Recent Advance on Metal Carbides Reinforced Laser Cladding Coatings

The laser cladding technique can be adapted to fabricate composite coatings on the surface of the metal substrate, which not only effectively improves the surface properties of materials, but also greatly expands their application range. Metal carbides exhibit extremely high hardness, melting point, and outstanding chemical stability. The hardness of carbides is much higher than that of general metal materials. Therefore, various metal carbides serve as reinforcing agents for enhancing the overall performance of metal-based coatings. To date, there is no special review about metal carbide-reinforced laser cladding coatings. In view of the outstanding performance and wide application of metal carbides in laser cladding coatings, herein, recent advances in various metal carbide-reinforced metal coatings are highlighted. According to the type of metal carbides, the whole review is classified into five sections: WC-reinforced coatings, TiC-reinforced coatings, NbC-reinforced coatings, Ti_n+1AlC_n (MAX) reinforced coatings, and Cr₃C₂, TaC-reinforced coatings. The preparation method, microstructure feature, and application performance of various carbide-reinforced composite coatings are summarized. At last, some prospects are put forward on the current issues and future development directions, aiming to provide comprehensive and in-depth references for the research and application in the field of composite coatings.