Comparative Study on the Surface Remelting of Mo-Si-B Alloys with Laser and Electron Beam

The Mo-12Si-8.5B alloy was surface-remelted by laser and electron beam, and the microstructure of its melt pool and substrate regions were analyzed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and energy spectrometry (EDS) techniques. It was found that the composition of the surface phases in the Mo-12Si-8.5B alloy did not change by the high-energy beam surface remelting process, but the microstructure of the molten pool region was significantly different from that of the substrate region, and its phase distribution was more uniform. Dendrites appeared on the surface of the material under the action of both processes, and the Si- and B-rich phases were mainly gathered in the interdendritic region. In the melt pool of the laser-remelted specimens, the α-Mo phase was continuously distributed with an average dendrite length of 70 µm, while the α-Mo phase distribution in the melt pool of the electron beam remelted specimens were relatively concentrated, with a larger dendrite size and an average dendrite length of 120 µm. The dendrite size in the melt pool of the laser remelted material was smaller, and the distribution of the elements was relatively uniform. Using a laser beam as the heat source was more favorable for the next step of the additive manufacturing of the core parts of hypersonic vehicles.