Study of bond strength for laser direct metals deposition of tool steel on copper alloy substrate

This paper presents an investigation on laser direct metal deposition of tool steel on copper alloy substrate both directly and using high nickel stainless steel as buffer layer. The bond strength between the clad and the substrate has been investigated. Tensile testing was employed to measure the bond strength. The characteristics of the fracture surfaces have also been analyzed. Bond strength measurement revealed that the ultimate tensile strength of the substrate material was higher compared to the bond strength between the clad and the substrate. In addition, the experimental result revealed that use of high nickel stainless steel reduced the bond strength with substrate. However, the bond strength measured in this experiment between laser cladded tool steel and copper alloy substrate was much higher compared to the bond strength between these two metals coated using other techniques.