Effect of processing parameter on wear resistance property of laser material deposited titanium-alloy composite

An empirical model was developed for predicting the wear resistance behaviour of laser metal deposited TiC/Ti6Al4V composite. The influence of the processing parameters, laser power, scanning speed, powder flow rate and gas flow rate, on the wear resistance property of the deposited samples were extensively studied. The experiment was designed and analyzed using a two level full factorial Design of Experiment using Design Expert 9 statistical software. The laser power was set between 1.8 and 3.2 kW, the scanning speed between 0.002 and 0.006 m/s, the powder flow rate between was set between 2 and 4 g/min and the gas flow rate was set between 2 and 4 l/min. These setting were chosen based on the trial experiments performed to establish process window after depositing pore free TiC/Ti6Al4V composites. Six (6) tracks with 50% overlap percentage each were produced at processing parameters generated from the Design Expert software. The deposition process was produced using a 4.0 kW Nd: YAG laser. The wear test was carried out using UMT 2CETR tribotester with ball-on-plate arrangement under dry condition. Detailed statistical analysis was studied and the developed model was validated by performing additional experiment at processing parameters that are different from the ones used to develop the model. The model was found to be in good agreement with the experimental data and the model can be used to navigate the design space.