A Study of Characteristics of Aluminum Bronze Coatings Applied to Steel Using Additive Technologies

Abstract

The influence of laser power on the microstructural, strength, and tribological characteristics of aluminum bronze coatings applied to steel by laser cladding was studied. It was found that with an increase in laser power, the morphology of the coating surface becomes more uniform without extreme height differences. This study revealed that the coating microstructure corresponds to that of a composite material and consists of a bronze matrix and iron dendrites of different sizes (depending on the laser power). Such a microstructure affects the microhardness indices, which have a scatter of values over the coating thickness. There is a diffusion zone at the steel–bronze interface, which promotes adhesion of the matrix and coating materials. According to the results of tribological tests, the dry friction coefficient for the studied samples is in the range of 0.389–0.574.

Microstructural evolution of Al0.25CoCrFeNiCu and Al0.45CoCrFeNiSi0.45 high-entropy alloys during laser cladding

“…Samodurova et al 21 noted that the higher temperatures during laser melting can promote diffusion processes and migration of elements, which results in a positive effect on the adhesion in the coating/substrate interface. However, such diffusion processes affect the composition of the coating and substrate materials.…”

“…For example, by Liu et al 27 and Qiu and Liu, 28 when using a laser power of 2400 and 2500 W, the width of the heat-affected zone turned out to be comparable to the thickness of the resulting coating (400 and 600 μm, respectively). Samodurova et al 21 noted that the higher temperatures during laser melting can promote diffusion processes and migration of elements, which results in a positive effect on the adhesion in the coating/substrate interface. However, such diffusion processes affect the composition of the coating and substrate materials.…”

“…There are different technologies for deposition of HEA coatings, such as electro-spark deposition, 12 plasma-arc spraying, 13 gas tungsten arc welding (TIG or GTAW processes), [14][15][16] thermal spraying 17 and HVOF process. 18 Laser cladding is a relatively advanced technology that has attracted significant attention for deposition of conventional alloy coatings, [19][20][21][22] and more recently for fabricating HEAs coatings. [23][24][25] Currently, the data presented in the literature about preparing HEA coatings is rather ambiguous.…”

Microstructure, Microhardness and Tribological Properties of Bronze–Steel Bimetallic Composite Produced by Vacuum Diffusion Welding

“…Other than changing the composition of the alloys, constructing bimetal structures is proposed to be a more effective method to combine the advantages of multiple materials and improve the wear resistance of friction pairs. Of various preparation technologies of composites, dissimilar welding technologies, such as laser cladding [20][21][22], friction welding [23][24][25], diffusion welding [26][27][28][29] and vacuum diffusion welding [30] are low-cost and effective and are suitable for the industrial production.…”

In-situ X-ray microtomography of interface between additively manufactured aluminium bronze and H13 tool steel

“…An application could be in injection moulding of plastic where thermal conduction is highly important in addition to a need for wear resistance in the tools [1]. Several studies have been done on deposition of copper on steels, but many of them focus on hardness or wear rate, and not on the adhesion between the metals [2,3]. In this work, aluminium bronze deposited onto H13 tool steel is examined with X-ray microtomography, with gradually increasing loads.…”