Optimization and Characterization of Laser Cladding of 15-5PH Coating on 20Cr13 Stainless Steel

Laser cladding is considered to be an attractive technology that offers tremendous advantages in rapidly surface repair of damaged components. Single-track cladding layer is the basic unit of laser cladding surface repair. Its reasonable geometric quality characteristics can reduce the defects in laser cladding process. In this study, single-track 15-5PH alloy cladding layer was deposited on the surface of 20Cr13 stainless steel substrate by laser cladding technology. In view of the better prediction accuracy and generalization ability of BP Neural Network (BPNN) optimized by Grey Wolf Optimization (GWO), a method for predicting the geometrical quality characteristics of cladding layer based on GWO-BPNN was developed, and Genetic Algorithm was used to optimize process parameters, which significantly improved the geometric quality of single-track 15-5PH cladding layer. The phase composition, microstructure evolution, microhardness, frictional wear properties and corrosion resistance of 20Cr13 substrate and 15-5PH cladding layer were analyzed. The results indicated that the 15-5PH cladding layer was mainly composed of martensite, delta ferrite intergranular phase and spherical oxide inclusions. Compared with 20Cr13 substrate, 15-5PH cladding layer exhibited better microhardness, frictional wear properties and corrosion resistance. This work demonstrated the potential of 15-5PH alloy coatings for laser cladding of 20Cr13 stainless steel.