Developing the ductility and thermal fatigue cracking property of laser-deposited Stellite 6 coatings by adding titanium and nickel

A design strategy is presented for the development of a laser-deposited Stellite 6 coating with high ductility and low thermal fatigue crack propagation rate. The strategy involved adding titanium to modify carbide morphology, accompanied by an increase in the nickel content to stabilize the γ-Co phase in the matrix. The molar ratios of the titanium to the carbon in coatings were 0.5, 1.0, 1.5, and 2.0. The amount of nickel added to the titanium-modified coatings was 10 and 20 wt%. The net-like M23C6 eutectic carbides in the Stellite 6 coating transformed to isolated TiC particles with increasing molar ratio of titanium to carbon. Adding nickel to the coatings resulted in an increase in the stacking fault energy and the stabilization of the γ-Co phase. Accordingly, the ductility increased with increasing nickel concentration. The modified coating, named 1.0Ti20Ni, in which the molar ratio of titanium to carbon was 1.0 and the nickel concentration was 20 wt%, exhibited the highest elongation to fracture (~12%), along with a high strength (1230 MPa) in all coatings, Besides, the 1.0Ti20Ni coating revealed the lowest thermal fatigue crack propagation rate. Keywords: Stellite 6 coating, Coating design, Microstructure, Mechanical properties, Thermal fatigue crack propagation