Optics & Laser Technology 50 (2013) 155162

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Optics & Laser Technology

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/optlastec

Solid-Particle Erosion Behaviour of WC/Ni Composite Clad layers with

Different Contents of WC Particles
C.P. Paul a,n, S.K. Mishra a, P. Tiwari b, L.M. Kukreja a
a
b

Laser Materials Processing Division, Raja Ramanna Centre for Advanced Technology, PO: CAT, Indore (M.P.) 452 013 INDIA
Indus Synchrotrons Utilisation Division, Raja Ramanna Centre for Advanced Technology, PO: CAT, Indore (M.P.) 452 013 INDIA

art ic l e i nf o

a b s t r a c t

Article history:
Received 4 January 2013
Received in revised form
16 February 2013
Accepted 6 March 2013
Available online 9 April 2013

We investigated the solid particle erosion behaviour of WC-reinforced Ni-matrix based laser clad layers
to improve the performance of engineering components for potential power plant applications.
WC-reinforced Ni-matrix based laser clad layers having various compositions of WC (5, 10 and 15 wt%)
were deposited on austenitic stainless steel substrates. The laser clad layers were characterised using
optical and scanning electron microscopy, microhardness testing and air-jet erosion testing. In solid
particle erosion studies using the air-jet erosion tester, the set of testing parameters, including airerodent compositions, erodent particle velocities and impact angles, was selected by using the Taguchi
technique. The morphologies of the worn surfaces were used to predict the wear mechanisms. The
results of a microstructural examination of the cross-sections of laser clad revealed a good metallurgical
bond between the WC-reinforced Ni matrix and the austenitic stainless steel substrate. Dissociation/
partial melting/full melting of WC particles was not observed in the laser clad layers. The microhardness
value in the laser cladding zone was between 9002400 VHN, while it was 230270 VHN on the
substrate. The results of erosion wear studies of the WC-Ni laser clad surface revealed that the erosion
behaviour of the WC-Ni laser clad is primarily governed by erodent jet velocity followed by impact angle.
The erosion does not much depend on the Ni-concentration in the MMC or the erodent feed rate. The
wear signature at the erosion wear surface indicated that the erosion was primarily governed by a ductile
erosion mechanism followed by the removal of WC particles from the matrix. The erosion resistance of
the Ni-clad layer with WC was found to be at least four times higher than that without WC particles. The
quantied contribution of various erosion parameters is useful for function-based design of components
with extended service life.
& 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords:
WC-Ni cladding
Laser cladding
Erosion wear

1. Introduction
Solid particles entrained in a uid stream can strike a surface
with high-velocity, which results in material loss known as solid
particle erosion (SPE). The phenomenon is useful in sand-blasting,
high-speed abrasive water jet cutting, shot peening of rotating
components and cutting of hard and brittle materials such as rock
by abrasive jets. However, SPE is considered undesirable in many
engineering systems, including steam and jet turbines, pipelines,
valves used in slurry transportation of materials and uidised bed
combustion systems [1]. SPE is different from other forms of
erosion such as liquid impact erosion, slurry erosion and cavitation
erosion because it is the consequence of a series of essentially
independent but similar impact events in which hard particles
contact the component surface for a very short duration [2].
Recently, metal matrix composites (MMCs), which consist of hard

Corresponding author. Tel.: 91 731 248 8384; fax: 91 731 248 8380.
E-mail address: paulcp@rrcat.gov.in (C.P. Paul).

0030-3992/$ - see front matter & 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.optlastec.2013.03.002

and brittle particles or bres embedded in a tough metal binder,

are nding increasing attention for the control and minimisation
of wear [3]. The erosion resistance of the surfaces is not only
inuenced by the impact angle, particle velocity and environmental temperature but also depends strongly on the deposition
technique. Many deposition techniques such as thermal spraying,
sputtering, cladding, physical vapour deposition, chemical vapour
deposition, detonation spraying and electro-spark detonation have
been widely investigated in an effort to obtain protective layers
against erosive wear [4]. In principle, an innite range of MMCs are
possible with variations in the types and compositions of the
metal and ceramic. A suitable process of controlled composition
with a dened distribution of ingredients within the material can
be used to make MMCs with a tailored set of useful engineering
properties [5]. These useful engineering properties (such as hardness, specic modulus, strength, thermal stability and wear
resistance) are extending the list of engineering applications for
MMCs. In these materials, the bulk hardness is governed by the
hard particles (such as WC, TiC or Cr3C2) while the toughness and
strength of these materials can be tuned by adding an adequate

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C.P. Paul et al. / Optics & Laser Technology 50 (2013) 155162

amount of metallic matrix/binder (such as Co, Ni, Fe, Ni-Fe or

Ni-Fe-Co). For a WC reinforced metal matrix, Co is preferred as a
binder due to its excellent wettability, and the WC-Co combination
is known for high hardness and outstanding toughness [6]. Nickel
is employed as a binder for specialised applications where high
hardness and resistance against thermal cracking or corrosion/
oxidation resistance are required along with wear resistance
[711]. To date, many researchers have reported the laser cladding
of Ni-based alloys with WC to produce a metal matrix composite
(MMC) [1215]. Hidouci et al. [16] tried to pre-heat the substrate
during laser cladding of 50 wt% Ni50 wt% WC to avoid cracking.
Zhong et al. [17] studied the formation of a WC-Ni hard-alloy laser
cladding using a W-C-Ni powder blend, and they observed step,
twist and cross growth morphologies of the WC. The abrasion
wear of cemented carbide laser-clad surfaces is widely represented in the literature [18,19]. Acker et al. [20] investigated the
inuence of the concentration and size of WC/W2C on the abrasion
wear resistance of a laser-clad MMC. They found that an increase
in concentration of the carbides and/or a decrease in their size
were favourable trends for the two-body abrasive wear resistance.
A small concentration of ne carbides was sufcient to reduce
wear considerably, and the wear coefcient decreased logarithmically with the concentration of carbides. Investigations by
Bonny et al. [21] indicated that WCNi cemented carbide had
promising friction and wear properties under dry sliding contact.
They found that cemented carbide with a reduced binder phase
enhanced the abrasion wear resistance considerably. Huang et al.
[22] studied the abrasion wear behaviour of WC-Ni clad layers
produced with a pulsed Nd:YAG laser and found that the abrasion
wear of the laser clad layers was 23 times higher than that of an
unclad H13 substrate. In general, measurements of abrasion wear
are relatively straightforward in terms of experimental procedure,
material response to testing and test rig congurations. Moreover,
abrasion wear behaviour can be understood in terms of mechanical properties of the materials [23]. However, the erosion wear
behaviour requires a deeper understanding beyond the mechanical properties of the materials. Desale et al. [24] investigated the
slurry erosion behaviour of various laser hard-faced materials on
low-carbon austenitic stainless steel. Kleis and Kulu [5] studied
various material properties such as hardness, Young's modulus,
porosity, phase composition and microstructure of a hard metal
coating and could not establish a detailed interpretation of the
erosion wear resistance of each composition. Classical brittle
materials (such as glasses and ceramics) have been investigated
for lateral, cone and median cracks created by the impact of a
single particle, and it was found that erosion was due to the
formation of lateral cracks on the target surface leading to removal
of the material [25]. Recently, Jana and Stack investigated the
threshold velocity criteria in the modelling of the solid particle
erosion of WC/Co MMCs [26]. In ductile materials, erosion initiates
with a localised deformation near the surface region that leads to
lip formation, and when the inertial stress exceeds the ultimate
strength of the material, the lip is removed from the material [27].
In contrast, cemented carbides did not behave in a classical brittle
manner when subjected to an erosive uid jet at least on the
microscopic scale. At this scale, they could sometimes behave in a
ductile manner or display some attributes of both ductile and
brittle behaviour. The combination of test conditions and material
properties/microstructure determined the response of a particular
cemented carbide to a uid jet in terms of severity and the nature
(brittle or ductile) of the erosion [26]. The erosion behaviour of
WC-reinforced Ni-matrix laser-clad layers has not been widely
reported. Hence, we have undertaken the deposition of a WCreinforced Ni-matrix using laser cladding and a systematic investigation of the erosion behaviour of these layers. In the present
study, multi-layer overlapped laser cladding of WC-Ni was carried

out for three different Ni compositions (5, 10 and 15 wt%) on an

austenitic stainless steel substrate using a 3.5 kW continuouswave CO2 laser-based rapid manufacturing system. The microstructure of the clad layers was investigated using optical microscopy. The microhardness of the clad layers was measured using a
Vickers microhardness tester. The solid particle erosion behaviour
of the laser clad specimens was examined using an air-jet erosion
setup at various air-erodent compositions, erodent particle velocities and impact angles.

2. Experimental Procedure
The present study was carried out using a CO2 laser based
cladding system consisting of an indigenously developed 3.5 kW
continuous-wave CO2 laser system [28], a co-axial powder-feeding
nozzle with a volumetrically controlled powder feeder [29] and a
5-axis CNC laser workstation. The CO2 laser beam was transferred
to the 5-axis CNC laser workstation by steering the beam with
water-cooled gold-coated plane copper mirrors. A concave mirror
(radius of curvature600 mm) at an inclination angle of approximately 221 was used to focus the laser beam at the laser workstation, and a defocused beam with a diameter of approximately
1.2 mm was delivered at the substrate. The beam intensity prole
of the CO2 laser used was nearly a at-top due to the multi-mode
lasing [30]. The at-top beam intensity prole is preferred because
it leads to nearly uniform heat input at the irradiated surface
across the beams cross-section. Argon gas was used as a shielding
and carrier gas. The particle size range of the powder used in the
present study was 45106 mm and 2575 mm for WC and Ni,
respectively. WC particles were agglomerated and had nearly
spheroidal morphology. This particular range of particle size was
selected as smaller sized particles tended to y due to the high
surface-area-to-weight ratio while larger sized particles suffered
poor absorption of the laser energy and subsequent poor wetting
during laser cladding. WC and Ni powders were pre-mixed in
three different ratios (5, 10 and 15 weight % of Ni). In the following
section, the ratios of WC and Ni are designated as WC-5Ni, WC10Ni and WC-15Ni for 5, 10 and 15 wt% of Ni-concentration in
MMC, respectively. The present investigation was limited to WC15Ni because there was a dip in the erosion loss for the MMC with
10% matrix phase [6]. The laser cladding process was carried out
on austenitic stainless steel AISI 316 L substrates of diameter
75 mm and thickness 12 mm. Prior to the experiments, the
substrates were sand-blasted to roughen the machined surface
in order to increase the laser absorption [31].
To optimise the process, a number of tracks were deposited at
different process parameters. This choice was critical as excessive
heating or partial melting of the WC resulted in a carbon
deciency in the MMC due to precipitation of carbon as graphite.
2WCW2 C C

This graphite reacted with atmospheric oxygen and formed CO

and CO2, which often appeared as gas porosity in the MMC. To
identify the zone of optimal processing parameters, a number of
single tracks with different processing parameters were deposited.
The deposited tracks were rst examined visually. Uniform tracks
without visual defects (such as pores, an irregular surface or carbon
deposition adjacent to the tracks) on and near the track surface were
selected, and their cross sections were examined more fully. Process
parameters that led to laser cladding with a track aspect ratio (i.e.,
the ratio between clad width and clad height) greater than ve were
chosen because it is well-established that use of laser cladding with
an aspect ratio less than ve leads to inter-run porosity [32]. The
chosen process parameters have the following ranges: laser power
from 1.01.5 kW; scan speed from 0.20.5 m/min; and powder feed

C.P. Paul et al. / Optics & Laser Technology 50 (2013) 155162

rate from 58 g/min with an argon gas ow rate at 10 lpm.

Subsequently, multi-layer overlapped tracks were deposited with
the chosen process parameters. The scheme of the overlap is
described in Fig. 1. Generally, the overlap between two adjacent
clads is kept between 50% and 60% to reduce post-cladding machining work [33]. A 60% overlap was used in our present experiment.
The deposited multi-layer overlapped tracks were cut, polished and
prepared for various material characterisations. The microstructure
of the clad layer was assessed using optical microscopes (Nissho
Optical TZ-240 and Olympus PME3). Vickers microhardness measurements were performed on the cross-sections of the laser clad
samples using a Leitz Mini load-2 microhardness tester with a load of
200 g as per ASTM standard [34].
The erosion behaviour of the laser clad samples was evaluated
under simulated test conditions using an air-jet erosion tester. The
tester consisted of an erodent hopper with vibrator, a volumetrically
controlled feeding device for the erodent, a tungsten carbide nozzle
and the target mount. Alumina (Al2O3) particles with an average
particle size of 50 mm were used as the erodent powder. The erodent
powder was lled into the hopper and fed to the air line through a
volumetrically controlled feeding device, i.e., a vertical rotating
grooved disk. At the end of the air line, there was a tungsten carbide
nozzle with a hole of 1.5 mm diameter to force out the air-erodent
mixture at high velocity. The mass ow of the erodent powder was
simply controlled by manipulating the rotational speed of the feeding
device while the airline pressure was varied to achieve the desired
erodent velocity on the target. The target mount had a rotation
mount that allowed the option of setting the jet impact angle () at
the target in the range of 01 - 901. The jet impact angle () is the
angle between the direction of jet ow and the target. The distance
(h) between the nozzle exit and target was kept to 10 mm.
The erodent jet velocity was measured using a rotating double
disc setup where the upper disc had a slit and the lower disc had
no slit. In the double disc setup, the gap between the upper and
lower disc was l. The set up was rotated at N rpm, and there was an
angular offset of in erodent impact impression on the lower disc
with respect to the slit. The erodent jet velocity was computed
using the following relation:
v

2Nl
m=s
60

The erosion experiments were carried out on laser clad samples

at different erodent feed rates, erodent jet velocities and impact
angles for a 2 minute duration using this air jet erosion setup. For
an erosion experiment of t minutes with a mass loss of the laser
clad samples W at an F g/min erodent feed rate, the erosion value
and resistance can be calculated by the following equations:
Erosion value, E

W
Ft

Erosion resistance, Re

157

1
:
E

The Taguchi method is a proven and reliable method to evaluate

several design parameters simultaneously with a lower number of
experiments [35]. In the present study, comprehensive experiments
were designed as per the orthogonal L9 array of the Taguchi method
to understand the effects of Ni-concentration in the MMC, erodent jet
velocity, erodent feed rate and impact angle on the erosion wear
value. Table 1 presents the control factors and their values as used in
the experiments. After conducting the experiments as per the L9
orthogonal array, the results were converted into signal-to-noise
(S/N) ratio data by applying the criterion that the smaller the values,
the better. The the-smaller-the-better criterion is chosen because
the quality characteristic is erosion wear value. This criterion is given
by the following:
"
#
S
1 n
10log10
y
5
N
ni1 i
where n represents the total number of tests in an experimental trail (n 3) and yi represents the erosion wear value of the
specimen corresponding to the ith test (i 1, 2 or 3).

3. Results and discussion

3.1. Effect of processing parameters
As discussed in the previous section, the process window is
identied by experimental trials. First, a number of single tracks with
different processing parameters were deposited, and the deposited
tracks were examined visually. It was observed that for a constant
laser power and powder feed rate, a lower scan speed caused the
melt-pool liquid state to exist for a longer time before being bonded
and solidied; this in turn resulted in the formation of a good WC-Ni
metal matrix. At very low scan speeds, there was deposition of a
carbon powder, which was mainly generated due to decomposition
of WC particles, adjacent to the deposited track. An increase in the
scan speed resulted in lower energy per unit length and higher
amounts of powder fed per unit length, which led to a reduction in
melting of the binder and a narrower track width. Considering this
observation, the effects of the processing parameters on laser
cladding of WC-Ni were compiled as a function of the laser energy
per unit amount of powder fed. The laser energy per unit amount of
powder fed (Ep/m) is the ratio of laser power (PL) to the powder feed
rate (mp). Mathematically,
EP=m

PL
kJ=g
mp

The compilation of data illustrates that a laser energy per unit

amount of powder fed in the range of 1015 kJ/g was a primary
requirement for successful track deposition in the range of processing parameters under investigation. When the laser energy per unit
amount of powder fed was lower than the specied range, discontinuous tracks with non-uniform cross sections were observed.
The value of this parameter was more critical for laser cladding of
Table 1
Control factors & their levels, as per Taguchi L9 experiment.
Control Factors

Fig. 1. The scheme of overlapping (W - Track width, x Transverse traverse).

A
B
C
D

Ni-concentration in MMC ( wt% )

Erodent jet velocity (m/s)
Erodent feed rate (g/min)
Impact angle (1)

Levels
1

5
30
2
90

10
50
3
60

15
70
4
30

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C.P. Paul et al. / Optics & Laser Technology 50 (2013) 155162

WC-5Ni. When the laser power energy per unit amount of powder
fed was more than the specied value, a dissociation of WC particles
and black deposits adjacent to the tracks were observed, and this was
undesirable. The observations were the same for multi-layer single
track and multi-layer overlapped track depositions.

A uniform dispersion of WC particles in Ni matrix was observed

across the clad cross-section in all of the samples under investigation. Few WC particles could reach deep down to the substrate due
to the high density. A similar trend was observed in our earlier work
on laser cladding of WC-12Co [36]. As expected, there was a visible

3.2. Microstructural examinations

The laser clad was continuous and free from any visible defects
for all the samples under investigation. Fig. 2 (a) and (b) show
typical cross-sections of laser clad for WC-10Ni and WC-15Ni,
respectively. A few cracks at isolated locations were observed for
WC-5Ni and WC-10Ni samples. These cracks were mostly between
the adjacent tracks and one end of the crack was at the top of clad
track while the other was at a WC particle in the Ni matrix. WC
particles were observed on the path of cracks. These are primarily
due to thermal mismatch in the MMC and specically in the region
of overlapped tracks. The top surface of the deposits was uneven
and had some porosity in all samples. The clad-substrate interface
was free from defects for all samples except for WC-5Ni samples.
The defects for WC-5Ni samples were primarily due to the
unavailability of the Ni matrix at the interface during laser
cladding. No measurable dilution was observed in any samples.
The bulk of the laser clad was mostly free from volume defects,
like- porosity and lateral cracks.

Fig. 2. Typical cross section of laser clad layer for (a) WC-10Ni and (b) WC-15Ni.

Fig. 3. Typical distribution of WC particles in Ni matrix for (a) WC-5Ni, (b) WC10Ni and (c) WC-15Ni.

C.P. Paul et al. / Optics & Laser Technology 50 (2013) 155162

difference in the distribution of WC particles in a Ni matrix for the

samples of different compositions. Fig. 3 (a), (b) and (c) present the
typical distribution of WC particles in the Ni matrix for WC-5Ni,
WC-10Ni and WC-15Ni, respectively. The densities of WC particles
in Ni matrix lined up in descending order for WC-5Ni, WC-10Ni and
WC-15Ni. A dendritic microstructure was observed in the Ni matrix.
The orientation of the dendrites was perpendicular to the cladsubstrate interface (as shown in Fig. 4 (a)), and this is primarily due
to a larger cooling contribution from the substrate. It is interesting
to observe that the orientation of dendrites was almost radially
outward around the WC particles (refer to Fig. 4 (b)); this occurs
because the superior thermal properties of WC particles acted as a
heat sink in the Ni matrix and gave rise to a radial solidication
front around the WC particles. The dissociation/partial melting/full
melting of WC particles was not observed in the laser clad layers as
the sharp corners of the WC particles were found intact in the laser
clad layers.

3.3. Microhardness Measurement

Microhardness measurements across the transverse crosssection of the laser clad WC-Ni samples were carried out using a
microhardness tester. Fig. 5 shows the results of the microhardness
measurements. The substrate side and the top side are shown on

Fig. 4. Optical micrograph presenting microstructure (a) at the bulk clad layer, and
(b) at substrate-clad interface for WC-Ni deposits.

159

the left and right hand sides, respectively. The value of microhardness in the laser cladding zone was between 9002400 VHN1.961 N
while it was 230270 VHN1.961 N on the substrate. There were some
peaks in microhardness where the measurement was directly on a
hard WC particle. A distinct gradient in the microhardness is
observed as the distance approaches near the interface. There was
not much variation in the microhardness between WC-5Ni and WC10Ni while the microhardness for W-15Ni was relatively low. This
value is attributed to the higher concentration of the softer Ni
matrix.
3.4. Solid Particle Erosion Studies
The Taguchi method is a statistical method that involves
investigating the effect of process control parameters through
the robust design of experiments. Unlike conventional full factorial
design of experiments, the Taguchi method uses predened
combinations of parameters (as per an orthogonal array) to
generate the necessary data. The data from the arrays can be
analysed by plotting and performing a visual analysis, an analysis
of variance (ANOVA), a bin yield with Fisher's exact test or a Chisquared test. These analyses or tests are used to determine the
effect and contribution of various individuals/combinations of
individual parameters on the process with a minimal amount of
experimentation, which saves time and resources. In the present
study, the results of comprehensive experiments that were carried
out as per an L9 orthogonal array of the Taguchi method are
presented in Table 2. Fig. 6 presents the effect of variation of one of
four parameters at a time (Ni-concentration, erodent jet velocity,
erodent feed rate and impact angle) in terms of S/N ratio. It was
observed that the width of the eroded pit (presented in column 8,
Table 2) was increased with an increase in the velocity, and the
smallest width was obtained at 30 m/s. This effect occurs because
the erodent jet diameter at the impact plane increases with
increased erodent particle velocity. The length of the eroded pit
(presented in column 9, table 2) increased with a decrease in the
impact angle, and the longest length was obtained at an impact
angle of 301. The effect of individual parameters was evaluated
using the Taguchi method. The analysis of means (ANOM) test was
performed by averaging the resulting S/N ratios for each of the
parameter levels. Table 3 presents the effect of parameters on the
erosion wear from one level to another as computed from the
results of the ANOM test. The analysis revealed that the contributions of Ni-concentration in the MMC, erodent jet velocity, erodent
feed rate and impact angle to the erosion are 4%, 63%, 6% and 28%,

Fig. 5. Value of microhardness measurement of various WC-Ni laser clad samples.

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C.P. Paul et al. / Optics & Laser Technology 50 (2013) 155162

Table 2
Data summary of the erosion wear experiments.
Expt.
No.

Ni-concentration in
MMC (wt %)

Erodent jet
velocity (m/s)

Erodent feed rate Impact

(g/min)
angle (1)

Mean erosion value

(g/g x 103)

S/N
(dB)

Maximum width of
eroded pit (mm)

Maximum length of
eroded pit (mm)

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9

5
5
5
10
10
10
15
15
15

30
50
70
30
50
70
30
50
70

2
3
4
3
4
2
4
2
3

2.93
4.85
3.31
1.20
4.35
9.25
1.55
2.38
6.10

55.45
51.06
54.37
63.19
52.00
45.45
60.96
57.26
49.06

1.08
3.20
2.25
2.65
3.25
3.50
3.03
3.20
4.00

3.10
4.80
2.90
8.05
4.17
4.73
3.20
6.30
4.30

90
60
30
30
90
60
60
30
90

was increased. The trend conrms the general behaviour of

erosion wear resistance [37]. The curve for erodent jet velocity
showed that the erosion value decreased with an increase in the
erodent jet velocity. This may be attributed to the combined
effects from the formation of a blanket by ricocheting erodent
particles and the fracture of erodent particles during collisions
with the MMC. When erodent particles with reasonably high
velocity strike the surface, they ricochet and interrupt the incoming path of the erodent jet by forming a blanket. Though the
explanation of the results is logical and closely associated with
realistic conditions, there is some apprehension about the results
of the air jet erosion testing for very high velocities due to the
blanket effect. As relevant testing and simulation is a tricky topic
that needs special attention, it is proposed that an alternative test
is needed to evaluate the material performance at such higher
velocities. Fracturing of the erodent particles results in a reduction
of the impact pressure on the target and subsequently lowers the
erosion value. The relationship between critical erodent particle
size (dF) and erodent particle velocity (V) was given by [37] as
Fig. 6. Effect of Ni-concentration, erodent jet velocity, erodent feed rate and impact
angle on erosion wear in terms of S/N ratio.

Table 3
Analysis of erosion value data.
Average n by Factor Level (dB)
Factor
A Ni-Conc.
(wt%)
B Erodent
jet
velocity
(m/s)
C Erodent
feed rate
(g/min)
D Impact
angle (1)

Main
Sum
Degree
Effect
Mean
of
Freedom Squares Square

F
%
Contribution

53.62 53.55 55.76 2

59.87 53.44 49.63 2

161

80

63

17

52.72 54.44 55.78 2

14

52.17 52.49 58.27 2

71

35

28

respectively. Thus, the erosion behaviour of the WC-Ni laser clad is

primarily governed by erodent jet velocity followed by impact
angle. It does not much depend on the Ni-concentration in the
MMC or the erodent feed rate. The curve in Fig. 6 for Niconcentration in the MMC showed that there was not much
variation in the erosion wear value for WC-5Ni and WC-10Ni,
but the value increased for WC-15Ni. As the erodent feed rate was
increased, the result was an increase in the number of particles
impacting on the laser clad surface, and the erosion wear value

dF



K cp 2 H p 1=2 1=3 2=3

V
Hp
H t 1=6

where Kcp, Hp and are the fracture toughness, hardness and

density of the erodent particles (Al2O3), respectively, and Ht is the
hardness of the target material (WC). Eq. 7 indicates that smaller
particles also become fractured at higher erodent particle velocity.
The size distributions of the erodent particles before and after the
erosion test were also evaluated. A lesser number of fractured
erodent particles was found at lower erodent velocity, and the
number found increased for higher values of erodent velocity. The
curve for impact angle showed an increase in the erosion value as
the impact angle was changed from 901 to 301. Change in the
impact angle from 901 to 601 did not inuence the erosion wear
value much, but a similar variation from 601 to 301 resulted in a
larger difference in erosion wear value. This difference occurs
because of a change in the mechanism of erosion wear from the
brittle mode to the ductile mode. A similar trend was observed for
HVOF-sprayed WC-Ni coatings by Berger et al. [38].
Figs. 7(a)(c) present micrographs of the eroded pits. The depth of
the eroded pit was reduced as the impact angle changed from 901 to
301. These micrographs clearly indicate that the ow of the matrix
metal and total erosion were primarily governed by a ductile erosion
mechanism. Fig. 8 presents a typical eroded pit. The presence of
micro-pores on the eroded pit surface shows that WC particulates
were removed after the removal of the softer Ni-metal matrix. The
erosion value of the Ni-clad layer with WC was found to be at least
four times higher than that without WC particles. This nding
reconrmed that the introduction of WC particles with a Ni matrix
increased the erosion resistance properties.

C.P. Paul et al. / Optics & Laser Technology 50 (2013) 155162

161

Fig. 8. Macrograph showing sites of removed WC particulates from laser clad layer.

the laser clad layers. The microscopic studies also showed that the
WC particles were uniformly distributed in the Ni matrix, and
their densities were in a descending order for WC-5Ni, WC-10Ni
and WC-15Ni. A dendritic microstructure was observed in the Ni
matrix. The orientation of dendrites was perpendicular at the cladsubstrate interface due to larger cooling from the substrate. The
orientation of dendrites was almost radially outward around the
WC particles because these particles acted like heat sinks due to
their superior thermal properties. The value of microhardness in
the laser cladding zone was between 9002400 VHN1.961 N while it
was 230270 VHN1.961N on the substrate. The result of the erosion
wear studies of the WC-Ni laser clad surface revealed that the
erosion behaviour of WC-Ni laser clad is primarily governed by
erodent jet velocity followed by impact angle. The erosion does
not much depend on the Ni-concentration in MMC or the erodent
feed rate. The decrease in erosion wear value with increasing
erodent jet velocity was observed due to the combined effect of
blanket formation by the ricocheting erodent particles and the
fracture of erodent particles during impact. The signature wear
seen at the erosion wear surface indicated that the erosion was
primarily governed by ductile erosion mechanisms followed by the
removal of WC particulates from the matrix.

Acknowledgement
The authors thankfully acknowledge the technical support of
Dr. Atul Kumar, Mr. P Bhargava, Mr. C H Premsingh, Mr. S K Perkar,
Mr. N K Mourya and other members of the Laser Material Processing Division during the course of the presented study.
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Fig. 7. Macrograph showing the eroded surface signature for solid particle erosion
at various impact angles (a) 901, (b) 601 and (c) 301.

4. Conclusions
In the present study, the laser cladding of WC reinforced Ni
matrix on austenitic stainless steel was carried out for three
different WC-Ni ratios (5, 10 and 15 wt % of Ni). The successful
deposition of fully dense and crack free WC-Ni clad layers for WC15Ni with a defect-free interface and low dilution was demonstrated. During the microscopic study, dissociation/partial melting/
full melting of the WC particles was not observed in the laser clad
layers as the sharp corners of WC particles were found intact in

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