Effects of WC particles on microstructure and mechanical properties of 316L steel obtained by laser melting deposition

Stainless steel has many excellent characteristics such as high strength, weldability, corrosion resistance, easy processing and surface gloss. It has been widely applied in many industrial and architectural decoration aspects such as aerospace, chemical, and automotive. However, 316L material manufactured by Laser melting deposition has poor wear resistance and tensile strength. In this paper, WC particles are used as a strengthening phase to make up for these deficiencies of 316L. In order to comprehensively evaluate the effect of WC particles on the mechanical properties of 316L formed by laser melting deposition, 316L samples with different proportions of WC particles and different fabricating directions were prepared. The microstructure of samples was observed, and the phase composition, Vickers hardness, friction and wear properties, tensile properties were analyzed. The mechanism of the influence of WC particles on the structure and the mechanism of friction, wear and tensile fracture were studied. The results show that most of the WC particles are evenly distributed in the coating. The microhardness and wear resistance of the 316L/WC composite coating have been significantly improved with the increase in the proportion of WC. The tensile strength and elongation are the best when the WC mass fraction is 6%.