Experimental and numerical investigation of the effect of process parameters on crack formation and residual stresses in the laser coating process of stellite 6 alloy on X19CrMoNbVN11-1 steel substrate

In the present research, thermal–mechanical simulation of laser cladding of Stellite 6 powder on X19CrMoNbVN11-1 steel substrate was carried out to study the influence of scanning speed and laser power on the remaining stresses/strains and thus the formation of cracks in the cladding layer. In order to demonstrate the accuracy of the simulation results in prediction of the crack formation, the laser cladding process was also implemented experimentally. The results have shown that the highest temperature of the molten pool (1753 °C) was obtained at a laser power of 250 W, a powder injection rate of 0.3 g/s and a scanning speed of 3 mm/s. With the increase in scanning speed, the geometric shape of the cladding layer has changed from a semicircle to an oval shape. Moreover, at low scanning speed, the maximum strain is produced in the substrate and at high scanning speed, the maximum strain is created at the top of the coating layer. The lowest value of residual stress and strain was obtained at a scanning speed of 3 mm/s, while at a scanning speed of 5 mm/s the highest value of residual stress and strain was obtained. Furthermore, when the wetting angle is greater than 44°, the stress concentration is transferred from the top of the cladding layer to the substrate and the possibility of crack formation decreases.