Hardfacing is gaining more and more importance in the most varied fields of modern engineering. In the case of wear, corrosion and other types of surface attack, the application of hardfacing permits the economical reconditioning of many structural members. Reconditioning may comprise workpieces subjected to metal-to-metal wear such as rollers, crane wheels, shafts, rails or which are subjected to metal-to-mineral wear, like building machinery, conveyor screws, excavator bucket edges, etc.
The possibilities of hardfacing not only lie in the field of reconditioning, but more and also in the manufacture of new tools and components. In this manufacturing process, a non-alloyed or low-alloy steel is used as carrier material to which are imparted special properties by welding on a suitable high quality weld metal. Decisive factor in hardfacing is the knowledge of the wear conditions, that is, whether it is a frictional wear caused by metal or minerals, corrosion, cavitation, erosion or temperature. The selection of the welding consumable to be used will depend on these conditions. Besides this, it is most important to know the composition of the base metal to be surfaced, because of the measures likely to be taken, such as preheating and/or post weld treatment.