Surface Modification of a WC–3% Co Hard Alloy by Powerful Nanosecond UV Laser Pulses

• Published in: Russian metallurgy Metally Vol. 2021; no. 4; pp. 373 - 376
• Main Authors: Zheleznov, Yu. A., Malinskiy, T. V., Mikolutskiy, S. I., Rogalin, V. E., Khomich, Yu. V., Yamshchikov, V. A., Kaplunov, I. A., Ivanova, A. I.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Moscow Pleiades Publishing 01-04-2021; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Advanced Materials and Technologies; Chemistry and Materials Science; Cobalt base alloys; Flux density; Laser beams; Materials Science; Metallic Materials; Radiant flux density; Rapid prototyping; Ultraviolet lasers; hard alloy; laser heat treatment; tungsten carbide; surface modification
• ISSN: 0036-0295; 1555-6255; 1531-8648
• DOI: 10.1134/S0036029521040364

The quality of a hard WC–3% Co alloy after surface modification by focused UV laser beams is studied. Melting traces 1–3 μm in size are found on the alloy surface in the treated zone at a radiation energy density
E
≥ 1.6 J/cm
2
. An increase in the radiation intensity to
E
≈ 6.2 J/cm
2
results in an increase in the cobalt concentration on the surface from 7 to 10% along with a decrease in the carbon concentration from 33 to 18%.