Abstract
This paper reports the material characterization of Ti6Al4V/TiC composite
produced by laser metal deposition. The Ti6Al4V/TiC composites were
deposited with a composition ratio of 50 wt.% Ti64l4V and 50 wt.% TiC.
The depositions were achieved by delivering the two powders from a powder
feeder consisting of two different hoppers and each hopper contains each
of the powders. A total of eight experiments were performed, the scanning
speed was kept constant at 0.005 m/s and the laser power varied between 0.4
and 3.2 kW. The gas flow rate and the powder flow rates were also kept at
constant settings of 1.44 g/min and 1 l/min respectively for each hopper. The
deposits were laterally sectioned, metallographically prepared and characterized
through microstructural evaluation, microhardness and wear resistance
performance. The effects of varying the laser power on the resulting
properties of the composites were studied extensively. The microstructure
consists of un-melted carbide (UMC) in the matrix of alpha and prior beta
grain structure of Ti6Al4V, and in varying degrees in all the samples. The
results showed that the microhardness and the wear resistance performance
were dependent on the laser power.