Manufacturing Technology and Properties of Fe/TaC Metal Matrix Composite Coatings Produced on Medium Carbon Steel Using Laser Processing—Preliminary Study on the Single Laser Tracks

The paper presents study results of Fe/TaC metal matrix composite coatings produced on tool steel using laser processing of TaC pre-coat. The Fe/TaC coatings were produced in two steps. First, a pre-coat in the form of a paste based on tantalum carbide and water glass was made and then applied to the steel substrate. In the second step, the TaC pre-coat was remelted with steel substrate using a diode laser beam with a rated power of 3 kW. A constant scanning speed of the laser beam of 3 m/min and three types of laser beam power: 500 W, 800 W and 1100 W were applied. Tests were carried out on three different thicknesses of the TaC pre-coat: 30 µm, 60 µm and 90 µm. The influence of pre-coat thickness and laser beam power on the microstructure, chemical composition and microhardness were analyzed. A possibility of producing coatings with a characteristic composite structure was found, where the iron from the substrate became the matrix, and the introduced tantalum carbides—the reinforcing phase. It was found that too high power of the laser beam leads to complete melting of the introduced primary TaC particles. It was also found that the use of a thicker TaC pre-coat contributes to microhardness increase.