Dry sliding wear behavior of laser clad TiVCrAlSi high entropy alloy coatings on Ti–6Al–4V substrate

Approximately equimolar ratio TiVCrAlSi high entropy alloy coatings has been deposited by laser cladding on Ti–6Al–4V alloy. The analysis of the microstructure by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) shows that the coating is metallurgically bonded to the substrate. X-ray diffraction (XRD) and energy dispersive spectrometer (EDS) analyses show that TiVCrAlSi coating is composed of precipitates of (Ti,V)5Si3 dispersed in a body-centered cubic (BCC) matrix. Intermetallic compound (Ti,V)5Si3 forms because the formation is accompanied by larger variation on enthalpy, which may offset the entropy term. The dry sliding wear tests show that the wear resistance of Ti–6Al–4V is improved by laser cladding with TiVCrAlSi. The enhancement of the wear resistance is explained by the presence of the hard silicide phase dispersed in a relatively ductile BCC matrix, which allows sliding wear to occur in the mild oxidative regime for a wide range of testing conditions.