An important aspect of the laser deposited coatings is dilution
of the clad layer, i.e., the mixing of substrate with clad material.
While a minimum dilution is necessary to guarantee a good
metallurgical bonding between clad and substrate, an excessive
dilution is undesirable, given the need to preserve the chemical
composition and properties of the coating.
There are a few papers on the detrimental effects of dilution on
hardness [1] and corrosion resistance [2] of Ni–Cr–B–Si–C alloys
deposited by welding techniques. The processing parameters of
laser deposition are usually adjusted to obtain very low levels of
dilution. But the heat accumulation during the laser cladding of
small parts or in cladding operations in which the heat can not be
conducted away in time due to geometrical limitations may
significantly increase the dilution and change properties of the
clad layer [3]. Our previous work showed that microstructure of
Ni–Cr–B–Si–C laser deposited coatings can change gradually or
abruptly with subsequent effects on the hardness and cracking
tendency [4]. The purpose of the current paper is to investigate
the correlation of microstructure and hardness of the laser
deposited Ni–Cr–B–Si–C coatings with dilution from the steel
substrate and its underlying mechanisms.
preheated carbon steel rods using powder injection and a con-
tinuous wave IPG fiber laser. Single tracks and five-track layers
(33% overlapping) with dilutions from 5 to 45% were deposited at
a speed of 5 mm/s using powers from 400 to 900 W. The amounts
of dilution were calculated using both geometrical (Dg) and
metallurgical (Dm, based on iron content) definitions [5]. In all
cases, the values of Dg and Dm were consistent within the
experimental errors.
Samples for optical microscopy and Scanning Electron Micro-
scopy (SEM) analyses and hardness measurements were prepared
by standard mechanical grinding and polishing. A Philips XL30
Field Emission Gun Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM)
equipped with Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy (EDS) was used
to perform microstructural characterization and compositional
analyses. EDS Spectra were collected under 5 kV to analyze the
composition of borides and under 20 kV in other cases. Vickers
hardness was measured using a load of 4.9 N.