Hadfield steel coatings on low carbon steel by laser cladding

Austenitic manganese steels with 12% Mn and 1.2% C, known as Hadfield steels, are of great interest owing to their good mechanical properties, especially their high strengthening ratio during plastic deformation. For many applications only a limited thickness of the surface layer is submitted to wear and therefore manufacturing of coatings with the appropriate FeMnC composition appears an attractive solution. The present work deals with the production, by laser cladding, of Hadfield coatings on a low carbon steel. Sound austenitic layers are achieved with a thickness in the range 0.5 – 1 mm. During cold working, a large Vickers hardness increase is observed (from about 200 to 650 HV). Formation of a texture is accompanied by a γ → α transformation of the fine and dendritic microstructure of the Hadfield coating.