Experimental Investigation on the Influence of Laser Power and Scan Speed on Track Geometry in Direct Laser Cladding of Al –Carbides Powder Composites on Steel Substrate

Abstract

Coating steel surfaces with hard ceramic particles in Aluminum has a great influence to improve mechanical properties and wear resistance. This research investigated direct laser deposition, where no binder is used, of pure Aluminum and its composite powder with SiCp of 30% and Mo2C 30% are conducted, applying laser cladding technique (LC) using coaxial cladding nozzle. The effects of SiCp and Mo2C content in composite and the laser processing parameters namely; laser power of 900 to 1200-watt, scan speed of 0.9 to 1.1 m.min^-1 on clad layer formation and its geometry are studied. Results indicate that the clad geometry parameters get better quality clad layer with the increase of laser energy density to get full clad layer at energy density 25.6 J.mm^-2. Some parameters such as width , penetration , aspect ratio and dilution percentage are directly proportional to laser energy density. While height on the other side is inversely proportional to laser energy density due to maintaining feeding rate constant. A slight increase in clad geometry parameters was observed in Al-SiC cladding layer over Al-Mo2C.