The creation of a wear resistant surface of metal matrix composite on AA6061 aluminum alloy by laser surface melting of pre-pasted Mo-WC powder was successfully achieved using a 2kW CW Nd-YAG laser. High quality coating without porosity and cracking was obtained. Excellent bonding between the coating and the aluminium alloy substrate was ensured by the strong metallurgical interface. Different ratios of Mo and WC powders were investigated. The surface hardness of the A1 specimens cladded with Mo/WC is increased by 7 times. The samples have been characterized with abrasive pin-on-disc wear test. The results showed that all cladded specimens have extremely good wear resistance. The chemical compositions, microstructures and surface morphology of the cladded layer were analysed using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX) and X-ray diffractometry (XRD).

Topics
Thermodynamic states and processes, Lasers, Alloys, Composite materials, Energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, Scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffractometers
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