Manufacturing Technology and Properties of Fe/TaC Metal Matrix Composite Coatings Produced on Medium Carbon Steel Using Laser Processing—Preliminary Study on the Single Laser Tracks

Abstract

The paper presents study results of Fe/TaC metal matrix composite coatings produced on tool steel using laser processing of TaC pre-coat. The Fe/TaC coatings were produced in two steps. First, a pre-coat in the form of a paste based on tantalum carbide and water glass was made and then applied to the steel substrate. In the second step, the TaC pre-coat was remelted with steel substrate using a diode laser beam with a rated power of 3 kW. A constant scanning speed of the laser beam of 3 m/min and three types of laser beam power: 500 W, 800 W and 1100 W were applied. Tests were carried out on three different thicknesses of the TaC pre-coat: 30 µm, 60 µm and 90 µm. The influence of pre-coat thickness and laser beam power on the microstructure, chemical composition and microhardness were analyzed. A possibility of producing coatings with a characteristic composite structure was found, where the iron from the substrate became the matrix, and the introduced tantalum carbides—the reinforcing phase. It was found that too high power of the laser beam leads to complete melting of the introduced primary TaC particles. It was also found that the use of a thicker TaC pre-coat contributes to microhardness increase.

Manufacturing Process, Microstructure and Physico-Mechanical Properties of W-Cr Coatings Reinforced by Cr3C2 Phase Produced on Tool Steel through Laser Processing

“…It is true that a new structure will be obtained, in which the dendritic precipitates and matrix can be identified. However, such a structure cannot be treated as a composite structure, where the phases are clearly separated from each other, as was obtained in previous studies on other types of carbides [ 10 , 11 , 17 ]. However, it can be concluded that the use of both the W-Cr matrix and the Cr 3 C 2 reinforcing phase has a significant impact on building a new structure, and that the careful selection of the laser beam parameters can control the shape of the individual structural elements.…”

“…Among galvanic methods, the most common, such as nickel plating, chromium plating or zinc plating, can be distinguished. The methods that are gaining recognition and being more frequently developed and described by researchers are high-energy techniques, such as laser cladding [ 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 ], plasma arc cladding [ 14 , 15 ] and laser alloying [ 16 , 17 ]. These methods are increasingly used in industry.…”

Influence of Laser Beam Power on Microstructure and Microhardness of Fe/ZrC Coatings Produced on Steel Using Laser Processing—Preliminary Study on the Single Laser Tracks

“…The laser is used both in the processing of metallic and non-metallic materials. The use of the laser beam for the production of coatings on ferrous (steel, cast iron) [6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14] and non-ferrous alloys (mainly nickel and cobalt alloys) [15][16][17][18] is particularly interesting. Recently, laser surface modification techniques have become quite widespread in industrial applications [1,5].…”

“…Much less attention is given to other types of carbides. Tantalum carbide [12,15,[37][38][39][40] and zirconium carbide [41][42][43][44] seem to be very interesting. A mixture of these two carbides forms one of cermets, i.e., ceramic-metal sinters, characterized by very high hardness.…”

“…Due to the fact that cermets containing ZrC and TaC are characterized by very high hardness, it is reasonable to check whether these two carbides can be used as reinforcing phases in coatings produced on steel. The author made an initial attempt in a previous study by producing single laser tracks reinforced with TaC tantalum carbide [12]. Preliminary tests showed a possibility of producing Fe/TaC coatings on a steel substrate, and the obtained coating hardness values exceeded the hardness of the substrate.…”