Domestic commercial low- and intermediate-level radioactive waste storage containers are manufactured using 1.2 mm thick cold-rolled steel sheets, and the outer surface is coated with a thin layer of primer of 10~36 μm. However, the outer surface of the primer of the container may be damaged due to physical friction, such as acceleration, resonance, and vibration during transportation. As a result, exposed steel surfaces undergo accelerated corrosion, reducing the overall durability of the container. The integrity of storage containers is directly related to the safety of workers. Therefore, the development of storage containers with enhanced durability is necessary. This paper provides an analysis of mechanical properties related to the durability of WC (tungsten carbide)-based coating materials for developing low- and intermediate-level radioactive waste storage containers. Three different WC-based coating specimens with varied composition ratios were prepared using HVOF (high-velocity oxy-fuel) technique. These different specimens (namely WC-85, WC-73, and WC-66) were uniformly deposited on cold-rolled steel surfaces ensuring a constant thickness of 250 μm. In this work, the mechanical properties of the three different WCbased coaitng materials evaluated from the viewpoints of microstructure, hardness, adheision force between substrate and coating material, and wear resistance. The cross-sectional SEM-EDS (Scanning Electron Microscope-Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy) images revealed that elements W (tungsten), C (carbon), Ni (nickel), and Cr (chromium) were uniformly distributed within the each coating layers which was approximately 250 μm thick. The average hardness values of HWC-85 and HWC-73 were found to be 1,091 Hv (Vickers Hardness) and 1,083 Hv, respectively, while the HWC-66 exhibited relatively lower hardness value of 883 Hv. This indicates that a higher WC content results in increased hardness. Adhesion force between and substrates and coating materials exceeded 60 MPa for all specimens, however, there were no significant differences observed based on the tungsten carbide content. Furthermore, a taber-type abrasion tester was used for conducting abrasion resistance tests under specific conditions including an H-18 load weight at 1,000 g with rotational speed set at 60 RPM. The abrasion resistance tests were performed under ambient temperatures (RT: 23±2°C) as well as relative humidity levels (RH: 50±10%). Currently, the ongoing abrasion resistance tests will include some results in this study.

This study investigates the microstructure and wear properties of cermet (ceramic + metal) coating materials manufactured using high velocity oxygen fuel (HVOF) process. Three types of HVOF coating layers are formed by depositing WC-12Co, WC-20Cr-7Ni, and Cr3C2-20NiCr (wt.%) powders on S45C steel substrate. The porosities of the coating layers are 1 ± 0.5% for all three specimens. Microstructural analysis confirms the formation of second carbide phases of W2C, Co6W6C, and Cr7C3 owing to decarburizing of WC phases on WC-based coating layers. In the case of WC-12Co coating, which has a high ratio of W2C phase with high brittleness, the interface property between the carbide and the metal binder slightly decreases. In the Cr3C2-20CrNi coating layer, decarburizing almost does not occur, but fine cavities exist between the splats. The wear loss occurs in the descending order of Cr3C2-20NiCr, WC-12Co, and WC-20Cr-7Ni, where WC-20Cr-7Ni achieves the highest wear resistance property. It can be inferred that the ratio of the carbide and the binding properties between carbide–binder and binder–binder in a cermet coating material manufactured with HVOF as the primary factors determine the wear properties of the cermet coating material.