Ceramic particulate reinforced metal matrix composites coatings
have attracted wide interest in recent years because of their
unique comprehensive properties. Therefore, several techniques
have been applied to fabricate MMC coating, including plasma
spraying, laser cladding, arc welding and so on. Yuan et al. prepared
WC-Co-based coatings containing solid lubricant Cu and MoS2 on
mild steel substrates by atmospheric plasma spraying [1]. Zhou and
Zeng obtained WC-reinforced Fe matrix composite coatings by laser
induction hybrid rapid cladding [2]. Buytoz obtained SiC reinforced
MMC surface on AISI 304 stainless steel by TIG surface alloying
[3]. In addition, Wu et al. produced Al/WC composite coatings in
Al–12.6Si alloy by high energy milling [4]. However, several techniques
were put forward to prepare MMC coatings, but it required
complex preparation process and expensive equipment.
As an alternative approach, SHS has been recently reported
to prepare ceramic particulate reinforced MMCs [5–9]. The SHS
method does not need complex equipment and shows the advantage
of low energy consumption, high time efficiency, and good
interfacial bonding. The fabrication of MMC coatings by SHS, however,
has rarely been reported. In this work, TiC reinforced Cu/Ni
based MMC coating was in situ synthesized via SHS on a steel sub-