The present investigation has been carried out in order to study the erosion wear behaviour of WC–Co base thermal spray coatings. WC–12Co and WC–10Co–4Cr coatings were deposited by means of high velocity oxygen fuel (HVOF) thermal spraying. The erosion tests were conducted at impact angles of 30 and 90° using SiC particles of ∼50 μm in diameter as erodent, at a velocity of 83·4 m s−1. It has been found that the erosion rate for both coated systems was higher when the test was carried out at an angle of 90°. The through-thickness residual stresses of the coatings, as well as the microstructural characterisation, allowed an explanation of the results and the erosion mechanisms in each case. It has been found that, under the experimental conditions carried out in the present study, the WC–10Co–4Cr coating exhibited a higher erosive wear resistance as compared to the WC–12Co coating.
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