Effect of laser irradiation on failure mechanism of TiCp reinforcedtitanium composite coating produced by laser cladding

Abstract

Laser cladding is an effective technique to coat a metallic substrate with a layer of a different nature.It has been widely reported that the most important combined parameters controlling the quality ofthe coating are the specific energy (E) and the powder density ( ). In the present work, clad depositsof Ti6Al4V + 60 wt.% TiC were prepared on a Ti6Al4V substrate using an optimum combination of Ec= 24 J/mm2 and c= 3 mg/mm2. These experiments were performed using a laser power of 400 and600 W, in order to study the effect of laser power on the properties of the clad. The microstructure, phasecomposition and nanohardness of the coatings were investigated by optical microscopy, scanning elec-tron microscopy and X-ray diffraction. During laser processing, TiC can be partially converted to TiCX(X = 0.5) due mainly to the TiC dissolution into the laser-generated melting pool and subsequent precipi-tation during cooling. It was observed that the lower laser power limit reduces primary TiC dissolution butit also promotes secondary carbide alignment at the interface. On the other hand, the damage mechanisminduced by high laser power is dominated by primary TiC particle cracking by the high stress concentra-tion at the particle matrix interface followed by ductile failure of the matrix. It is also remarkable thatirradiance affects the TiC/TiCxratio despite Ecand care fixed and it determines hardness distributioninside the coating.