Ultrasonic vibration on wear property of laser cladding Fe-based coating

Abstract

ABSTRACT Fe-based coatings were fabricated on GCr15 bearing steel by laser cladding assisted by ultrasonic vibration. Microstructural evolution and wear resistance of the cladding layers were investigated systematically. The results showed that epitaxial growth columnar grains were shattered and then grew in different directions with a large number of fine equiaxed crystals formed in the cladding layer. The nano-hardness and elastic modulus were 10.54 and 289.3 GPa, and increased by 15.7 and 4.9%, respectively, compared to a cladding layer without ultrasonic vibration-assisted. The average friction coefficient of cladding layer with and without ultrasonic vibration was 0.339 and 0.382, respectively, which decreased by 18.5 and 8.2% accordingly compared to the substrate (0.416), and the corresponding relative wear-resisting coefficients were 47.1 and 21.4 times as high as that of the substrate. The wear resistance of the cladding layer was better than that of the substrate, especially the cladding layer fabricated by ultrasonic vibration.