The influence of tungsten carbide and boride additives on the structure and microhardness of CrFeNi equiatomic coating formed by short-pulse laser cladding

A coating based on a single-phase medium-entropy CrFeNi alloy with a face centered cubic structure has good ductility, relatively high anti-corrosion properties, low cost, but insufficient strength for its widespread use. It is assumed that adding strengthening particles in the form of tungsten carbides and borides to the CrFeNi equiatomic coating will lead to an increase in its mechanical properties. This work studies the influence of tungsten carbide and boride additives on the structure and microhardness of a CrFeNi equiatomic coating. The coatings were formed by layer-by-layer short-pulse laser cladding with preplaced powder on a multifunctional laser installation equipped with a solid-state laser with a lamp pump based on an Nd:YAG crystal. The change in phase composition when adding strengthening particles was detected using X-ray diffraction analysis and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Both methods confirmed the precipitation of Cr23C6 chromium carbide in the deposited coatings. TEM photographs indicate that the precipitated phase is distributed along the grain boundaries of the γ-solid solution. The study found that the addition of 6 wt. % WC and 3 wt. % WB increases the level of microhardness of the CrFeNi coating by 26 % (from 340±6 to 430±12 HV 0.025). This occurs due to the presence of Cr23C6, WC particles in the structure and possible microdistortions of the crystal lattice of the γ-phase as a result of doping with tungsten atoms released during the dissolution of tungsten borides and carbides in the process of high-temperature short-pulse laser heating.