Microstructure and Wear Resistance of In Situ Synthesized Ti(C, N) Ceramic-Reinforced Nickel-Based Coatings by Laser Cladding

In recent years, laser cladding technology has been widely used in surface modification of titanium alloys. To improve the wear resistance of titanium alloys, ceramic-reinforced nickel-based composite coatings were prepared on a TC4 alloy substrateusing coaxial powder feeding laser cladding technology. Ti (C, N) ceramic was synthesized in situ by laser cladding by adding different contents (10%, 20%, 30%, and 40%) of TiN, pure Ti powder, graphite, and In625 powder. Thisestudy showed that small TiN particles were decomposed and directly formed the Ti (C, N) phase, while large TiN particles were not completely decomposed. The in situ synthetic TiCxN1−x phase was formed around the large TiN particles. With the increase in the proportion of powder addition, the wear volume of the coating shows a decreasing trend, and the wear resistance of the surface coating is improving. The friction coefficient of the sample with 40% TiN, pure Ti powder, and graphite powder is 0.829 times that of the substrate. The wear volume is 0.145 times that of the substrate. The reason for this is that with the increase in TiN, Ti, and graphite in the powder, there are more ceramic phases in the cladding layer, and the hard phases such as TiC, Ti(C, N) and Ti2Ni play the role in the structure of the “backbone”, inhibit the damage caused by micro-cutting, and impede the movement of the tearing point of incision, so that the coating has a higher abrasion resistance.