of the substrate in the area of electrospark deposition. The method is employed during experiments on deposition of two types of electrodes onto steel substrates: carbon steel electrodes and hard-alloy electrodes based on tungsten carbide with 6 wt.% cobalt. It is established that the dependence of substrate temperature on deposition time is defined by the initial structure of the substrate, electrode material, and pressing force on the electrode. Analysis of the data shows that cathode jets are the main working element of the electrospark deposition process.