Journal of Welding Science

In this study, formation of Fe3Al and (Fe,Cr)₃Al intermetallic compounds and the effect of Cr on microstructural and mechanical properties of Fe-Al cladding system such as hardness and wear resistance, were evaluated. For this purpose, first, iron and aluminum powders were mixed in the first series without chromium powder and in the second series with the addition of chromium powder in high energy planetary ball mill, and Fe3Al and (Fe,Cr)3Al intermetallic compounds were synthesized. The preplaced powders were cladded on the surface of CK45 steel using gas tungsten arc welding process. The microstructure, formed phases and properties of the cladded layers were studied by optical microscope, scanning electron microscope, X-Ray Diffraction, micro and macro hardness, energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) and pin on disk wear test at 25, 250, and 500ᵒC temperatures. It was found that the microstructure of Fe-Al binary cladding contained Fe3Al dendrites with non-epitaxial growth. This non-epitaxial growth results from the difference in the chemical composition of the coating and the substrate at the interface between the coating and the substrate, which has caused the formation of new crystals at the interface. However, the microstructure of Fe-Al-Cr ternary cladding contained martensitic blades within (Fe,Cr)₃Al matrix. The results of hardness tests revealed that the hardness of ternary cladding is twice as compared with the binary cladding (30 and 60 HRC for binary and ternary claddings, respectively). Also it was found that the presence of Cr element in Fe-Al cladding improved the wear resistance of deposited layers. The predominant wear mechanism of Fe3Al pin was adhesive, while for (Fe,Cr)₃Al pin moreover adhesive wear, micro-plowing abrasive wear was also seen. The mass losses of both pins were maximum at ambient temperature and minimum at temperature of 500 oC.

In this study, 1 mm thick austenitic stainless steel 316L sheets were used for experimental testing. The experimental welding process was carried out using a Nd:YAG pulsed laser welding machine, and the welding simulation was performed using the SYSWELD software with a three-dimensional model for thermodynamic and mechanical analysis. The simulation results showed over 90% correlation with the experimental results. Analysis of experimental and numerical data revealed that at a constant voltage of 440 volts, decreasing the welding speed from 2 to 0.5 mm/s increased the overlap rate of pulses from 67% to 93% and the maximum average power density (EPPD) from 5963 to 21831 W/mm². Additionally, increasing the voltage from 440 to 480 volts at a constant speed of 1 mm/s raised the heat input from 114 to 138 J/mm and the weld depth from 0.56 to 0.66 mm. Due to the high cooling rate, the grain size of the weld metal became finer than the base metal (63% reduction in grain size). Two phases, austenite and ferrite, were observed in the weld metal, and the solidification mode was predicted to be FA.With an increase in welding speed from 0.5 mm/s to 2 mm/s at a constant voltage of 440 volts, the maximum tensile residual stress increased from 96 to 260 MPa due to reduced pulse overlap (from 93% to 67%), uneven heat distribution in the part, and the generation of thermal stresses. Furthermore, increasing the welding voltage from 440 to 480 volts at a constant speed of 1 mm/s caused the maximum tensile residual stress to rise from 124 to 152 MPa. The maximum hardness of the weld metal increased from 180 to 215 Vickers as the welding speed rose due to the prevention of carbon diffusion and an increased growth rate. However, with an increase in welding voltage and heat input (from 57 to 69 J/mm), the hardness decreased from 225 to 215 Vickers due to a reduction in thermal gradients and grain growth.