Corrosion wear and microstructure analysis of surfaces coated by hardfacing electrode and nitriding

Cotton 30MnB5 quality steel (EN 10083:2006), used in agricultural machinery production, was employed in this study. Some of the components in agricultural tools are prone to abrasion during soil tillage. Processes of hardfacing with coated electrode fillet weld and surface hardening through nitriding, employed commonly for increasing abrasion resistance of such material used for digging components, were studied. A 2 mm thick deposit was formed on 8 mm thick, boron containing, heat treated and tempered steel surface using NiMo and Citomangan Hardfacing Electrodes. Also, liquid nitriding process was applied at 650ᴏC for 3 hours on this material. The mass loss of the new material formed with such methods was measured and abrasion tests thereof were conducted. Abrasion tests at 0.186 m/s rotational speed for a period of 60 hours were applied on the abrasion specimens prepared for this purpose in a container with mineral abrasives. The smallest mass loss was measured for specimens made with Citomangan hardfacing electrode. In addition, corrosion resistances of the specimens were assessed in a 0.5 mol NCL and 29.22 gr double distilled corrosive environment. Surface hardness and wear loss values do not match, which is thought to be influenced by the elemental contribution resulting in harder phases or microstructures during the testing. Agricultural tools facing severe soil wear have been surface modified by using liquid nitriding, Citomangan and NiMo hardfacing electrodes. Hardfacing electrodes are comparatively more efficient in terms of wear loss compared to liquid nitriding. Agricultural tools facing severe soil wear have been surface modified by using liquid nitriding, Citomangan and NiMo hardfacing electrodes. Hardfacing electrodes are comparatively more efficient in terms of wear loss compared to liquid nitriding. Surface hardness and wear loss values do not match, which is thought to be influenced by the elemental contribution resulting in harder phases or microstructures during the testing.