Laser surface coating of Fe–Cr–Mo–Y–B–C bulk metallic glass composition on AISI 4140 steel

Fe-based bulk metallic glasses exhibit very high hardness, elastic modulus/limit and wear/corrosion resistance. In the present investigation, an attempt has been made to develop an amorphous coating with Fe48Cr15Mo14Y2C15B6 bulk metallic glass on AISI 4140 substrate by laser surface processing. Following coating, the microstructure and phase aggregate were analyzed by scanning electron microscope and X-ray diffraction, respectively. Microhardness and wear resistance were assessed using Vickers microhardness tester and ball-on-plate wear testing machine, respectively. The coating thickness varied directly with incident laser power and interaction time. Despite trials with wide range of process parameters, the present experiments were unable to retain complete amorphous surface microstructure after laser surface coating. Numerical prediction of the thermal profile and related parameters suggest that the cooling rate and thermal gradient experienced by the coated zone were fairly high. Yet failure to retain amorphous/glassy microstructure of an otherwise bulk metallic glassy alloy suggests that compositional changes (solute redistribution) within the coated zone and across the coating–substrate interface are responsible for nucleation and growth of crystalline phases from the melt. However, correlation between coating parameters and surface microstructure and properties allowed determination of the optimum conditions that ensured fine grained uniform microstructure with a significant improvement in hardness and wear resistance.