Effect of laser cladding parameters on Inconel 718 coating performance and multi-parameter optimization

The purpose of this study is to improve the quality of the multi-track laser cladding coating. The Taguchi-Grey relation method was selected to realize process parameter optimization. The Taguchi method is used to design an L₁₆ orthogonal experiment. The influence of three important laser cladding parameters (laser power, powder feeding rate, and scanning speed) on the micro-hardness, maximum load value, yield strength, UTS, and elongation had been analyzed based on the analysis of variance (ANOVA) and signal to noise ratio (SNR) methods. The results showed that the yield strength, UTS, and elongation were significantly affected by the laser power; the powder feeding rate denoted a highly significant influence on the microhardness and yield strength; and the scanning speed was a highly significant factor that had an influence on the maximum load value. Then, grey relational analysis (GRA) was used to convert five response targets into a single grey relational grade (GRG) that could be quantified in order to optimize the parameters for maximum micro-hardness, maximum load value, yield strength, UTS, and elongation. Finally, the optimum cladding process parameters were obtained. Through analysis of microstructure, the reduction of the Laves phase might be the main reason for the improvement of coating performance after optimization.