Effect of laser irradiation on failure mechanism of TiCp reinforced titanium composite coating produced by laser cladding

Laser cladding is an effective technique to coat a metallic substrate with a layer of a different nature. It has been widely reported that the most important combined parameters controlling the quality of the coating are the specific energy (E) and the powder density (Ψ). In the present work, clad deposits of Ti6Al4V + 60 wt.% TiC were prepared on a Ti6Al4V substrate using an optimum combination of Ec = 24 J/mm2 and ψc = 3 mg/mm2. These experiments were performed using a laser power of 400 and 600 W, in order to study the effect of laser power on the properties of the clad. The microstructure, phase composition and nanohardness of the coatings were investigated by optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction. During laser processing, TiC can be partially converted to TiCX (X = 0.5) due mainly to the TiC dissolution into the laser-generated melting pool and subsequent precipitation during cooling. It was observed that the lower laser power limit reduces primary TiC dissolution but it also promotes secondary carbide alignment at the interface. On the other hand, the damage mechanism induced by high laser power is dominated by primary TiC particle cracking by the high stress concentration at the particle-matrix interface followed by ductile failure of the matrix. It is also remarkable that irradiance affects the TiC/TiCx ratio despite Ec and ψc are fixed and it determines hardness distribution inside the coating.