In-situ alloying of AISI 410L martensitic stainless steel with nitrogen during laser cladding

Abstract

The feasibility of in-situ alloying of AISI 410L martensitic stainless steel with nitrogen during Nd-YAG laser cladding was investigated with the aim of achieving a nitrogen content of at least 0.08 wt% and fully martensitic microstructures in the final clad deposit. Two in-situ nitrogen alloying techniques were studied. In the first set of experiments, the absorption of nitrogen from nitrogen-rich gas atmospheres was studied. Laser cladding with commercially available AISI 410L powder was performed using nitrogen-rich shielding and carrier gas. A marginal increase in deposit nitrogen content was observed, with the clad deposit displaying low hardness and mostly ferritic microstructures. Poor nitrogen absorption from nitrogen-containing atmospheres during Nd-YAG laser cladding is generally attributed to the short thermal cycle and to suppression of plasma formation above the weld pool. In the remaining experiments, Si3N4 powder was investigated as an alternative source for nitrogen during cladding. The addition of Si3N4 to the AISI 410L powder feed resulted in clad microstructures consisted of columnar -ferrite grains with martensite on the grain boundaries, higher hardness and an increase in deposit nitrogen content (to a maximum of 0.064 wt% nitrogen). Higher nitrogen contents in the clad deposit, however, significantly increased the volume percentage porosity in the clad layer. This prompted an investigation into the feasibility of raising the nitrogen solubility of the alloy through additions of manganese and nickel to the powder feed. Thermodynamic modelling revealed that the addition of manganese to AISI 410L powder increases the nitrogen solubility limit due to its negative interaction parameter with nitrogen. The addition of up to 3.5 wt% manganese to AISI 410L powder containing Si3N4 significantly increased the nitrogen solubility in the deposit. A martensitic microstructure with 0.12 wt% nitrogen and a peak hardness of 410 HV was achieved without any adverse increase in porosity in the clad layer. The clad nitrogen content easily exceeded the minimum requirement of 0.08 wt%. High nickel concentrations in AISI 410L stainless steel expand the austenite phase field at the expense of -ferrite and alter the solidification mode from ferritic to austenitic-ferritic. The addition of up to 5.5 wt% nickel, or combinations of nickel and manganese, to the nitrogen-alloyed AISI 410L powder feed raised the deposit nitrogen content, but not to the same extent as those deposits alloyed with manganese only. Since more austenite is present on cooling in nickel-alloyed AISI 410L deposits, less nitrogen is rejected to the liquid phase on solidification, resulting in higher nitrogen contents and less porosity in the room temperature microstructures. The amount of dilution during single-track laser cladding is mainly influenced by the specific energy per unit mass delivered by the laser beam. The clad height is strongly influenced by the powder deposition rate, whereas the bead width is influenced by the wettability of the deposits during laser cladding. During multi-track cladding, the observed percentage porosity is a function of the aspect ratio of the individual beads making up the clad layer, the deposition rate and the clad height. High deposition rates result in thicker layers, increasing the distance that N2 gas bubbles have to travel to escape to the atmosphere, while a high aspect ratio favours interbead porosity. The results suggest that in-situ nitrogen alloying during laser cladding should preferably be performed at low deposition rates to ensure higher clad nitrogen contents and hardness, lower clad heights, less dilution and less porosity.