Morphological evolution of primary TiC carbide in laser clad TiC reinforced FeAl intermetallic composite coating

The novel rapidly solidified TiC/FeAl composite coatings were fabricated by laser cladding on the substrate of 1Cr18Ni9Ti stainless steel, particular emphasis was placed on the growth morphologies of TiC carbide and its growth mechanism under a constant solidification conditions. Results show that the growth morphology of TiC carbide strongly depends upon the nucleation process and mass transportation process of TiC forming elements in laser melt pool. With increasing of titanium and carbon in melt pool, the growth morphology of TiC carbide changes from block-like to star-like and well-developed dendrite. As the amount of titanium and carbon increases further, TiC carbide particles are found to be irregular polyhedral block. Although the growth morphologies of TiC are various, their advancing fronts are all faceted, illustrating that TiC carbide grows by the mechanism of lateral ledge growth.