Comparison study on resistance to wear and abrasion of high-temperature sliding strike of laser and plasma spray layer on the stainless steel surface

Abstract

In this paper, the effect of coatings, which are formed with laser cladding and plasma spray welding on 1Cr18Ni9Ti base metal of nuclear valve seats, on wear resistance is studied. A 5-kW transverse-flowing CO 2 laser is used for cladding Co base alloy powder pre-placed on the substrate. Comparing with the plasma spray coatings, the laser-cladding layer have lower rate of spoiled products and higher rate of finished products. Their microstructure is extremely fine. They have close texture and small-size grain. Their dilution diluted by the compositions of their base metal and hot-effect on base metal are less. The hardness, toughness, and strength of the laser-cladding layers are higher. The grain size is 11–12th grade in the laser-cladding layer and 9–10th in the plasma spray layer. The width of combination zone between laser-cladding layer and substrate is 10–45 μm but that between plasma spray layer and substrate is 120–160 μm. The wear test shows that the laser layers have higher property of anti-friction, anti-scour, and high-temperature sliding strike. The wear resistance of laser-cladding layer is about one time higher than that of plasma spray welding layer.