A sustainable approach for the development of Ni-based composite clads for enhancing cavitation erosion resistance

Large revenue losses are being incurred by hydropower plants as a result of cavitation-related hydro turbine failure. One feasible way to solve this issue is to modify the exposed surface of the component. The use of microwaves to clad on metallic surfaces has grown in recent years. Hence, this work presents a development of NiCrSiC-x Al₂O₃ (Where x = 5 and 15) composite clads that developed by using multimode home microwave applicator operating at 2.45 GHz frequency and maximum 900 W power. The clads were developed on AISI-316, an austenitic grade of stainless steel by microwave hybrid heating concept. The microstructure, crystal structure, porosity, microhardness of the as-deposited composite clad was investigated. The vibratory cavitation method was used to analyse cavitation erosion using Taguchi L9 orthogonal array. According to the results, the deposited NiCrSiC-x Al₂O₃ composite clads possessed maximum of 1.20% and 1.33% porosity, 489.16 ± 47.95HV_0.3 and 744.12 ± 32 HV_0.3 microhardness, 625 ± 6 MPa and 854 ± 16 MPa of flexural strengths and cavitation resistance that was 4.13 and 8.18 times greater than AISI-316.