Microstructure and properties of thin wall by laser cladding forming

Laser cladding forming is a layer additive manufacturing technique and can be used to fabricate three-dimensional fully dense metal components directly from the CAD model with neither mould nor tool. It has shown extensive application on many fields and has been intensively developed. An investigation of laser cladding forming for Ni-based tungsten carbides (WC) thin wall is presented in this paper. The phase constitution, microstructure and microhardness were investigated by X-ray diffractometer, energy dispersion spectroscopy, scanning electron microscope and Vickers hardness tester. The characteristics of the thin wall were studied also. The results showed that the undissolved tungsten carbides uniformly dispersed in the matrix of the Ni-based alloy. A preferable bonding mode between WC particle and nickel-based alloy matrix was observed in the thin wall. The Vickers hardness across the longitudinal section of the sample in the height-direction shows a periodical fluctuation due to the secondary heating.