Microstructure and high temperature tribological behavior of laser cladding Ni60A alloys coatings on 45 steel substrate

The crack-free Ni60A coating was fabricated on 45 steel substrate by laser cladding and the microstructure including solidification characteristics, phases constitution and phase distribution was systematically investigated. The high temperature friction and wear behavior of the cladding coating and substrate sliding against GCr15 ball under different loads was systematically evaluated. It was found that the coating has homogenous and fine microstructure consisting of γ(Ni) solid solution, a considerable amount of network Ni–Ni3B eutectics, M23C6 with the floret-shape structure and CrB with the dark spot-shape structure uniformly distributing in interdendritic eutectics. The microhardness of the coating is about 2.6 times as much as that of the substrate. The coating produces higher friction values than the substrate under the same load condition, but the friction process on the coating keeps relatively stable. Wear rates of the coating are about 1/6.2 of that of the substrate under the higher load (300 g). Wear mechanism of the substrate includes adhesion wear, abrasive wear, severe plastic deformation and oxidation wear, while that of the coating is merely a combination of mild abrasive wear and moderate oxidation wear.