TiC ceramic coating reinforced 304 stainless steel components fabricated by WAAM-LC integrated hybrid manufacturing

The development of integrated material-structure-function components raises increasing requirement on hybrid manufacturing technology. In this study we developed Wire Arc Additive Manufacturing (WAAM)-Laser Cladding (LC) hybrid manufacturing technology for the integrated preparation of 304 components reinforced with TiC ceramic coating. The microstructure and mechanical properties of 304 WAAM entity and TiC coating were systematically investigated. The results show that a well-bonded and no defects coating is obtained. 304 WAAM region shows two phases of γ-Fe and δ-Fe, and two phases of TiC and γ-Fe are detected inside the coating. Four kinds of TiC hard phases appear in the coating region. The intense convection of the molten pool promotes the uniform distribution of TiC, and the stirring effect also promotes the growth of TiC in non-directional dendrites. The microhardness of the coating reaches 654.7 ± 41.0 HV0.2, which is 3.15 times higher compared to WAAM-304. The coating obtains better wear resistance compared to WAAM-304, with 99.29 %–99.48 % less wear loss. The study shows that WAAM-LC integrated hybrid manufacturing can produce ceramic-metal matrix composites with complex structures. This hybrid process can provide a new solution for the manufacture of integrated components with surface performance requirements and individual structural features.