Effect of different WC particle shapes on laser-exposed microstructures during the directed energy deposition

Abstract

Tungsten carbide (WC) in Ni-based powders is a promising candidate for laser-based additive manufacturing because WC is an extremely hard material, whereas Ni is tough and weldable. However, WC particles that are directly exposed to a laser beam can be degraded or disintegrated into tungsten and carbon as a result of excess energy. In contrast, particles in the melt pool are relatively stable. In this study, the direct energy deposition method was used with irregular and spherical WC particles in metal powder. Irregular WC particles were found to be more directly affected by laser irradiation. To explain the effects of WC particle shapes on direct laser damage, a finitepoint calculation was performed to estimate the sinking time in the melt pool. The rectangular shape particles a longer sinking time depending on the rotation angle, whereas the spherical particles sank uniformly based on the difference in the effective area of resistance.

Recent progress in carbide‐based composite materials fabricated by laser additive manufacturing processes

“…It can be used as reinforcement in iron, cobalt, nickel, and titanium-based alloys. 13 One of the materials, which can be produced with the LAM technique, is steel parts. According to the literature, 14 the materials manufactured by LAM have weak mechanical properties like wear resistance and tensile strength.…”

“…It was found that the ƞ phase and unmelted WC/W 2 C powders were transformed to M 2 C by reheating regions. Lee et al 13 assessed the effect of various WC particle shapes on the microstructures of WC/Ni composites fabricated by the DED method. They concluded that the irregular WC particles were more affected by lasers than spherical particles under a similar LAM process.…”

“…The melting point and density of that are 2870˚C and 15.63 g.cm 3 , respectively. It can be used as reinforcement in iron, cobalt, nickel, and titanium‐based alloys 13 . One of the materials, which can be produced with the LAM technique, is steel parts.…”

Postprocessing of tungsten carbide‐nickel preforms fabricated via binder jetting of sintered‐agglomerated powder

“…With that said, a variety of AM processes have demonstrated the ability to fabricate cemented carbides and other ceramic‐based materials like oxides, 17–20 nitrides, 21 and carbides 22 . For example, the directed energy deposition process can fabricate large grain WC cemented carbides onto a steel substrate 23,24 . Konyashin et al.…”

“…22 For example, the directed energy deposition process can fabricate large grain WC cemented carbides onto a steel substrate. 23,24 Konyashin et al printed WC-Co specimens using the electron beam process. 25 Several publications utilized the laser powder bed fusion (LPBF) process to print with WC-Co, [26][27][28][29] WC-Fe, [30][31][32] and WC-Ni.…”