The effect of localized dynamic surface preheating in laser cladding of Stellite 1

In laser cladding, high cooling rates create outcomes with superior mechanical and metallurgical properties. However, this characteristic along with the additive nature of the process significantly contributes to the formation of thermal stresses which are the main cause of any potential delamination and crack formation across the deposited layers. This drawback is more prominent for additive materials such as Stellite 1 which are by nature crack-sensitive during the hardfacing process. In this work, parallel to the experimental investigation, a numerical model is used to study the temperature distributions and thermal stresses throughout the deposition of Stellite 1 for hardfacing application. To manage the thermal stresses, the effect of preheating the substrate in a localized dynamic fashion is investigated. The numerical and experimental analyses are conducted by the deposition of Stellite 1 powder on the substrate of AISI-SAE 4340 alloy steel using a 1.1 kW fiber laser. Experimental results confirm that by preheating the substrate a crack-free coating layer of Stellite 1 well-bonded to the substrate with a uniform dendritic structure, well-distributed throughout the deposited layer, can be obtained contrary to non-uniform structures formed in the coating of the non-preheated substrate with several cracks.