Control of the grain structure and wear behavior of a Y2O3 nanoparticle dispersed Stellite 6 alloy fabricated by laser-directed energy deposition

A nuclear reactor is operated with load following that generates more wear than the base load; therefore, the wear resistance of the Stellite 6 alloy should be further improved. This study fabricated a wear-resistant oxide dispersion-strengthened (ODS) Co-based Stellite 6 alloy by varying the amount of Y2O3 nanoparticles (0, 0.6, and 1.5 wt%). The feedstocks for the ODS Stellite 6 alloy samples were prepared via mechanical mixing and radio frequency plasma spheroidization. The samples were then prepared by laser-directed energy deposition to obtain a finer grain structure with superior wear properties. In the ODS Stellite 6 alloy samples, the addition of nanoparticles changed the grain structure from columnar to equiaxed and refined the maximum grain size by 68.9% compared with that of the Stellite 6 alloy sample. In addition, the nanoparticles were dispersed in the interdendritic region of the ODS Stellite 6 alloy samples. The nanoparticles formed a layer in front of dendritic grains and inhibited the movement of the grains and diffusion of solute atoms. As a result, the ODS Stellite 6 alloy samples had a small equiaxed grain structure. Furthermore, a high density of nanoparticles had an Orowan dispersion-strengthening effect. Therefore, the ODS Stellite 6 alloy samples exhibited a maximum increased Vickers hardness value of 15.9% and maximum reduced specific wear rate of 58.2% compared with those of the Stellite 6 alloy sample. Moreover, the ODS alloys exhibited superior wear behavior than Stellite 6 alloy because Y2O3 reinforcement prevents the ODS alloys from being easily abraded or plowed from counterpart material. This study indicates that the ODS Stellite 6 alloys with the optimal amount of Y2O3 nanoparticles dispersed control the grain structure and exhibit superior wear behavior compared with other reported Co-based alloys.