Wear is a major issue in industry, particularly with metal components. Therefore, it is crucial to investigate methods that offer increased resistance to this phenomenon. In this research, three coating systems (pure WC-CoCr and WC-CoCr/NiCrFeSiBC+Mo, 88:12 and 83:17 wt.%) were thermally sprayed on an AISI 1018 steel substrate through the High-Velocity Oxygen Fuel (HVOF) process. The coatings were characterized using a field emission scanning electron microscope (FESEM) equipped with the energy dispersive spectroscope (EDS) and X-ray diffractometry (XRD). An analysis of the wear rate for ball-on-flat linear reciprocating sliding tribological tests for the coatings was also carried out. The coating microstructure presents well-dispersed NiCrFeSiBC splats. The WC-CoCr/NiCrFeSiBC+Mo, 88:12, system has the highest wear resistance, decreasing by 30.2% at high loads compared to commercial WC-CoCr CERMETs, and also exhibits the highest fracture toughness. Analysis of wear tracks shows that the material removal at all charges occurred mainly by an abrasive wear mechanism.

The quality of most of metallic products depends on its superficial condition and how it deteriorates in operation; mostly the type of deterioration phenomena is the principal factor which affects life time and operation performance of machines components. The erosion is one of the most deteriorating factors which metals are exposed to. In the present work, erosion by solid particle tests of martensitic 440C stainless steel were realized. Silica sand (SiO2) was used as erodent at four impact angles and four impact speed of the particles. Graphs of erosion show a brittle behavior tendency. The erosion marks were mapped by 3D profilometry, showing that there is no correspondence between the angle of maximum mass loss and the angle at which maximum penetration marks were observed at 5 and 10 psi. Scanning electron microscopy was used to determine the erosion mechanisms for each impact angle test. These results are compared to similar studies in which some behavior differences are reported. La calidad de la mayoría de los productos de metal depende de la condición de sus superficies y del deterioro de estas debido al uso; este deterioro suele ser el factor más importante de la vida útil y el desempeño de los componentes de una máquina. La erosión es una de las causas más destructivas a la que están expuestos los metales. En el presente trabajo, se realizaron pruebas de erosión por impacto de partículas sólidas en acero inoxidable 440C. Se utilizó arena sílica (SiO2) como erodente, ensayando cuatro ángulos de impacto a cuatro velocidades de la partícula. Las gráficas de erosión obtenidas, muestran una tendencia al comportamiento frágil. Las huellas de erosión fueron observadas con perfilometria 3D, mostrando que el ángulo de impacto de la máxima pérdida de masa no coincide con el ángulo en el cual ocurre la máxima penetración de la huella de erosión a 5 y 10 psi. Se utilizó microscopia electrónica de barrido para la determinación de los mecanismos de erosión a cada ángulo de impacto ensayado. Estos resultados del comportamiento bajo la erosión fueron comparados con estudios similares, encontrando algunas diferencias.