Evaluation of microstructure and fatigue properties in laser cladding repair of ultrahigh strength AerMetV® 100 steel

The metallurgy and fatigue properties were evaluated for the laser cladding of AerMet® 100 powder on AerMet® 100 substrate. Working with small scale tensile and fatigue samples causes an overextended HAZ due to the constant heating applied on a small thermal mass. The limited heat input causes major processing issues with inter-run porosity observed. The microstructure observed in both the clad and Heat-affected Zone (HAZ) is (1) inhomogeneous and nonuniform and (2) hard and brittle martensitic structure. As a result, the yield strength is reduced by 37%, ultimate tensile strength (UTS) reduced by 13%, elongation reduced by 57%, and the fatigue life is reduced significantly.