Microstructure and mechanical properties of high power diode laser (HPDL) treated cast aluminium alloys

Abstract

The appliance and development of modern technologies in the areas of surface engineering can be extended by laser surface treatment, especially using high power diode laser (HPDL) for remelting, feeding and/or alloying. The purpose of this work was to determine technological and technical conditions for tungsten carbide (WC) ceramic powder feeding into the surface layer of the laser treated Al-Si-Cu cast aluminium alloys with high power diode laser, as well as to investigate the microstructure and ceramic powder particle distribution in the surface layer.Special attention was devoted to monitoring of the layer morphology of the investigated material and on the particle occurred. Light and scanning electron microscopy as well as X-Ray diffraction were used to characterize the microstructure of the remelted zone. A wide range of laser powers was choose and implicated by different process speed rates. Also one powder in form of tungsten carbide was used for feeding with the middle particle size of 80 μm.As the main findings there was found that, the obtained surface layer is without cracks and defects as well as has a comparably higher hardness value compared to the non remelted material. The hardness value increases according to the laser power used so that the highest power applied gives the highest hardness value in the remelted layer. Also the distribution of the tungsten carbide particles is good, but there are still possibilities for further modelling. The major purpose of this work is to study the effect of a high power diode laser melting on the cast Al-Si-Cu alloys structure to provide application possibilities for automotive and aviation industry.

Long-Term Development Perspectives of Selected Groups of Engineering Materials Used in the Automotive Industry/ Długoterminowe Perspektywy Rozwoju Wybranych Grup Materiałów Inżynierskich Stosowanych W Przemyśle Motoryzacyjnym

“…Currently, the concept of functional lightweight materials is a priority and the most investigated worldwide field of material science and engineering concerning the production and processing of new developed engineering materials. Previous studies about the effects of laser beam effect on various materials, including magnesium alloys as well as tool steels, based on the authors own long-term investigation, summarizing the experience of laser surface treatment reveal that, there are chemical composition and structure changes which are different from those occurring during conventional heat treatment [9,[17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27]. This causes, that the laser treated elements shows higher hardness (especially for TaC alloyed steel surface - Fig.…”

Analysis of Crystallite Size Changes in an Oxide Layer Formed on Steel Used in the Power Industry

“…An intensive development of technology causes continuous increase of a wide base of research methods such as: atomic force microscopy (AFM) [5,6], scanning electron microscopy (SEM) [7,8] and X-ray diffraction (XRD) [7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15]. Especially methods such as XRD or SEM are widely used for analysis of the oxide layers [4,7,11,[13][14][15].…”

High Resolution TEM Investigations and TDA Analysis of Zinc Alloy with Strontium Addition

“…In the work [5] there was confirmed that the mechanical properties of the ZnAl alloy primarily affect the distance between dendrites arms, instead of the grain size. Primarily the dendrite arm spacing and distribution of intermetallic phases influences the mechanical properties of the Zn-Al alloys, instead of the grain size [6][7][8][9][10].…”