Laser cladding remanufacturing of propeller ZCuAl8Mn13Fe3Ni2 alloy

Laser cladding technology was used to fabricate a ZCuAl8Mn13Fe3Ni2 cladding layer on a ZCuAl8Mn13Fe3Ni2 cast alloy substrate. A comparative study was conducted to analyze the microstructure and properties of the laser cladding layer and the cast alloy. The experimental results revealed that the ZCuAl8Mn13Fe3Ni2 cladding layer primarily consists of a Cu-based face-centered cubic (FCC) solid solution (α phase), a body-centered cubic (BCC) solid solution (β phase), a complex cubic γ₂ phase, and an intermetallic κ phase. When the laser cladding process parameters were set to a laser power of 1600 W, scanning speed of 6 mm/s, powder feed rate of 2 rpm, and gas flow rate of 3.5 L/min, the average Brinell hardness of the laser-cladded ZCuAl8Mn13Fe3Ni2 layer was 278 HB, with a corrosion current of 3.73 × 10^-2 mA/cm² and a corrosion potential of -0.271 V. Compared to the cast alloy with the same composition, the laser cladding coating exhibited a 14.88% increase in hardness, an 18.68% increase in corrosion current, and a 1.88% decrease in corrosion potential.