Laser cladding of Colmonoy 6 powder on AISI316L austenitic stainless steel

Stainless steels are widely used in nuclear power plant due to their good corrosion resistance, but their wear resistance is relatively low. Therefore, it is very important to improve this property by surface treatment. This paper investigates cladding Colmonoy 6 powder on AISI316L austenitic stainless steel by CO2 laser. It is found that preheating is necessary for preventing cracking in the laser cladding procedure and 450 °C is the proper preheating temperature. The effects of laser power, traveling speed, defocusing distance, powder feed rate on the bead height, bead width, penetration depth and dilution are investigated. The friction and wear test results show that the friction coefficient of specimens with laser cladding is lower than that of specimens without laser cladding, and the wear resistance of specimens has been increased 53 times after laser cladding, which reveals that laser cladding layer plays roles on wear resistance. The microstructures of laser cladding layer are composed of Ni-rich austenitic, boride and carbide.