Comparative study on continuous and pulsed wave fiber laser cladding in-situ titanium-vanadium carbides reinforced Fe-based composite layer

In-situ titanium and vanadium carbides reinforced Fe-based cladding layers were obtained by using continuous wave and pulsed wave laser cladding respectively. Effects of pulsed wave laser on carbide particle size, cladding layer grain size and hardness were investigated. Results showed that there were no obvious differences between using continuous wave or pulsed wave laser on cladding layer's final phases which were ascertained as alpha-Fe, gamma-Fe, VC and TiVC2. Pulsed wave laser refined carbides and the cladding layer matrix grains significantly, and some carbide grains approached nano-scale. The particle size distribution range became more concentrated, between 0.1 and 0.7 mu m. Compared to continuous wave laser cladding layer, the pulsed wave laser improved the hardness significantly by 210 HV0.2 up to 1160 HV0.2. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.