Thermodynamic assessment of in-situ formation of hard phase materials

The hardfacing of metallic components for applications in the mining as well as the oil and gas sectors is common. Therefore method to enhance the wear resistance of the applied coatings is attractive. One of the ways to increase the wear resistance of the coatings is to introduce a hard phase into the coating, the most common of which is tungsten carbide. Typically the carbide compound is mixed with the hard facing materials such as Stellite and laser clad on the surface to be coated. Recently there has been increasing interest in forming the hard phases in-situ [1, 2]. In this process the hard phase material is formed in the melt pool formed during laser processing and the elements that constitute the hard phase combine in the melt pool prior to solidification of the melt pool. Using thermodynamic analysis potential new hard phase materials could be determined.