Laminated composite wear materials

Abstract

Metallic parts having a hard wear-resistant surface and the high impact resistance associated with softer materials are formed by coating a plurality of ductile, relatively soft metallic segments with a relatively hard wear-resistant material, stacking the segments so that portions of each of their coated surfaces are exposed to form a composite coated surface, and mechanically locking the segments together to form a unitary member. The members formed by this technique exhibit the surface characteristics associated with the hardened coating such as improved wear, impact and abrasion resistance, and exhibit the bulk physical properties of the base material such as strength and ductility. Moreover, the surface treatment has a depth which would be unobtainable if the part were formed of a single section treated with the surface coating; the coating is not only formed on the exterior surface of the composite part, but extends toward the interior of the part for substantial depths.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.