Deformation-Induced Martensitic Transformation in Laser Cladded 304 Stainless Steel Coatings

There are only a few cost-effective solutions for coating applications in combined mechanical loading and corrosive environments. Stainless steel AISI 304 has the potential to fill this niche, showing excellent corrosion resistance while utilizing the deformation-induced phase transformation from γ-austenite to α’-martensite, which results in an increase in strength. However, it is not known whether this can occur in laser cladded material. Therefore, laser cladded AISI 304 coatings in as-cladded condition and after heat treatment at 1100 °C for 60 min were investigated before and after bending deformation, by means of light microscopy, energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy and electron backscatter diffraction. It was shown that due to the dendritic microstructure accompanied by an inhomogeneous distribution of the main alloying elements (Cr and Ni), no deformation-induced phase transformation occurred in the as-cladded coating. The applied approach with subsequent solution heat treatment at 1100 °C for 60 min resulted in a homogeneous γ-austenite microstructure, so that a deformation-induced martensitic transformation (DIMT) could occur in the coatings. However, the volume fraction of martensite that had been formed locally at individual shear bands was rather low, which can be possibly attributed to the high Ni content of the feedstock, stabilizing the γ-austenite microstructure. This study shows the possibility of exploiting the DIMT mechanism in heat-treated laser-cladded AISI 304 coatings.