The crack control during laser cladding by adding the stainless steel net in the coating

The generation of crack is one of the key problems which restrict the development of laser cladding technique. The purpose of this study is to control the cracks during laser cladding by adding a plastic phase—an austenitic stainless steel net in the coatings. With Ni-, Co- and Fe-based alloy powders, laser cladding experiments were carried out. The microstructure of the coatings and the stainless steel net was investigated. Experimental results show that the stainless steel net is partly melted and strongly bonded to the cladding powder materials and the substrate. Thus the crack density is significantly reduced. The amount of the reduction increases as the diameter of the stainless steel net increases. Without preheating the substrate, large area coatings which remain free of cracks can be achieved when adding the stainless steel net with appropriate diameter. The characteristics of the coatings were investigated and the results indicate that the hardness fluctuations of the coatings become larger and the wear resistance decreases when adding 316 stainless steel net.