Influences on the wear resistance of carbide laser claddings

Laser beam cladding with powder mixtures, consisting of carbidic hard particles and metallic binders, is a very effective method for producing wear-resistant protection layers on highly stressed components. The resultant compound layer systems provide excellent wear-resistance, in particular on parts subjected to complex load conditions, such as abrasive wear, impact or fatigue. The wear behaviour is influenced by shape and material of the counterpart, abrasive type, abrasive grain size and size of the carbide particles within the dispersion structure. Large-scaled wear tests have shown, that the wear performance of laser hard metal claddings comes close to that of sintered WC/Co hard metal. Because of the relatively high binder content of up to 50 vol.%, the layers maintain ductile materials behaviour. Forging dies, cutting tools and tools for paper machining are examples of application.