Microstructure and properties of in‐situ vanadium carbide phase reinforced nickel based coating by laser cladding

Laser cladding has been applied to fabricate in‐situ vanadium carbide phase on the surface of C45E (according to ISO 683‐1:2016 (E)) using a preplaced powder consisting of 55 wt.% Ni35 and 45 wt.% (FeV50 + graphite), meanwhile, pure Ni35 has also been cladded for comparison. The microstructure and phases analysis were carried out by means of optical microscope, X‐ray diffractometer, scanning electron microscope, energy dispersive spectroscopy, and electron probe microanalysis. The microhardness and wear resistance were tested through the microhardness tester and ring‐on‐block wear tester respectively. The results show that there are many kinds of microstructure such as cellular and columnar crystals for the pure Ni35 cladding coating, and lots of cellular or dendritic vanadium carbide and reticular Cr₂Fe₁₄C₃ phases distribute over the Fe₃Ni₂ matrix in the coating cladded with 55 wt.% Ni35 and 45 wt.% (FeV50 + graphite). Vanadium carbide phase is uniformly distributed and bonded metallurgically to the matrix very well, which increases the hardness and wear resistance. The wear resistance of coating cladded with 55 wt. % Ni35 and 45 wt. % (FeV50 + graphite) alloy powder is 5.16 times as high as C45E, and is higher 139.7% than that of the pure Ni35 clad layer.