In this study, the plasma arc welded cladding of FeCrC and B₄C powder mixtures alloyed with 70 wt.- % Cr on the surface of AISI 316 stainless steel was investigated. Application of the Taguchi method revealed respective effects on the abrasive wear resistance of the cladding layer on the stainless steel. The abrasive wear behaviour of the AISI 316 stainless steel surfaces coated with Fe-Cr-C and with 10 wt.-%, 15 wt.-%, 20 wt.-%, and 25 wt.-% B₄C was investigated by using four loads and four distances for the 220 mesh SiC abrasive. Results were analyzed by variance analysis using ANOVA, and effects of parameters on the wear rate were determined as percentage rate. Furthermore, the error ratio was statistically evaluated. The experimental results were analyzed by the respective analysis of means and variance which is discussed in detail.

In this study, the optimization of the abrasive wear behaviour of a medium carbon steel surface with a FeCrC/B₄C powder coating applied by using the plasma arc weld surfacing process is examined. Optimization of the process parameters represents the key step in the Taguchi method to achieve high quality without increasing cost. The Taguchi method uses orthogonal arrays to maximize the effect of controllable parameters and to minimize the effect of uncontrollable process para­meters. The abrasive wear behaviour of the surface of a medium carbon steel substrate material coated with FeCrC and with 15 % or 25 % B₄C was tested at loads of 10 N, 20 N, and 30 N and at distances of 10 m, 20 m, and 30 m. The lowest wear loss, representing the most important criterion in determining the wear behaviour, was optimized with the so-called lowest-the best control characteristics of the Taguchi method and the results were analyzed by graphical methods.