Silicide coating having good resistance to molten metals

Abstract: A silicide of a refractory metal such as Cr, Mo, Ta, Nb, W, Zr, Ti and V, preferably CrSi₂ and MoSi₂ are materials that are resistant to attack by molten metals, such as zinc, and which materials can provide coatings for various articles. The method for producing the coated materials is also disclosed.

Description: Field of the Invention This invention relates to an article having a silicide coating which can prevent the article from attack by molten metal when it is contacted with a molten metal, such as molten zinc, and to a manufacturing method for producing an article having excellent resistance to attack by molten metal by forming a layer of silicide on the article. Background of the Invention In the past, materials selected from heat resistant and metal attack resistant materials have been used in accordance with specific circumstances as materials which are thought to prevent attack by molten metal. Recently with demand for hot dip zinc plated steel increasing, large scale continuous galvanizing plants are being built. They need large sized components to be immersed in molten zinc such as rolls and guides, and the resistance of these components to attack by molten zinc becomes considerably important. In an attempt to provide materials that resist molten zinc, the following have been proposed: (1) W-Mo alloy, (2) self fluxing alloys and (3) thermal sprayed WC-Co. However, these materials are not satisfactory to completely prevent the zinc attack because (1) W-Mo alloy is extremely difficult to be fabricated into large shapes with reasonable cost but it does provide good protection against molten zinc, (2) self-flux alloys contain metallic constituents such as Co which are not resistant to molten zinc and (3) the method to prevent zinc penetration by thermal spraying a WC-Co layer on stainless steel made components does not have enough resistance to molten zinc due to Co binder in WC-Co coating. A sink roll for use in a hot dipping apparatus comprising a sprayed layer of a self-fluxing alloy of a WSi 2 containing composition made from a heat resistant Ni-Cr-Co alloy; 100 parts by weight, Si and B; 1.5-4.5 parts by weight, and the self-fluxing alloy WSi 2 ; 5.5-6.5/1 by weight, is known from Patent Abstracts of Japan, vol. 4, no. 22 (C-74), 23.02,1980; and the corresponding JP-A-54 162 633. The said layer is applied by spraying and then remelted to unify the whole layer. A metal hearth roll for heat treatments having a sprayed top coat of disilicides of Cr, Mo, Zr, W, Nb or Ti on a bond coat of CoCrAlY or NiCrAlY series or NiCr alloy is known from Database WPI, Dervent Publications Ltd., London, GB; AN 88-335 725 C47 and the corresponding JP-A-63 250 448. A carbon material coated with a high melting point metal or carbide thereof and further coated with a metal silicide such as MoSi 2 or WSi 2 is known from Patent Abstracts of Japan, vol. 16. no. 411 (C-0979), 31.08.1992 and the corresponding JP-A-04 139 084. The coating is applied by laser-plasma hybrid spraying, plasma spraying or laser spraying and the metal is Mo or W and the carbide is MO x C y or WC. An object of the invention is to solve the above mentioned problems in providing materials having excellent molten metal resistant, specially molten zinc resistant, and besides to provide manufacturing methods for producing components having excellent resistance to attack by molten metal by forming layers of the said materials on the components. Summary of the Invention One aspect of the present invention is an article as defined in claim 1. A further aspect of the present invention is a method for producing an article to be immersed in or contacted with a molten metal as defined in claim 5. Specific silicide refractory metals (for example Cr, Mo, Ta, Nb, W, Ti, Zr, V, etc.) are stable in air or reducing atmosphere and have very low wettability with molten zinc. It was also found that some kinds of refractory metal silicides represented by CrSi 2 and MoSi 2 have excellent resistance to attack by molten zinc and that attack on components by molten zinc can be prevented by forming a layer comprising these materials on its surface to be contacted with molten zinc by thermal spraying and other coating methods. The materials used in conformity with this invention for the top layer of the article are refractory silicides expressd by a chemical formuly: MSi 2 , where M is at least one metal element selected from the group consisting of Cr, Mo, Ta, Nb, W, Zr, Ti and V which are ideal molten metal resistant materials or a main element of the materials. It was found that silicides expressed by this formula, specially refractory metal silicides of which M is Cr or Mo, hve excellent resistance to and low wettability with molten metal, specially molten zinc. The top layer material can be used as coatings on various substrates so that a layer comprising refractory silicides expressed by the chemical formula MSi 2 , where M is at least one metal element selected from the group consisting of Cr, Mo, Ta, Nb, W, Zr, Ti and V is the molten metal resistant component. In this case, metallic or non-metallic material can be used for a substrate, preferably it should be a rigid body on which a dense layer of MSi 2 can be formed, but usually a metal made substrate is preferable considering past experiences and most preferably is a stainless steel made substrate.The substrate is provided with a WC-Co or Mo-B under layer. Since silicides such as CrSi 2 or MoSi 2 have relatively low toughness and defects such as cracks in the layer may be developed due to thermal stress caused by the mismatch of coefficient of thermal expansion between the substrate and the layer, and mechanical shock as well, the under layer of WC-Co or Mo-B is applied which has excellent mechanical strength and some resistance to attack by molten zinc to improve the above characteristics of the silicide layer. The invention also relates to a manufacturing method to produce an article having excellent resistance to attack by molten metal by forming a layer of MSi 2 on the surface of a metal substrate with a WC-Co or Mo-B under layer on its surface. It was found that a thermal spraying method would be favorable for forming the MSi 2 layer. Low pressure plasma spraying, inert gas shrouded plasma spraying, high velocity oxy-fuel gas spraying and detonation gun spraying can all be used as a thermal spraying method. It was also found that a specially good quality layer could be produced by the detonation gun spraying technique. As mentioned above, CrSi 2 or MoSi 2 is the preferred top layer material used in this invention. It was found that a WC-Co thermal sprayed undercoating of WC-12Co showed good results as well as a Mo-7B undercoating for Mo-B. In general, a hot dip zinc plating equipment for continuous zinc plating consists of an annealing furnace, molten zinc bath and wiping equipment. The atmosphere of the annealing furnace is reducing while the atmosphere in the zinc bath is air, neutral or weak reducing atmosphere. The gas wiping equipment is operated in air or a weak reducing atmosphere depending on the wiping gas used. Since components installed in the zinc pot, such as rolls, guides and partition walls, are in the air or reducing atmosphere they are nevertheless immersed in or outside of molten zinc. This is true specially for rolls at least partially exposed to molten zinc and these rolls are generally made with conventionally bare stainless steel or one combined with a layer of WC-Co or self-fluxing alloy formed on the part to be contacted with the molten zinc to provide the necessary corrosion resistance. However, they are not satisfactory. Silicides of refractory metals such as CrSi 2 and MoSi 2 used by the present invention were found to be very stable in the above atmosphere and resistant to attack by molten zinc and low wettability with zinc. Coatings with Co-base self-fluxing and WC-Co alloy which contain Co as a constituent or binder metal have been used. Since Co-Zn has a eutectic point at the zinc rich side (Zn 99%, Co 1%) at 410°C and Co could easily be dissolved in a molten zinc bath (approx. 470°C), then these coatings are less resistant to attack by molten zinc. Therefore the resistance to molten zinc is significantly improved by forming Crsi 2 or MoSi 2 on an under layer of WC-Co or self-fluxing coated layer on stainless steel. The details of the present invention will be described by the following examples. Description of the Drawing The sole drawing shows a cross-section of a zinc bath used for zinc immersion testing of coated samples. Example CrSi 2 or MoSi 2 is coated on seven stainless steel (SUS403) bar samples as follows: Sample 1 (Comparison). CrSi 2 is directly coated on the stainless steel bar. Sample 2. CrSi 2 is applied on WC-12Co layer coated on the stainless steel bar. Sample 3 (Comparison). MoSi 2 layer is directly coated on the stainless steel bar. Sample 4. MoSi 2 is applied on WC-12Co layer coated on the stainless steel bar. Sample 5. MoSi 2 is applied on Mo-7B layer coated on the stainless steel bar. Sample 6. CrSi 2 is applied on Mo-7B layer coated on the stainless steel bar. Sample 7 (Comparison). WC-12Co is coated cn the stainless steel bar. As shown in the drawing, each sample 1 having a coated area 2 was immersed in molten zinc 3 containing 0.1% aluminum kept in a graphite pot 4 equipped on a furnace 6, keeping the temperature at 470°C by heater 5. After immersing samples for a certain time period, the coated surface of the samples were observed visually and/or by microscope to check adhesion of zinc and degradation of the coatings. Various samples, immersion time and results are summarized in Table 1. The Samples Nos. 2 and 4 to 6 are examples of the present invention while the Samples Nos. 1, 3 and 7 are for comparison. Zinc was strongly adhered on the Sample No. 7. There was no evidence of zinc adhesion observed on Sample Nos. 1 to 6, but cracks and chipping of the coating were observed both on No. 1 and No. 3 which have no under coating such as WC-Co and Mo-7B. This indicates CrSi 2 and MoSi 2 coated layers have excellent resistance to attack by molten zinc. Since the test models the condition of a plant operation, the data show that silicide of refractory metals had excellent resistance to molten zinc, that is, Sample Nos. 2, 4, 5 and 6 showed no degradation after each was tested for a specified time period. Results of Zinc Immersion Test Top Coating Under coating Exposure Time Results Sample 1 Comparison CrSi 2 -- 500 hours No reaction with zinc, but some chipping due to thermal stresses Sample 2 CrSi 2 WC-12Co 1000 hours No indication of damage or reaction after 1000 hr exposure to zinc Sample 3 Comparison MoSi 2 -- 400 hours Cracking due to CTE mismatch. No reaction with zinc Sample 4 MoSi 2 WC-12Co 800 hours No cracking or reaction with zinc Sample 5 MoSi 2 Mo-7B 400 hours Denser structure and oxide presence in coating Sample 6 CrSi 2 Mo-7B 400 hours Denser structure and oxide presence in coating Sample 7 Comparison WC-12Co ---- 100 hours Zinc strongly adheres CTE = Coefficient of Thermal Expansion In addition to the above test, a hardness test for coatings was separately conducted. The results of the test on chromium silicide and molybdenum silicide coatings are shown in Table 2. As shown in Table 2, the coatings sprayed by the detonation gun spraying method have excellent hardness characteristics. Coating CrSi 2 MoSi 2 Process D-Gun Plasma *D-Gun Plasma Hardness 795 662 883 594 Formation of oxides of refractory metals in silicides can be expected at extremely high temperature in plasma flame when they are coated in air. This oxidation will cause degradation of the coating. Plasma spraying shielded by inert gas such as nitrogen or argon or low pressure plasma spraying is favorable to avoid this oxidation. The amount of oxide in the layers coated with the above process observed by SEM (Scanning Electron Microscope) and X-Ray refractometers was negligible for practical use. Compared to plasma spraying, detonation gun spraying is operated at a relatively lower temperature and in neutral atmosphere and thus no significant oxidation which causes degradation of the coatings is to be expected. Although all these tests were carried out for CrSi 2 and MoSi 2 layers and since Ta, Nb, W, Zr, Ti and V are thought to have the same characteristics with the above refractory metals, then silicides of these metals should show the same effects. Only zinc was tested in examples of CrSi 2 and MoSi 2 , but the same results are expected for other molten metals. Although silicides of refractory metal are resistant to attack by molten metal in the present invention, such silidides are not limited to CrSi 2 and MoSi 2 for molten zinc.

Claims: An article resistant to attack by molten metal comprising a substrate having a first layer consisting of WC-Co or Mo-B on its surface and a top layer consisting of or comprising as a main component a refractory metal silicide being expressed by the formula: MSi 2 , where M is at least one metal element selected from the group consisting of Cr, Mo, Ta, Nb, W, Zr, Ti and V, on the first layer. The article of claim 1 wherein M in said formula is one element selected from the group Cr and Mo. The article of claim 1 wherein said substrate is made of metal. Use of the article of any one of claims 1 to 3 in molten zinc. A method for producing an article to be immersed in or contacted with a molten metal comprising thermal spraying on a substrate a refractory metal silicide expressed by the formula: MSi 2 , wherein M is at least one metal element selected from the group consisting of Cr,Mo, Ta, Nb, W, Zr, Ti and V to produce a layer of said MSi 2 on said substrate forming a coated article, said substrate being a metal having an under layer consisting of WC-Co or Mo-B on its surface. The method of claim 5 wherein M in the said formula is Cr and Mo. The method of claim 5 wherein the said thermal spraying method is an inert gas shrouded plasma spraying method. The method of claim 5 wherein the said thermal spraying method is a low pressure plasma spraying method. The method of claim 5 wherein the said thermal spraying method is high velocity oxy-fuel flame spraying method. The method of claim 5 wherein the said thermal spraying method is a detonation gun method.

Inventors: KATOH SHOICHI, WOOD JOHN CHRISTOPHER, KATOH, SHOICHI, WOOD, JOHN CHRISTOPHER
Applicants: PRAXAIR TECHNOLOGY INC, PRAXAIR S.T. TECHNOLOGY, INC.
Application year: 1993
Main classification: C23C2
IPC codes: C23C4, C23C2, C01B33