Influence of laser alloying with boron and niobium on microstructure and properties of Nimonic 80A-alloy

•The laser alloying with boron and niobium was proposed as surface treatment of Nimonic 0A-alloy.•The produced layers were significantly thicker than those-obtained during diffusion boriding.•The microstructure of laser re-melted zone consisted of nickel borides, chromium borides, niobium borides and Ni-phase.•The presence of hard borides in the re-melted zone caused the increase in microhardness up to 1000 HV.•Abrasive wear resistance of the produced layer was 10 times greater in comparison with untreated Nimonic 80A-alloy.

Ni-base superalloys were widely used in aeronautics, chemical and petrochemical industries due to their high corrosion resistance, high creep and rupture strength at high temperature. However, these alloys were not considered for applications in which conditions of appreciable mechanical wear were predominant. The diffusion boriding provided suitable protection against wear. Unfortunately, this process required long duration and high temperature. In this study, instead of the diffusion process, the laser alloying with boron and niobium was used in order to produce the hard and wear resistant layer on Nimonic 80A-alloy. The laser-alloying was carried out as a two-step process. First, the external cylindrical surface of specimens was pre-placed with a paste containing boron and niobium. Then, the pre-placed coating and the thin surface layer of the substrate were re-melted by a laser beam. The high laser beam power (P=1.56 kW) and high averaging irradiance (E=49.66 kW/cm2) provided the thick laser re-melted zone. The laser-borided layers were significantly thicker (470 µm) in comparison with the layers obtained as a consequence of the diffusion boriding. Simultaneously, the high overlapping of multiple laser tracks (86%) caused that the laser-alloyed layer was uniform in respect of the thickness. The produced layer consisted of nickel borides (Ni3B, Ni2B, Ni4B3, NiB), chromium borides (CrB, Cr2B), niobium borides (NbB2, NbB) and Ni-phase. The presence of hard borides caused the increase in microhardness up to 1000 HV in the re-melted zone. However, the measured values were lower than those-characteristic of niobium borides, chromium borides and nickel borides. The presence of the soft Ni-phase in re-melted zone was the reason for such a situation. After laser alloying, the significant increase in abrasive wear resistance was also observed. The mass wear intensity factor, as well as the relative mass loss of the laser-alloyed specimens, was over 10 times smaller in comparison with untreated Nimonic 80A-alloy.