Synthesis of nano structural Cr3C2 powders from water soluble precursors

Thermal sprayed carbide such as WC-Co(Cr) and Cr3C2-NiCr coatings are well known and widely used for wear protection purposes. Nanocarbides in cermets have shown promising results in gaining the hardness [1], wear performance in abrasion, cavitation [2] and slurry type of wear conditions [3,4]. Even friction properties have been reported to be improved by the use of nanocarbides [5]. The driving force for reducing the carbide grain size comes from the fact that, as the carbide size becomes smaller the binder mean free path is reduced, resulting in higher resistance to deformation and material loss. Agglomeration and sintering is a generalized method to produce micron and sub-micron WC- or Cr3C2-powders for thermal spraying. Commonly this method involves production of carbide and metal separately and primary particles are then mixed in spray drying. Presented study is a part of the research aiming to create a novel powder manufacturing route for homogenous nano structural Cr3C2 + Ni matrix powder for thermal spraying. Goal of work was to synthesize nano structural Cr3C2 powders from water soluble precursors and study the effects of synthesis atmosphere and temperature to chemical and phase structure and particle size of the final products.