Simulation, microstructure and microhardness of the nano-SiC coating formed on Al surface via laser shock processing

•Nano-SiC coating is successfully fabricated on pure Al surface via LSPC.•Movement states of the nano-SiC particles are analyzed by FEM.•Formation mechanism of the nano-SiC coating is put forward and discussed.•Microhardness of the Al is significantly improved due to the nano-SiC coating.

A novel method, laser shock processing coating (LSPC), has been developed to fabricate a particle-reinforced coating based on laser shock processing (LSP). In this study, a nano-SiC coating is successfully prepared on pure Al surface via LSPC. The surface and cross section morphologies as well as the compositions of nano-SiC coating are investigated. Moreover, a finite element method (FEM) is employed to clarify the formation process of nano-SiC coating. On the basis of the above analyzed results, a possible formation mechanism of the nano-SiC coating is tentatively put forward and discussed. Furthermore, the nano-SiC coating shows superior microhardness over the Al substrate.