Anti-wear titanium carbide coating on low-carbon steel by thermo-reactive diffusion

In this research, titanium carbide was fabricated onto carburized AISI 1020 steel through thermo-reactive diffusion (TRD) with salt bath processing at 900 degrees C for 3 h. The researchers investigated the microstructure and the wear resistance of the as-obtained coating. Results showed that the as-received coating was of 7.5 +/- 0.3 mu m with surface micro-hardness of approximately 1885 +/- 121 HV0.025. The coating presented excellent adhesion to the substrate as evidenced by a bonding force between the coating (carbide layer) and substrate of approximately 52 N. During the sliding test, its friction coefficient (0.45-0.56) tended to decrease in the final stage. In comparison with the bare substrate, the specific wear volume loss for the titanium carbide-coated specimen decreased by 78%.