Features of formation and the structure, composition, and properties of electrospark coatings on the ZhS6U nickel alloy with the use of the KhTN-61 SHS-Ts alloy

Features of the mass transfer of a KhTN-61 SHS-Ts electrode material onto a substrate of a ZhS6U nickel alloy with a variation in frequency (1000–1400 Hz) and time (25–70 µs) of pulsed discharges was studied. A complex of studies of the structure, composition, and properties of the formed coatings was carried out. The optimum frequency-energetic mode of the treatment ( E = 0.30 J, f = 1000 Hz, and τ = 50 µs), which was characterized by a high rate of coating at a satisfactory degree of the roughness of the surface layer, is found. As a result of electrospark alloying (ESA) at the optimum energetic parameters, 40-µm-thick coatings with a uniformity of 95% and a microhardness of 5.2 GPa form on the surface of the nickel alloy. The ESA treatment of a ZhS6U nickel alloy with the use of KhTN-61 SHS-Ts electrode material allows us to enhance its wear resistance (by more than a factor of 10), hardness (by a factor of 2), and heat resistance, as well as to decrease (by a factor of 5) the friction coefficient.