Metallographic Analyses of Laser Gladded WC-Ni and WC-Co Hard-facing Metals

Laser cladding is performed to improve the surface properties of metallic machine components. Extensive work is being conducted to investigate the relationships among the cladding parameters, clad powder characteristics and the quality of the clad layer. This work presents some of the metallographic analyses results of WC -Ni and WC-Co clad layers. The clad layers are characterised with non-uniform carbide particles, mostly WC imbedded in a more ductile matrix. The transition from the clad layer to the substrate metal had a distinct dilution zone. The ratio of this zone to the clad height was in the range of 10 -12% and this still needs to be refined.