Development and characterisations of WC-12Co microwave clad

In the present work, WC-12Co based cermet clad was developed on AISI 304 stainless steel using microwave hybrid heating technique. The experimental trials were carried out in a 1.4 kW industrial multimode microwave applicator. The paper explains the major events occurring during microwave irradiation and formation of clad. The developed dads were subsequently characterised through field emission scanning electron microscopy equipped with energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, assessment of porosity and microhardness. The WC-12Co dads developed with an approximate thickness of 1 mm, illustrated excellent metallurgical bonding with substrate. The microstructure of the WC-12Co clad mainly consists of skeleton structured carbides embedded in tough metallic phase. The phase analysis of the developed dads indicate the presence of various stable and complex carbides like Co6W6C, Co3W3C and Fe6W6C. The uniform distribution of such carbides with skeleton-like morphology in the microstructure is indicative of high hardness of the clad. The developed dads were free from visible interfacial cracking and the clad porosity was found in the order of approximately 0.98%. The average micro-hardness of the WC-12Co microwave dads was observed to be 1135 +/- 88 HV. (C) 2014 Elsevier Inc All rights reserved.