Performance of Thermally Sprayed Nickel and Tungsten-Based Coatings in Slurry Erosion Conditions: A Review

Abstract

The energy needs of a country cannot be fulfilled by a single source of energy, so renewable energy sources like solar, wind, and hydro energy are widely used throughout the world. In countries where sufficient hydro energy resources are available, hydropower plants have been installed to produce electricity. But countries where the rivers originate from hilly areas (like India and Nepal) have to deal with the losses due to the wear caused by the silt particles presented in water. The silt content in water causes the erosion of material in different components of hydropower plants. To avoid these losses thermally sprayed hard surface coatings are widely used as a protective layer. This review focuses on the performance of composite coatings based on nickel and tungsten in slurry erosion conditions. A comprehensive investigation of studies conducted on thermally sprayed nickel- and tungsten-based coatings is discussed in this review paper. The review reveals that high velocity oxy-fuel is widely used by different researchers to develop composite coatings. Materials like Ni–20Cr2O3, Ni–Al2O3, Ni–Cr–Si–B, WC–10Co, WC–10Co–Cr, and Ni–Cr–B–Si–Fe–WC (Co) have been used in different studies to minimize the wear of material in slurry conditions.