Surface and Coatings Technology 132 Ž2000.

262᎐269

Some aspects of laser surface cladding in the turbine industry

Y.P. KathuriaU
Laser X Co. Ltd., Chiryu-shi, Aichi-ken 472, Japan

Received 1 June 1999; accepted 5 June 2000

Abstract

Water droplet erosion of leading edge of the blade in a steam turbine could impair its efficiency and lifetime. To overcome this
problem, laser cladding of the leading edge with Co-based stellite powder is commonly used. This paper discusses microscopically
the effect of power density and beam interaction time in such a cladding process. It is realized that the beam interaction time has
a significant effect on solidification and microstructure development process. The results indicate that the dendrite structure shall
be fine for short interaction time compared to the coarse structure for long interaction time. Macro- and micro- cross-section
electron probe microanalysis ŽEPMA. and microhardness profile has been employed to characterize the cladding. The results are
correlated with the clad quality. Microstructure, hardness and dilution are discussed as a function of the processing parameters.
A few of the actual results of the laser cladding of stellite 6L on 12Cr᎐Ni turbine blades are presented. Since the dilution of the
base material into the cladding is significantly low at short interaction times, the clad could retain significant strength after
long-term exposure, a unique feature for the turbine industries. Such possible applications are illustrated as well. 䊚 2000 Elsevier
Science S.A. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Laser cladding; Turbines

1. Introduction controlled overlay welding of an alloy powder such as

With the rapid and fast diversification of the laser
applications in automobile, aircraft, shipping and heavy
industries, the surface modification technology has been
gaining much importance. It shows a tremendous
growth potential in the near future as wear resistance
coating for hard materials. Besides several other appli-
cations, the recent trends on hardfacing of engine valve
seats, turbine engine blade shroud interlocks, leading
edge of steam turbine blades with controlled dilution
using the laser cladding process have gained much
importance w1᎐11x. As shown in Table 1 several indus-
tries have been exploiting this technology for various
applications, as it offers the possibility of fine and
U mainly result due to different thermal expansion coef-
Corresponding author. Fax: q81-566830154.
E-mail address: ypkathuria@aimnet.ne.jp ŽY.P. Kathuria ..
Co or Ni-based alloys onto various substrates, e.g.
12Cr᎐Ni steam turbine blade and Inconel 738, etc. It
also exhibits the inherent advantages as described in
Table 2 of low heat input compared to the conventional
Tungsten Inert Gas or Plasma Arc processes so that
the thermal effect on heat sensitive components could
greatly be reduced. Usually laser cladding of turbine
blades can be classified mainly into two categories as
described in the Table 3 concerning their application
and the operating temperature. For the last decade
conventional CO 2rNd-YAG laser cladding processes
have been tried out on different applications men-
tioned above. However, due to the adverse material
characteristics, uncontrolled thermal effects and limita-
tions on the existing techniques, one could face severe
problems of porosity and crack generation. These
ficients of the cladding and the base material, a large

0257-8972r00r$ - see front matter 䊚 2000 Elsevier Science S.A. All rights reserved.
PII: S 0 2 5 7 - 8 9 7 2 Ž 0 0 . 0 0 7 3 5 - 0
 Y.P. Kathuria r Surface and Coatings Technology 132 (2000) 262᎐269 263

Table 1 Table 3
Commercial applications of laser cladding Laser cladding of turbine blades can be classified mainly into two
categories with respect to their application and the operating
Company Component Cladding material temperature
and method
Gas turbines Steam generator
Rolls Royce Turbine blade Triballoyrnimonics turbines
shroud interlock powder feed
Pratt & Whitney Turbine blade PWA 694rnimonics Application Jet engines, Power generation
shroud interlock preplaced chip power generation
Toyota Valve seat Stellite 32 Operating 1300⬚C 560⬚C
ŽAisan Co.. powder feed temperature
Ishikawa Nuclear plant Co-based alloy Main cause of Due to high gas Due to the steam
heavy industry boiler tube preplaced chip corrosionr temperature pressure, i.e. water
GEC Alsthom Turbine blade Stellite 6 erosion droplet erosion
powder feed Base material Cast Ni-based 12Cr᎐Ni
Westingshouse Turbine blade Stellite, colmonoy super alloy, e.g.
preplaced, gravity Inconel 738
feed Typical cladding Ni-based alloyr Co-based alloy, e.g.
Japan steel Turbine blade Stellite 6 material Trib alloy stellite 6
Corporation Ždemonstration. powder feed Typical cladding Shroud interlock Last stage of the
part Z-notch hardfacing turbine blade
Rectification of the
temperature gradient produced and thermal stresses diaphragm
generated by different alloying elements during the Past technique TIGrmicroplasma Silver brazing, TIGrEB
applied welding of the stellite 6
solidification process. They could effectively be con- strip
trolled w6x: Ži. by preheating the substrate; Žii. by oscil- Presently used Mainly laser Silver brazing, TIGr
lating the beam with an XY-galvano mirror, which technique EB welding of the stellite 6
controls the interaction time and hence the cooling strip and laser cladding
process; or Žiii. by using the duty cycle and the modula-
tion effects of a multiwave Nd-YAG laser. In that case, the molten pool is maintained by the small cw level
between the modulation pulses, concurrently lowering
Table 2 the temperature gradient and, hence, getting rid of the
Comparative study of TIGrEB and laser cladding process for turbine rapid cooling process encountered in the conventional
blades pulse mode cladding. The present work extends our
previous study w7x and investigates the basic processes
TIG Laser
of cladding stellite 6L on 12Cr᎐Ni turbine blade by
Dilution rate Approximately Typically- 5% or analyzing the EPMA results across the interface. This
10᎐40% even below 2% shall give us the microscopic information on dilution
Use of filler More and non- Less and uniform and hardness of the clad ŽTable 4..
material uniform deposition deposition
Hardness value Low High
Heat affected Large and wide Low and narrow
zone 2. Cladding process
Finish Rough surface Good surface
Less durable Long life In this process, a molten pool of pasted or blown
Pre- and post Many A few powder with a complex three-dimensional shape is
treatment Initial stage Grind preparation
preparation Laser hardface Table 4
1st stage deposition Finish grind Effect of beam interaction time a
Grind initial
preparation 2nd stage Short interaction Long interaction
deposition time: Ž DrV . < 1 time: Ž DrV . f 1
Finish grind
Dendrite Coarse Fine Deposition rate Low High
structure Superheat Negligible Large
Automation Difficult Easy Dilution Low High
Low production rate High production rate Hardness High Low
Costly Cost effective Average temperature High Low
gradient
EB Laser Cooling rate Fast Slow
Requires a vacuum No vacuum necessary Microstructure Fine Coarse
Radiation hazard No radiation hazard a
due to X-rays due to X-rays Beam interaction time s DrV, D s spot size Žmm.; V s
processing speed Žmmrs..
264 Y.P. Kathuria r Surface and Coatings Technology 132 (2000) 262᎐269

Fig. 1. Schematic diagram of laser cladding.

formed on the substrate by the laser beam interaction
with powder material. This interaction time plays a
crucial role for the desired successful cladding. Our
previous work w7,8x recognized that in a narrow range
of power density and beam interaction time coupled
with the cooling rate and microstructure, the most of
the working points for laser cladding lie on a diagonal
line of the processing condition diagram. It was further
pointed out, that the cladding characteristics change
continuously as one moves from a short interaction
time region to a long interaction time region along the
diagonal line. The short interaction time region shall
exhibits very fine and fine dendrite microstructures
with less dilution, increased microhardness and small-
scale porosity. On the contrary, the region with long
interaction time shall bear relatively coarse structure
with more dilution rate, less microhardness and large-
scale porosity.
The basic principle of laser cladding is schematically
illustrated in Fig. 1. It is comparable with a process of
layered coating. In the former case the powder mate-
rial such as stellite 6L is delivered into the laser beam,
thereby it got melted and deposited onto the substrate.
Usually this process is accomplished by locally melting
the substrate with the laser beam while simultaneously
adding the powder. The coating can be achieved
through layer-by-layer scanning in the horizontal direc-
tion.
ŽFig. 2. described elsewhere w7x. Cladding was accom-
plished by delivering the stellite 6L powder through a
powder feeder Žmodel: WEL-PF-01. with a feeding rate
of 24 grmin. The substrate was moved under the
stationary beam by a numeric XY-table. The cladding
conditions were selected in the range to cover the
different operating points on the diagonal line of the
processing condition diagram w7x. The tracks were made
by varying the processing speed Ž V . and the power
density Ž Pd . to generate the desired step structure.
Two types of samples were generated. Figs. 3 and 4
show the section of clad test samples TP1 and TP2
generated with the line scan process for two different
interaction times Ž0.08 and 0.15 s., whereas the clad
test sample TP3 of Fig. 5 shows the stepped structure
generated for the same interaction time Ž0.15 s.. Al-
though it was also possible to generate a wide bead

3. Experimental details

Laser cladding experiments were carried out using a Fig. 2. A photographic view of the cladding on the leading edge of
5-kW cw CO 2 laser system with experimental details turbine blade.
 Y.P. Kathuria r Surface and Coatings Technology 132 (2000) 262᎐269 265

Fig. 3. Partial view of multiscan laser clad; Ps 1.8 kW; beam interaction time, t s 0.08 s. wAx: bead height Ž H . s 0.39 mm; bead width ŽW . s 18
mm; wBx: dendrite microstructure at interface and near the top surface; scale: ᎏ 25 ␮m; wCx: microhardness ŽHV., loads 300 gf.

Fig. 4. Partial view of multiscan laser clad; Ps 1.8 kW; beam interaction time, t s 0.15 s. wAx: bead height Ž H . s 0.66 mm; bead width ŽW . s 18
mm; wBx: dendrite microstructure at interface and near the top surface; scale: ᎏ 25 ␮m; wCx: microhardness ŽHV., loads 300 gf.
266 Y.P. Kathuria r Surface and Coatings Technology 132 (2000) 262᎐269

Fig. 5. Microscopic cross-section of laser cladding zone; base: 12Cr᎐Ni; cladding: stellite 6L; bead width: single layer ŽSW. s 18 mm; double layer
ŽDW. s 12 mm; total length s 150 mm.; bead height: single layer ŽSH. s 0.75 mm; double layer ŽDH. s 2.15 mm. Dendrite microstructure at
interface and near the top surface; scale: ᎏ 25 ␮m.

width in a single pass, the bead width is unevenrconvex
at the center due to the high surface tension gradient
and, hence, the convection currents. Therefore, the
multiscan with a finernarrow bead width was pre-
ferred, thereby the overall surface was reasonably much
flat. As a test, the optimized data of Fig. 5 was also
transferred on the actual turbine blade as shown in Fig.
2.
The powder used in the experiment was stellite 6L, a
modified version of stellite 6 with higher Cr contents.
The 12Cr᎐Ni steel with trade mark SUH600-N was
used as base material for test samples as well as for the
turbine blade. Their nominal chemical compositions in
weight percentage are listed in Table 5.
4. Results and discussion
For the microscopic observations, various samples
were cut, polished and finally etched in a 5% nital
solution. The microstructures were examined using an
optical and a scanning electron microscope. Elemental
analysis and micro-hardness measurements were done
using an electron probe microanalysis ŽEPMA. and a
microhardness tester, respectively. As our interest was
to observe the specific behavior of Cr, Co and Fe
constituents in clad and the base material, therefore,
only these values along with Ni were normalized to
100%. The EDS line-scan analysis of the test samples

Table 5
Elemental composition of cladding powder and the base material

C Co Cr Fe Mn Ni Si W

Stellite 0.9 Bal. 26.0 F 3.0 F 1.0 F 3.0 F 2.0 3.0

6L < < <
Žallowance 1.4 32.0 6.0
max. 6%.

Cr᎐Ni 0.15 10.0 Bal. 0.50 F 0.60 F 0.50

ŽSUH600-N. < < <
0.20 13.0 1.00
 Y.P. Kathuria r Surface and Coatings Technology 132 (2000) 262᎐269 267

Table 6
Electron probe micro-analysis for Cr, Fe, Co and Ni Žat.%. of TP1
and TP2

TP1 : interaction time s 0.08 s

Inside cladding Interface Inside base
Žy200 ␮m. 0 Žq200 ␮m.

Cr 35.88 24.88 12.46

Fe 1.30 43.44 87.15
Co 61.90 30.56 y0.21a Ž0.69.
Ni 0.92 1.12 0.60

TP2: interaction time s 0.15 s

Cr 36.96 20.4 13.32
Fe 1.45 56.56 86.68
Co 61.89 22.20 y0.72a Ž0.47.
Ni y0.30a Ž0.48. 0.77 0.73
a
- 2 ␴ ŽS.D... This value become unreliable and is not con-
sidered. ␴ value is given in the bracket. Note: Only these elements
are normalized to 100 % value.

TP1, TP2 and TP3 are given in Figs. 6 and 7 and the
evaluated data are projected in Tables 6 and 7, respec-
tively. Microscopically a strong fluctuation of these
elemental constituents at the interface and inside the
clad region for two different interaction times is
observed. A discussion of these results is summarized
as follows.
Let us first study the results of Figs. 3 and 4, respec- Fig. 6. EDS line-scan analysis for trend in concentration changes of
basic elements across the laser clad-substrate interface. wAx: TP1:
tively. From a critical view of observation of Fig. 3, one
interaction time, t s 0.08 s; wBx: TP2: interaction time, t s 0.15 s.
finds that for the short beam interaction time Ž t s 0.08
s. the average height of the multiscan cladding is
approximately 0.39 mm Žalthough it varies slightly as profile is much steeper for short interaction times
the number of scans is increased. and the average compared to the one with long interaction times. In
microhardness is 621 HV, while for the long beam fact the dilution region at the interface varies strongly
interaction time Ž t s 0.15 s. the average cladding height with the extent of interaction time. On looking at the
is scaled up to approximately 0.66 mm and the average EPMA results one finds that for long interaction times
microhardness is slightly lower, being 606 HV. This fact Cr, Co and Fe percentages at the interface are approxi-
becomes more evident at still larger beam interaction mately 20.48, 22.20 and 56.56% in thicker sections of
time w7x. Besides that, the transition slope in hardness the cladding ŽTable 6-TP2. compared to approximately

Table 7
Electron probe micro-analysis for Cr, Fe, Co and Ni Žat.%. of TP3-1 and TP3-2

TP3-1 : single layer; interaction time s 0.15 s

Inside cladding Inside cladding Interface Inside base
Žy400 ␮m. Žy200 ␮m. 0 Žq200 ␮m.

Cr 39.29 37.62 26.10 12.51

Fe 1.40 1.76 37.65 87.32
Co 58.70 59.55 35.67 0.40
Ni 0.60 1.07 0.58 y0.23a Ž0.59.

TP3-2: double layer; interaction time s 0.15 s

Cr 38.08 36.95 25.92 12.47
Fe 1.55 1.79 39.32 86.74
Co 59.40 60.12 33.51 0.22
Ni 0.97 1.14 1.25 0.56
a
- 2 ␴ ŽS.D... This value become unreliable and is not considered. ␴ value is given in the bracket. Note: Only these elements are normalized
to 100% value.
268 Y.P. Kathuria r Surface and Coatings Technology 132 (2000) 262᎐269
Fig. 7. EDS line-scan analysis for trend in concentration changes of
basic elements across the laser clad-substrate interface. TP3: interac-
tion time, t s 0.15 s; wAx: TP3-1: single layer; wBx: TP3-2: double layer.
24.88, 30.56 and 43.44% in the thinner sections of the
cladding ŽTable 6-TP2., thus, indicating a considerable
effect of dilution due to the longer interaction time. As
the melt pool rotates a difference in the dilution trend,
although reduced, still persists in the cladding zone
before the melt becomes solidified. This is evident from
the results of line-scan analysis inside the cladding.
This suggests that for the longer interaction time there
is a post-melting due to the superheat w5x of the molten
pool and also the flow within the molten pool is vigor-
ous, resulting in better mixing, thus lowering the aver-
age temperature gradient of the interface, which varies
as the bulk temperature. This is accompanied by a
slower cooling rate, hence a coarse dendrite micro-
structure, a comparatively higher dilution, a lower aver-
age hardness but a higher deposition rate ŽFig. 4.. On
the other hand, for short interaction times the condi-
tion for superheating is not achieved and the average
temperature gradient is high, thus faster cooling rates
exhibit fine dendrite microstructure, relatively less dilu-
tion but a higher average hardness and a low deposi-
tion rate ŽFig. 3..
Analyzing microscopically, the cooling rate shall also
vary substantially over the depth of the pool as the
temperature gradient is lower at the surface and high-
est at the bottom of the pool. Therefore, due to a
difference in the interface movement, one can observe
coarse dendrite microstructure near the bottom of the
pool, a region of slow interface movement, and fine
dendrite microstructures near the top surface where
the interface movement becomes faster and the melt
collapses, i.e. rapid solidification happens ŽFig. 3 or Fig.
4rnear top surface ..
Next we shall analyze the results of Fig. 5 generated
for the stepped structure with a beam interaction time
t s 0.15 s. From its analysis, one finds that under the
given processing conditions, the average height of the
first layer multiscan cladding is approximately 0.75 mm
although it also varies slightly as the number of scans is
increased. Besides that, in the second additional layer
the total cladding height is scaled up to approximately
2.15 mm instead of being 1.5 mm. On observing the
EPMA results, it can be seen that Cr, Co and Fe
percentages, at the interface, are approximately 25.92,
33.51 and 39.32% in the thicker section of the cladding
ŽTable 7-TP3-2. compared to approximately 26.10, 35.67
and 37.65% in the thinner section of the cladding
ŽTable 7-TP3-1., indicating a slight effect of dilution
due to the multiscanrsecond layer. This trend can still
be observed from the line scan-analysis inside the
cladding zone especially a change in the Fe con-
stituents. This is because in the multiscan or second
layer cladding process the substrate or the preceding
layer, or both, already become preheated in the subse-
quent cladding. Therefore, the deposition, dilution,
cooling rate and hence, the microstructure evolution is
generally affected. Also the dendrite structures grow
across the inter-layer, ensuring a good bonding to the
preceding layer. These structures usually vary from
coarse to fine as one move from the bottom to the top
of the clad surface but get greatly affected due to the
preheated preceding layer and the variations become
less.
5. Conclusion
In this study, on laser cladding of stellite 6L on
SUH600-N base material, it was demonstrated that a
short interaction time produces fine microstructures
with low dilution, hence, higher hardness compared to
a longer interaction time with coarse structure, rela-
tively higher dilution and a lower hardness value. An
example of overlay cladding on the turbine blade speci-
men is well illustrated. It was also shown that laser-in-
duced thermal effects influence the microstructural
evolution, deposition rate and dilution of the clad sur-
face.
 Y.P. Kathuria r Surface and Coatings Technology 132 (2000) 262᎐269 269

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