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Ceramics International
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Microstructure and wear properties of niobium carbide particulates

gradient-distribution composite layer fabricated in situ
Nana Zhao a, Yunhua Xu a,n, Xing Huang b, Lisheng Zhong a, Jiuli Lu c
a
School of Materials Science and Engineering, Xian University of Technology, Jinhua Road 5, Xi'an 710048, PR China
b
AVIC Aircraft Co., LTD. Xi'an Brake branch, No. 5, Keji 7th Road, Xi'an 710075, China
c
School of Materials Science and Engineering, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xian, Shaanxi 710072, PR China

art ic l e i nf o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Niobium carbide (NbC) particulates gradient-distribution composite layer was successfully synthesized
Received 18 February 2016 by in situ techniques. The formation mechanism, microstructure evolution and wear properties of the
Received in revised form composite layer were investigated in detail. The results show that the thickness of the composite layer is
22 August 2016
about 1360 mm after the heat treatment at 1175 C for 1 h. From the surface to the matrix, the volume
Accepted 30 August 2016
fraction of NbC particulates continuously decreases while the average particulate diameter gradually
increases from 213 nm to 1.46 mm. Correspondingly, the micro-hardness and relative wear resistance
Keywords: almost gradually decrease from the top surface to the matrix.
Niobium carbide In order to discuss the wear mechanism clearly, the composite layer was articially divided into four
Composite
regions according to the continuously variation of composition and microstructure. The wear mechanism
Gradient-distribution
of NbC particulates high-density zone (region A) is mainly characterized by the intergranular micro-
Micro-hardness
Wear resistance cracks and micro-ploughing. The relative wear resistance of this region is 75 times higher than that of
HT300. The wear mechanism of NbC particulates partly gathering zone (region B) is micro-ploughing and
part of micro-cutting. NbC particulates dispersing zone (region C) is slight micro-cutting and a small
amount broken NbC particulates. And near-matrix zone (region D) is severe micro-cutting with broken
and re-embeding NbC particulates in the matrix. And the wear resistance of the four zones is higher than
that of matrix.
& 2016 Published by Elsevier Ltd and Techna Group S.r.l.

1. Introduction damage and failure occur mainly on the surface of components

Carbides of transition metals in No. 5 (V, Nb, Ta) and 6 (Cr, Mo,
W) groups of the periodic table exhibit high hardness, good wear
resistance, excellent corrosion resistance and other advantages [1].
As one of the refractory carbides, niobium carbide (NbC) presents
high hardness (19.60 GPa), high melting temperature (3600 C),
large thermal expansion coefcient and high temperature de-
formation resistance [2,3], comparable to VC, TaC, Cr7C3, etc [48].
Furthermore, NbC also has a much lower density (7.79 g/cm3) and
stronger antioxidant capacity compared to common reinforcing
ceramic WC. Therefore, it would be a very suitable material used as
reinforcing phase in composite layer, which is responsible for the
resistance to wear, thermal loads and corrosion.
As well known, surface treatments are using hard coatings or
reinforcing phase to protect the substrate. They have been paid
more and more attention to by the researchers, because the
n
Corresponding author.
E-mail address: yunhuaxu2013@163.com (Y. Xu).
and tools. The surface reinforcing layers can increase tool life or
efciency powerfully in industrial machinery. NbC using as re-
inforcing phase in surface layer have attracted a lot of interesting
due to its rare combination of valuable properties. At present,
there are various technologies [919] for fabricating NbC reinfor-
cing layer. Such as niobium coatings with highest thickness of
25.3 nm were deposited on graphite by magnetron sputtering [12].
Sen [13,14] studied the sliding wear behavior of the NbC coatings
prepared by TRD method on AISI 1040 steel, whose results sug-
gested that the friction coefcients and the wear rate of the coated
steel were lower than those of the uncoated steel. But the highest
thickness of NbC layer fabricated by them is only 127 2 mm. Fur-
thermore, Oliveira et al. [15] proved that the micro-abrasive wear
resistance of the NbC layers by PVD was considerably superior to
uncoated AISI H13. Shiri [9] fabricated Cu/NbC functionally graded
structure by PM. And the sample showed high wear resistance and
hardness on the composite surface.
However, most of these layers were conventional homo-
geneous composite materials [911], which yield the benets of

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ceramint.2016.08.188
0272-8842/& 2016 Published by Elsevier Ltd and Techna Group S.r.l.

Please cite this article as: N. Zhao, et al., Microstructure and wear properties of niobium carbide particulates gradient-distribution
composite layer fabricated in situ, Ceramics International (2016), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ceramint.2016.08.188i
2 N. Zhao et al. / Ceramics International ()
the reinforcing phase NbC but without any transition at the in-
terface. In addition, most of the NbC layers obtained by them are
thin. These cases would result in stress concentration at the in-
terface between the reinforcing layer and matrix. Therefore, it is
important to put forward surface gradient-distribution reinforced
layer with a comparative thickness, which can provide a number
of distinct advantages [9]. The gradually varied interface leads to
little stress concentration and similar thermal expansion coef-
cients between the layer and the matrix, and consequently im-
proves the bond strength. On the other side, a majority of these
methods [1019] for fabricating NbC layers not only require
complex equipments and high reaction temperatures, but also lead
to impurity of products, weak bond strength and extra energy
consumption. However, in situ synthesis mentioned in this work is
a promising technology [2022] because of the following reasons:
(1) controllable thickness of reinforcing layer; (2) controllable re-
inforcing phase in type, size, and distribution; (3) perfect me-
tallurgical combination of the interface between the particulates
and matrix; (4) simple equipments and low cost.
In this study, we fabricated NbC particulates gradient-dis-
tribution reinforced gray cast iron matrix composite by in situ
synthesis. Correspondingly, the formation mechanism of compo-
site was investigated. In addition, the Vickers micro-hardness and
two-body abrasion tests were carried out from the top surface to
the matrix. By combing the SEM observation of worn surface and
the wear properties of different regions, the individual wear re-
sistance mechanism was analyzed and compared.
2. Experimental procedure
For the in situ fabrication of carbide particulates gradient-dis-
tribution composite, HT300 and niobium plate were used as
source materials, which provide the carbon and niobium atoms
during the reaction, respectively. The chemical compositions of the
gray cast iron and the niobium plate are listed in Table 1. Firstly,
we prepared Nb/Fe composite prefabricated body by casting.
Namely the melted gray cast iron was poured into a graphite
crucible which was placed with a niobium plate at the bottom.
Then, the prefabricated body was immediately covered with
quartz sand to avoid crack generation and cooled down to room
temperature. Secondly, the body was put into at another graphite
crucible and heat-treated at 1175 C for 1 h in a horizontal tube
furnace (Suzhou Nutac Electro Mechanic Co. Ltd., China) with a
modest ow of argon gas (5 ml/min). After that, the specimen was
quenched in water.
After being polished with diamond paste and etched with 4%
Nital solution, the microstructures of the specimens were ex-
amined by using a JSM-6700 scanning electron microscope (JEOL,
Japan). The X-ray diffraction (XRD) data were recorded on a XRD-
7000 X-ray diffractometer (Shimadzu, Japan) with CuK radiation
at 40 kV and 40 mA in the 2 range of 15
85. The micro-hard-
ness of the specimens was measured by a HDX-1000 digital micro-
hardness tester consisting of a square-based pyramidal diamond
indenter with a 136 angle between two opposite faces. The static
load was 50 g, and the dwell time of loading was 15 s. The average
micro-hardness was taken from at least three different
measurements.
Table 1
The chemical composition of HT300 and niobium plate (wt%).
Materials Si Mn P S
T300 1.03 1.04 0.046 0.018
Niobium plate
Please cite this article as: N. Zhao, et al., Microstructure and wear properties of niobium carbide particulates gradient-distribution
composite layer fabricated in situ, Ceramics International (2016), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ceramint.2016.08.188i
Two-body abrasion tests were performed on a ml-100 pin-on-
disk tribometer with alumina abrasives. The composites were cut
to pins (6 mm  15 mm) vertical in the specimen surface. The
disk was attached with 320-grit alumina abrasive paper on the
surface and rotated with a speed of 60 rpm. The pin specimen was
moved against the abrasive paper in a spiral form to ensure fresh
supply of abrasive particulates under a normal load of 5 N. The
worn alumina abrasive paper was replaced after every 20 m slid-
ing distance. The abrasive wear tests were carried out con-
tinuously from the top surface to the iron matrix for the cylindrical
pin composite. The weight of worn specimen before and after one
circle was measured on a CP224S analytical balance with an ac-
curacy of 0.0001 g. The average weight loss was taken at least
three times from different measurements. The abrasive wear
property of the each region can be evaluated by the relative wear
resistance which can be calculated by the following mathematical
expression:
= mr /mc (1)
Where is the relative wear resistance, mc is the abrasive weight
of the NbC particulates gradient-distribution, and mr is the
abrasive weight of the standard sample (HT300) in the same wear
condition.
3. Result and discussion
3.1. The phase composition and microstructure
The X-ray diffract gram of the cross section for NbC gradient-
distribution reinforced composite is shown in Fig. 1. It veries that
the composite layer consisted of NbC and -Fe, without any other
impurity phases. The peak intensities of NbC at angles 2 of
34.72, 40.32, 58.34, 69.72, and 73.31 are correspondence with
a cubic crystal structure [13], which is attached to a group space of
[Fm-3m(225)].
Fig. 2 shows the micrographs of a cross-section of the NbC
particulates gradient-distribution performed by in situ techniques.
There are no obvious interfaces on the whole cross-section, which
exhibits perfect metallurgical bonds. The thickness of the reaction
zone is approximately 1360 mm. From the enlarged micrographs
M1 and M2, the reaction zone can be articially divided into four
regions: niobium carbide particulates high-density zone named
region A, niobium carbide particulates partly gathering zone
named region B, niobium carbide particulates dispersing zone
named region C and near-matrix zone named region D. The mi-
crostructure of the composite is similar to that of our previous
study [23].
To obtain more information about the different reactive zones,
scanning electron microscopy was applied to zoom in the four
regions, as shown in Fig. 3. Some parameters about ceramic par-
ticulates are listed in Table 2. Region A is characterized almost
pure tiny sphere-like niobium carbide particulates with volume
fraction 88.89%. The average diameter of particulates in this region
A is about 213 nm. As can be seen from Fig. 3(b) of region B, it
consists of NbC particulates and a little ferrite matrix. The ne NbC
ceramic particulates are partly-gathering. The gathering NbC par-
ticulates micro layer and the ferrite matrix micro layer arrange
C Fe Ti Ta O Cu Nb
2.57 Balance
0.004 0.004 0.002 0.05 0.015 0.03 Balance
 N. Zhao et al. / Ceramics International () 3

about 0.918 mm. The innermost region D is consisted of isolated

and dispersed NbC particulates and more ferrum (Fig. 3(d)). The
NbC particulates have grown up and distribute homogeneously in
the iron matrix, companying with the decreasing volume fraction
of NbC ceramic particulates correspondingly.

3.2. The formation mechanism

According to the thermodynamic calculation, the following

reactions might be accompanied during the formation of NbC
dense ceramic coating:

Nb(s) C(s) NbC(s) rG1
182.33 0.10984T (4321712 C) (2)

2Nb(s) C(s)Nb2C(s) rG2
146.40 0.2874T (4321712 C)(3)

3Fe ()C(s) Fe3C(s) rG3
38.05 0.0446T (432912 C) (4)

3Fe () C(s) Fe3C(s) rG4
37.30 0.0945T (9121392 C) (5)

Fig. 1. XRD pattern of the cross section of the NbC reinforced composite at 1175 C
for 1 h.
alternately in the whole region B. But most of the ceramic parti-
culates have grown up and amount of particulates size are still in
nanoscale, where the average size of the NbC particulates is
0.580 mm. Region C is the thickest (about 1000 mm) region in the
composite. It is characterized by the dispersed NbC particulates
and ferrum. The alternate arrangement of partly-gathering NbC
particulates and the matrix micro layers is no longer obvious in
region C. The partly-gathering particulates have spread because of
the more inltration of liquid iron matrix at high temperature in
this region. The average size of NbC particulates in this region is
3Fe () C(s) Fe3C(s) rG5
53.64 0.0595T (13941754 C)(6)
As is well known, the chemical reactions that occur in the
system are determined by the Gibbs free energy (G). The G for
the forming of NbC, Nb2C, and Fe3C as a function of temperature
are plotted in Fig. 4. It can be noticed that the Gibbs free energy of
Nb2C and Fe3C is rG2 40 and rG4 40 at the reaction tem-
perature of 1175 C, but rG1 is negative (rG1 o0). These indicate
that Fe3C and Nb2C are not the thermodynamically favored pro-
ducts. And the forming trend of NbC is larger than other two
phases in the reaction system. Therefore, NbC is the nal product
in the Fe-Nb-C ternary system at the experimental conditions,

Fig. 2. Micrographs of the NbC reinforced composite; M1 is enlarged micrograph of the zone near the Nb/NbC boundary; M2 is enlarged micrograph of the zone near the
matrix.

Please cite this article as: N. Zhao, et al., Microstructure and wear properties of niobium carbide particulates gradient-distribution
composite layer fabricated in situ, Ceramics International (2016), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ceramint.2016.08.188i
4 N. Zhao et al. / Ceramics International ()

Fig. 3. Micrographs of different regions in the composite: (a) NbC particulates high-density zone (region A), (b)NbC particulates partly gathering zone (region B), (c)NbC
particulates dispersing zone (region C) and (d) near-matrix zone (region D).

Table 2 400
The information of niobium carbide particulates in different regions. rG 1
rG 2
Region Diameter/m Volume fraction/% Micro-hardness/HV0.05 300
rG 3
A 0.213 88.89 1532 rG 4
B 0.580 45.76 964
200
G (KJ/mol)

C 0.918 46.63 1006 rG 5

D 1.46 23.25 724

100
which is the stable carbide in the system.
As well known niobium is one of the strong carbide-former, the 0
strong bonding force between the niobium atoms and the carbon
atoms can induce the reaction between them. At the beginning of
the heat treatment, the iron matrix melted and the niobium plate -100
was still a solid, a Fe-Nb-C ternary system can be obtained at the
interface between the iron matrix and niobium plate at the 1175 C 300 600 900 1200 1500 1800
[24]. Then, the carbon atoms accumulate continuously in the oc- Temperature ( )
tahedral interstices of the niobium atoms with a body centered
Fig. 4. The variation relation of Gibbs free energy with temperature in Fe-Nb-C
cubic crystal structure. Since the NbC nucleation rate is far greater
system.
than the growth rate near the plate, ne particulates form a dense
ceramic layer there. It can be attributed to some dissolved niobium
atoms at the interface and lots of diffused carbon atoms from the

Please cite this article as: N. Zhao, et al., Microstructure and wear properties of niobium carbide particulates gradient-distribution
composite layer fabricated in situ, Ceramics International (2016), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ceramint.2016.08.188i
 N. Zhao et al. / Ceramics International ()
Fig. 5. The micro-hardness values curve (a) and the weight loss in wear tests curve
(b) of the subsurface layers of the NbC composite.
matrix at this temperature. Upon prolonging the heat treatment
time, some NbC particulates begin to spread because of the in-
ltration of liquid iron matrix. The longer the heat treatment, the
larger the NbC particulates grew and the more molten iron matrix
inltrate into the formed niobium carbide ceramic. Thus, NbC
particulates gradient-distribution composite is obtained.
3.3. Micro-hardness and wear properties
The distribution of micro-hardness in the cross section is
plotted in Fig. 5(a). As can be seen from the curve, the micro-
hardness rstly decreases followed by a slightly increase (from
region B to region C). It then tends to be a constant (in region C)
and nally decreases (from region D to matrix) to that of the
matrix along with the depth to inner. This result is corresponding
with the microstructure of the composite layer. The highest micro-
hardness (1532HV0.05) is obtained in region A, which is due to the
tiny and intensive NbC particulates and the highest volume fric-
tion of the NbC particulates of the four regions (shown in Table 2).
Then, a sharp decrease in the curve is observed from region A to
region B, because the heterogeneous distribution of lower volume
friction of the tiny NbC particulates in region B. After that, com-
pared with region B, the values of micro-hardness have a little
increase and tend to be stabilized when it enters into region C. It
can be explained by the homogeneous distribution, and the
slightly gradual variation volume friction of the larger ceramic
particulates in region C. As the volume friction of NbC particulates
sequentially decrease in region D, the micro-hardness values de-
crease progressively to that of the matrix.
Fig. 5(b) presents the wear weight loss curve as a function of
passes. The generated curve is almost an anti-function to the
geometric properties of the curve for micro-hardness value. The
weight loss in wear tests of region A is the lowest, which can be
due to the highest value of the micro-hardness. Namely, region A
possesses the best wear resistance among the four regions, which
is 75 times higher than that of HT300 (shown in Fig. 6). Region B
exhibits slight higher weight loss than in the wear tests (shown in
Fig. 5b). Correspondingly, the relative wear resistance of region B is
lower than region C (shown in Fig. 6). Then, the loss weight in-
creases progressively from region D to the matrix and reaches its
maximum in the matrix. Finally, the loss weight tends to be gentle
in the matrix without any reinforcing NbC particulates.
To obtain more information about wear properties of the sub-
surface layers, scanning electron microscopy was applied to the
Please cite this article as: N. Zhao, et al., Microstructure and wear properties of niobium carbide particulates gradient-distribution
composite layer fabricated in situ, Ceramics International (2016), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ceramint.2016.08.188i
5
Fig. 6. The relative wear resistance of different regions.
worn surface of the different regions (Shown in Fig. 7). The worn
surface of region A (Fig. 7(a)) is smooth with no obviously spalled
particulates. The surface may be suffered a small plastic de-
formation by the alumina abrasive. And some micro-cracks
(caused by fatigue) perpendicular to the sliding motion present
along the wear track. The worn surface of region B (Fig. 7(b)) is
characterized by deep parallel grooves, which are formed as the
abrasive grits ploughed across the surface accompanying with the
removed the matrix and the partly gathering NbC particulates.
However, the grooves in region C (Fig. 7(c)) are shallower than that
of region B without any peeled ceramic particulates. It can be at-
tributed to the different composition and microstructure during
region B and C. And it will be explained exactly in the subsequent
section. The worn surface of region D is much worse than that of
region C. Deep grooves and ridges can be observed (shown in
Fig. 7d). However, as can be seen from the Fig. 7(e), the matrix is
suffered from severe cutting.
Rabinowicz [25] has derived an equation to relate the wear loss
with the hardness of materials and sliding parameters for two-
body abrasive wear. The wear loss is assumed to be associated
with the removal of material from the grooves of the specimen
due to the micro-cutting of abrasive particulates. The equation for
a single abrasive particulate reads as [26]:
Vg = Lh2 tan (7)
Where Vg is the volume loss, L is the sliding distance, h is the
penetration depth, and is the characteristics angle of abrasive
particulate, the physical model shown in Fig. 8. Eq. (7) indicates
that the volumetric loss of a specimen is proportional to the
sliding distance, and is inversely proportional to the hardness of
the material, and h affects the volume loss signicantly. However
[27]
2 FN 1/2
h=( )
tan2 H (8)
FN is the applied load; H is the hardness of specimen. The pene-
tration depth h decreases exponentially with the increase in H. It is
worthy to note that the volume fraction of NbC in the composite
affects the values of hardness directly. By combing the SEM ob-
servation of worn surface and the parameters of each region in
Table 2, we can obtain hA ohc o hB ohD as shown in Fig. 8.
Region A is characterized by the fairly agglomerated and uni-
formly sized NbC particulates. The NbC volume fraction is 89.88%.
The tightly connected NbC particulates possess strong ability to
resist the external load penetrating to the interior. It can be
6 N. Zhao et al. / Ceramics International ()

Fig. 7. Worn surfaces of different regions (red arrow indicates the sliding direction of the alumina abrasive) (a) for region A, (b) for region B, (c) for region C, (d) for region D,
and (e) for the matrix. (For interpretation of the references to color in this gure legend, the reader is referred to the web version of this article.)

explained by that the highest volume fraction of NbC particulates
provides strong support for each other. In addition, tiny particu-
lates can improve the plastic deformation and the fracture
toughness of materials effectively [2830]. And the NbC particu-
lates of region A are all submicro. Thus, the wear mechanism of
region A is dominated by micro-ploughing. As can be seen from
Table 2, the NbC volume fraction of region B is similar with that of
region C, but region B exhibits lower wear resistance than region
C. This is the result of partly-gathering NbC ceramic particulates in
region B. As described above, NbC ceramic particulates are
homogeneous distributed in region C. And the interspaces be-
tween the particulates (Fig. 9(b)) are shorter than the distance
between the two micro layers of gathering NbC particulates in
region B. The comparison of them is shown in Fig. 9(a) and (b).

Please cite this article as: N. Zhao, et al., Microstructure and wear properties of niobium carbide particulates gradient-distribution
composite layer fabricated in situ, Ceramics International (2016), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ceramint.2016.08.188i
 N. Zhao et al. / Ceramics International () 7

Fig. 8. Schematic diagram of the abrasive wear mechanism for different reaction regions (a) for region A (b) for region B (c) for region C and (d) for region D.

Fig. 9. (a) The distance between gathering NbC particulates micro zones of region B (b) The distance between NbC particulates of region C.

Thus, the penetration depth in these two regions is hB 4hc at the increased; the gathering NbC particulates micro layers look like
same condition abrasion test. Then, when alumina abrasive moved lonely island, which would be removed severely micro-cutting at
into matrix micro layers in region B, the penetrating depth that part zone. And region C is characterized by a slight micro-

Please cite this article as: N. Zhao, et al., Microstructure and wear properties of niobium carbide particulates gradient-distribution
composite layer fabricated in situ, Ceramics International (2016), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ceramint.2016.08.188i
8 N. Zhao et al. / Ceramics International ()
cutting. They can be easily understood from the schematic of Fig. 8
(b) and (c). However, The NbC volume fraction of region D is only
23.25%. The NbC particulates disperse homogeneously in the metal
matrix. And the interspaces between the particulates increase.
Thus, the penetration depth hD is the highest. This results in more
micro-cutting occurred in region D than region B and C.
During the abrasive wear test, specimens suffered from the
repeated crushing of abrasive particulates. Stress concentration
can generate at various places, such as particulate-matrix inter-
face. When a stress concentration reached a certain value, a micro-
crack nucleated. With the propagation of micro-cracks, the hard
NbC particulates were broken. Examination of the SEM graphs
reveal that there are a part of broken NbC particulates in the worn
surface of region C and D. However, this phenomenon is not ne-
gative on wear resistance because the debris of broken carbide
particulates, together with the abrasive debris, will re-embed into
the matrix. It plays a signicant role in improving composite
characteristics (Fig. 8(c) and (d)). However, there are not any NbC
particulates broken in region A and B, because the NbC particu-
lates are fairly ne and uniformly sized in these two regions. Stress
concentration can be consumed by the micro-cracks going along
the grain boundary (shown clearly in Fig. 8(a)).
Therefore, the wear mechanism of region A is dominated by
micro-ploughing and the micro-cracks going along the grain
boundary. That of region B is mainly characterized by the micro-
ploughing, part of micro-cutting and none broken NbC particu-
lates. The dominant wear mechanism of region C is slight micro-
cutting and a small amount broken NbC particulates. And then the
wear mechanism of region D is severe micro-cutting, broken and
re-embeding NbC particulates in the matrix. It is apparent that all
the regions in composite layer with higher relative wear resistance
than the matrix. They can provide better wear protection or
resistance.
4. Conclusion
Niobium carbide particulates gradient-distribution reinforce
the surface of gray cast iron matrix were successfully fabricated by
in situ synthesis.
(1) The results show that the composite layer is about 1360 mm in
thickness after being heat treated at 1175 C for 1 h. From the
surface toward the matrix, the volume fraction of NbC parti-
culates almost continuously decreases from 88.89% to 0%,
while the average particulate diameter gradually increases
from 213 nm to 1.46 mm. It can be articially divided into four
regions as following: NbC particulates high-density zone (re-
gion A), NbC particulates partly gathering zone (region B), NbC
particulates dispersing zone (region C) and near-matrix zone
(region D), respectively.
(2) The micro-hardness and wear properties of each region for
composite were examined. Region A presents the highest
micro-hardness (1532HV0.05) and the best wear resistance.
The relative wear resistance is 75 times higher than that of
HT300. And the relative wear resistances of other three re-
gions are all higher than HT300.
(3) The wear mechanism of this region A is micro-cracks and
micro-ploughing. That of region B is micro-ploughing and part
of micro-cutting. Region C is slight micro-cutting and a small
amount broken NbC particulates. And region D is severe mi-
cro-cutting with broken and re-embeding NbC particulates in
the matrix.
Please cite this article as: N. Zhao, et al., Microstructure and wear properties of niobium carbide particulates gradient-distribution
composite layer fabricated in situ, Ceramics International (2016), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ceramint.2016.08.188i
Acknowledgments
This project is supported by the National Science and Tech-
nology Plan of Russias Cooperation Project of China (No.
2014DFR50630) and the Doctorial Innovation Foundation of Xian
University of Technology (No. 310-11202j404), The authors would
also like to acknowledge the National Natural Science Foundation
of China (Nos. 51374169 and 51501148), and the Project of the
Shaanxi Key Laboratory of Nano Materials and Technology
(13JS053, 14JS0046 and 14JS0048).
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Please cite this article as: N. Zhao, et al., Microstructure and wear properties of niobium carbide particulates gradient-distribution
composite layer fabricated in situ, Ceramics International (2016), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ceramint.2016.08.188i