Characteristics of H13 tool steel coatings by pulsed Nd:YAG laser cladding

AISI H13 hot-work tool steel has a wide application for mold/die of die casting, hot forging, hot extrusion, hot stamping and plastic injection molding, due to its high toughness, high hot hardness and high thermal fatigue resistance. Laser cladding, a material additive technology, can be used to apply various functional coatings and to repair/reconfigure tool/die. H13 tool steel was successfully laser-clad on carbon steel substrates at room temperature. The microstructure of as-clad coating showed a refined dendritic structure due to fast cooling and rapid solidification. X-ray diffraction (XRD) phase identification revealed that the coating consisted of a majority of martensite phase plus certain amount of retained austenite phase ( 3c 20 vol%). Tensile residual stresses were measured in the as-clad H13 coating. The average value of Vickers hardness in the as-clad coating is about 575 Hv0.05. Wear resistance evaluation using pin-on-disc sliding wear testing showed that the wear resistance of as-clad H13 steel coating was similar to or slightly better than that of hardened wrought H13 steel (HRC 54) plate under the wear test condition used in this study, but the wear mechanisms are significantly different.Peer reviewed: YesNRC publication: Ye