Laser alloying of steels with metal, carbide and boride powder Available to Purchase

Laser alloying is usually used to create new materials with novel structures and properties. The development of these materials occurs predominantly on an empirical basis today, because there exists only little experience with rapidly solidified laser alloyed structures. To study the influence of the chemical composition on the solidification structure, laser alloying of a plain carbon steel and a high speed tool steel with metal, carbide and boride powder was performed. The solidification structures were characterized by means of scanning electron microscopy, electron probe microanalysis and X-ray diffraction. Thermodynamic calculations were made to determine the changes of the constitution due to laser alloying. A comparison of the solidification structure and the constitution of the materials revealed a good correspondence. It could be demonstrated for metal, carbide and boride powder additions, that thermodynamic calculations are a useful tool for a prediction of the solidification structures of laser alloyed materials.