Process study of Ni-based WC composite coatings by means of laser-induction hybrid cladding

To increase the cladding efficiency and eliminate the cracks in the cladding layer,laser-induction hybrid cladding was adopted to obtain Ni-based WC composite coatings without porosities and cracks. The influence of processing parameters on the composite coatings by means of laser-induction hybrid cladding was investigated. The results showed that the area density of deposition powder had an increase with increasing laser specific energy. At the same laser specific energy, the cladding height increased and the dilution decreased with increasing area density of deposition powder. When the area density of deposition powder kept constant, the cladding width slightly increased and the contact angle decreased with increasing laser specific energy. Moreover,due to introduction of induction heater,the efficiency of laser-induction hybrid cladding was increased about five times higher than that of the individual laser cladding. As a result,the temperature gradient during laser-induction hybrid cladding was much lower than that during the general laser cladding, which was the main reason that no cracks appeared in Ni-based WC composite coatings.