In this study we manufacture a Ni-Cr-B-Si +WC/12Co composite coating layer on a Cu base material using a laser cladding (LC) process, and investigate the microstructural and mechanical properties of the LC coating and Ni electroplating layers (reference material). The initial powder used for the LC coating layer is a powder feedstock with an average particle size of 125 μm. To identify the microstructural and mechanical properties, OM, SEM, XRD, room and high temperature hardness, and wear tests are implemented. Microstructural observation of the initial powder and LC coating layer confirm the layer is composed mainly of γ-Ni phases and WC and Cr23C6 carbides. The measured hardness of the LC coating and Ni electroplating layers are 653 and 154 Hv, respectively. The hardness measurement from room up to high temperatures of 700°C result in a hardness decrease as the temperature increases, but the hardness of the LC coating layer is higher for all temperature conditions. Room temperature wear results show that the wear loss of the LC coating layer is 1/12 of the wear level of the Ni electroplating layer. The measured bond strength is also greater in the LC coating than the Ni electroplating.

This study investigated the microstructure and tensile properties of a recently made block-type Ni-Cr-Al powder porous material. The block-type powder porous material was made by stacking multiple layers of powder porous thin plates with post-processing such as additional compression and sintering. This study used block-type powder porous materials with two different cell sizes: one with an average cell size of 1,200 μm (1200 foam) and the other with an average cell size of 3,000 μm (3000 foam). The γ-Ni and γ’-Ni3Al were identified as the main phases of both materials. However, in the case of the 1,200 foam, a β-NiAl phase was additionally observed. The relative density of each block-type powder porous material, with 1200 foam and 3000 foam, was measured to be 5.78% and 2.93%, respectively. Tensile tests were conducted with strain rates of 10−2~10−4 sec−1. The test result showed that the tensile strength of the 1,200 foam was 6.0~7.1 MPa, and that of 3,000 foam was 3.0~3.3 MPa. The elongation of the 3,000 foam was higher (~9%) than that (~2%) of the 1,200 foam. This study also discussed the deformation behavior of block-type powder porous material through observations of the fracture surface, with the results above.