Characteristics of Tribaloy T-800 and T-900 coatings on steel substrates by laser cladding

CoMoCrSi alloys, mostly known as Tribaloy® family, combine well-known outstanding properties in terms of wear and corrosion resistance as well as in terms of mechanical strength. Compared to other wear resistant alloys, their performance is due to the presence of hard Laves phases rather than intermetallic carbides. Among the Tribaloy family, the T-800 alloy offers the best performance as a result of a higher amount of primary Laves phases. However, as a consequence of the brittle nature of these hard phases, the deposited alloy may present a relatively low resistance to crack initiation and propagation, particularly in laser cladding processing where thermal stresses are significant. A reduction in the volume fraction of these hard phase may be achieved by replacing some of the Laves phase components in the alloy (Co, Mo, Si) by Ni (T-900 alloy). Alternatively, it has been suggested that the addition of Fe could also lead to a significant reduction. The Fe addition can easily be accomplished in laser cladding process by dilution of the T-800 coating with the steel substrate. In this work a comparative study of microstructure, hardness and cracking susceptibility of low and high diluted T-800 and T900 coatings deposited by laser cladding is presented. A lower cracking ratio is obtained for the T-900 coatings at the cost of a lower hardness and wear resistance. No noticeable effect on the cracking susceptibility of the T-800 is found due to dilution with the substrate. However a change in its microstructure is observed giving superior hardness and wear resistance.