The influence of combined laser parameters on in-situ formed TiC morphology during laser cladding

In this paper, the effect of laser cladding process parameters on TiC morphology is studied. Results show that laser parameters play a crucial role in morphology of TiC. Dendritic or spherical TiC particles with different distribution are observed depending on applied laser parameters. Two combined parameters, effective energy and powder deposition density, are used in order to study the effect of laser process parameters on TiC morphology. A series of experiments are conducted in constant laser power and scan speed, constant effective energy and constant powder deposition density in order to study the TiC morphologies. Results show that both combined parameters and laser parameters should be considered in order to interpret the results. Laser parameters have crucial role in establishing the TiC morphologies by means of temperature and chemical composition. Hardness results of the clad zone depend on morphologies and distributions of TiC particles in the clad. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.