Abstract
The paper presents study results of Fe/TaC metal matrix composite coatings produced on tool steel using laser processing of TaC pre-coat. The Fe/TaC coatings were produced in two steps. First, a pre-coat in the form of a paste based on tantalum carbide and water glass was made and then applied to the steel substrate. In the second step, the TaC pre-coat was remelted with steel substrate using a diode laser beam with a rated power of 3 kW. A constant scanning speed of the laser beam of 3 m/min and three types of laser beam power: 500 W, 800 W and 1100 W were applied. Tests were carried out on three different thicknesses of the TaC pre-coat: 30 µm, 60 µm and 90 µm. The influence of pre-coat thickness and laser beam power on the microstructure, chemical composition and microhardness were analyzed. A possibility of producing coatings with a characteristic composite structure was found, where the iron from the substrate became the matrix, and the introduced tantalum carbides—the reinforcing phase. It was found that too high power of the laser beam leads to complete melting of the introduced primary TaC particles. It was also found that the use of a thicker TaC pre-coat contributes to microhardness increase.
Highlights
Laser surface treatment of ferrous and non-ferrous alloys is becoming more and more widespread among researchers, and in industrial space
As in available papers the authors have not dealt with Fe-based coatings reinforced with TaC so far, this paper presents the results of studies on such composite coatings
With laser processing it is possible to produce Fe/TaC metal matrix composite coatings in which the matrix is the iron from a steel substrate enriched with tantalum, and the reinforcing phase are primary TaC tantalum carbide particles
Summary
Laser surface treatment of ferrous and non-ferrous alloys is becoming more and more widespread among researchers, and in industrial space. In paper [19] the authors analyzed Ni-based composite coating reinforced with in situ synthesized TaC particles produced on mild steel using laser cladding. Hu et al [1] focused on Ni-based coating reinforced with Ni3 Ta-TaC synthesized in-situ on the substrate of the cutter ring using laser cladding Their premise was to improve its wear resistance. The authors found a uniform distribution of carbides and inter-metallic reinforcements (TaC, Cr3 C2 and Co3 Ta) in Co-based matrix It led to improved wear resistance and electrochemical corrosion resistance. With increasing TaC content in the powders the number of the reinforcements in the laser surface cladding coatings increased gradually, and the particles became larger The authors continued their studies in paper [3].
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