Laser cladding of austenitic stainless steel with nickel base hardfacing alloy

A nickel base alloy Colmonoy, 6 was chosen as a candidate material for hard facing many components in the prototype fast breeder reactor. his alloy offers outstanding it ear resistance and high hardness at elevated temperatures. Previous research using the gas tungsten arc welding process revealed that the hardness of the deposit is influenced by the dilution from the base metal up to a deposit thickness as high as 2.5 mm. The present study aims to control the level of dilution in the hard face deposits by carrying out deposition using a low heat input laser cladding process. The samples were Characterised by macroscopic and metallographic examination, and microhardness measurements, SEM-EDAX and XRD analysis were used to determine their properties. The study demonstrated that by controlling laser cladding parameters, thin deposits with a low level of dilution can be laid oil austenitic stainless steel substrate. Cracking of the deposit was minimised by controlling the heating and cooling rates. (C) 2003 IoM Communications Ltd. Published by Maney for the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining.