Microstructure and mechanical properties of Ni-based composite coatings reinforced by in situ synthesized TiB₂ + TiC by laser cladding

A Ni-based composite coating reinforced by in situ synthesized TiB₂ and TiC particles was fabricated on Ti6Al4V by laser cladding. An attempt was made to correlate the thermodynamic predictions and experimental observation. The microstructure and the microhardness profile across the coating were investigated by means of X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), and a hardness tester. It is found that the coating mainly consists of a large number of reinforcements (black blocky TiB₂, flower-like or equiaxial TiC, and fine acicular CrB) and the γ matrix. The hardness of TiB₂, TiC, and CrB reinforcements is much higher than that of the γ matrix. The dispersive distribution of such high hardness reinforcements causes the increase in hardness of the whole coating. The average value of the hardness is approximately Hv_0.2 700 in the coating. The hardness of the coating is obviously higher than that of the substrate due to the dispersion strengthening of reinforcements.