The influence of scanning speed on the laser metal deposition OF Ti/TiC powders

The paper describes experimental work performed on the laser metal deposition (LMD) of titanium carbide powders on a pure titanium substrate. The understanding the effect of LMD processing parameters is vital in controlling the properties of the final product fabricated from the LMD process. The objective of the study is to characterize the influence of the laser scanning speed of the metal deposition of titanium and titanium carbide powders on a pure titanium substrate. Microstructural results showed that the substrate is characterized by two-phase morphology; alpha and beta phases. The deposit zone microstructures showed that the grains are of continuous columnar in nature. The heat-affected zone region grain areas appear to decrease with increasing in scanning speed for different samples at different scanning speeds. The height of samples was observed to decrease with an increase in the scanning speed. The microhardness results showed that the hardness of the deposits is greater than the hardness of the substrate. Wear-resistance performance results showed that the coefficient of friction of the substrate is greater than the coefficient of friction of the deposit samples. Similarly, the wear volume loss of material of the substrate is higher than the deposits. The deposit contains titanium carbide and, as such, this powder has improved the wear resistance performance of the substrate.