An empirical-statistical model for laser cladding of WC-12Co powder on AISI 321 stainless steel

In this study, laser cladding of WC-12Co powder on AISI 321 steel substrate was optimized using an empirical-statistical viewpoint. The correlations that exist between key parameters of the process (i.e., laser power, scanning speed, powder feeding rate) and geometrical characteristics for single clads (i.e. height, width, dilution, and wetting angle) were predicted and analyzed by regression method (RA). The preliminary geometrical considerations allowed to choose the processing parameters which led to high quality clads with minimum porosity. All considerations finally resulted in the development of a processing map that shows the optimum parameters for laser cladding process of WC-12Co powder on AISI 321 stainless steel.