Effect of laser cladding parameters on structure properties of cobalt-based coatings

The article presents results of microstructure, microhardness and geometry tests of cobalt-based alloys deposited on low-alloy steel by a laser cladding process. As a deposited material MetcoClad 6 powder was used. Powder is characterized by a spherical shape of particles obtained in inert gas-atomization process with a size of -106 +45 µm suited to a variety of hardfacing processes. The experiments were carried out using a disk laser Yb:YAG TruDisk 3302, with a wavelength of 1.03um equipped with a disc powder feeder. The laser cladding process was carried out at various parameters of cladding speed, beam power and powder feed rate in order to obtain layers with low dilution, low porosity and good coating uniformity. Macroscopic studies were performed using a metallographic microscope light stereoscopic Olympus SZX9. Vickers microhardness tests were provided on the cross-section of layers on Wilson Wolpert 401 MVD device.