High-strength multi-functional coating with multi-level structure, and preparation method thereof

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12467146-B2
Application number	US-202418969925-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 5, 2024
Priority date	Jan 12, 2024
Publication date	Nov 11, 2025
Grant date	Nov 11, 2025

Abstract

A high-strength multi-functional coating with a multi-level structure, and a preparation method thereof are provided. In this application, a high-efficiency cladding method based on infrared laser-plasma synchronous compounding is adopted to prepare a micro-scale columnar crystal structure that is perpendicular to a substrate and serves as a pure thermally and electrically conductive channel, and to prepare submicro- and nano-scale ceramic reinforcement phases between columnar crystals, where the submicro- and nano-scale ceramic reinforcement phases are distributed along grain boundaries. The multi-level organizational structure of this application can simultaneously improve the hardness, wear resistance, and electrical and thermal conductivities of a cladding layer for a copper alloy and can improve the reliability of damage protection for a copper alloy component used in an extreme environment.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A coating, the coating being prepared by infrared laser plasma paraxial synchronous composite cladding and components of the coating comprising copper alloy powder and ceramic powder,
wherein a mass percentage of the copper alloy powder is 90% to 99%, and a mass percentage of ceramic powder is 1% to 10%, wherein the coating has a micro-scale columnar crystal structure; the micro-scale columnar crystal structure serves as a pure thermally and electrically conductive channel; and submicro- and nano-scale ceramic reinforcement phases are produced between columnar crystals, and the submicro- and nano-scale ceramic reinforcement phases are distributed along grain boundaries; the columnar crystals each have a diameter of 100 μm to 200 μm; and the copper alloy powder has a particle size of 100 μm to 200 μm, and the ceramic powder has a particle size of 50 nm to 200 nm.

2 . The coating according to claim 1 , wherein the infrared laser-plasma paraxial synchronous composite cladding is conducted as follows: conducting coaxial powder-feeding by a plasma generator in a main axis direction, and allowing a laser at a side of the plasma generator to work synchronously with the plasma generator on a same vertical plane in a paraxial direction, such that the plasma generator and the laser together act on a molten pool.

3 . The coating according to claim 1 , wherein the copper alloy powder comprises a Cu powder that is mandatory and an optional powder, and the optional powder is one or two selected from the group consisting of Cr, Zr, W, Nb, V, and Ti metal powders; and a raw material for the ceramic powder is one selected from the group consisting of B 4 C, C 3 N 4 , BN, and SiC.

4 . The coating according to claim 3 , wherein a mass of the optional powder in the alloy powder is 1% to 8% of a total mass of the copper alloy powder.

5 . The coating according to claim 3 , wherein when the optional powder is a composite of two metal powders, a mass proportion of each of the two metal powders is 50%.

6 . A method for preparing the coating according to claim 1 , specifically comprising the following steps:
step 1 preparation of powders designing a composition of the coating according to actual needs of a workpiece, and preparing different copper alloy powders; and weighing and mixing the copper alloy powders and the ceramic powder, and oven-drying; step 2 pretreatment of a surface of the workpiece soaking the workpiece in an acid solution to remove dirt, washing with water, soaking in alkaline water to neutralize a residual acid solution, washing with warm water, and oven-drying; step 3 programming of a cladding trajectory as needed according to a shape, a size, and a cladding region of the workpiece, programming a laser-plasma composite cladding trajectory, and setting a synchronous powder-feeding and automatic control system; and step 4 laser-plasma composite cladding allowing a plasma generator to work perpendicular to the workplace and in a main axis direction, and allowing a laser at a side of the plasma generator to work synchronously with the plasma generator in a paraxial direction; and during cladding, under Ar atmosphere protection, conducting coaxial powder-feeding by the plasma generator, and allowing a laser beam to assist the plasma generator laterally, such that the plasma generator and the laser beam together act on a molten pool, wherein the main axis direction refers to a direction perpendicular to a cladded workpiece substrate, and the paraxial direction refers to a direction at an included angle of 45° with the main axis direction.

7 . The method for preparing the coating according to claim 6 , wherein process parameters of the laser-plasma composite cladding are as follows: a plasma current: 100 A to 200 A, a voltage: 30 V to 60 V, and a beam spot diameter: 10 mm; a laser power: 1 kW to 6 kW, and a laser spot diameter: 2 mm to 4 mm; and a composite cladding distance: 7 mm to 15 mm, a cladding speed: 5 mm/s to 10 mm/s, a powder-feeding rate: 15 g/min to 30 g/min, and a lap rate: 10% to 30%.

Assignees

• Ocean Univ China
• Ningbo Branch Of China Acad Of Ordnance Science

Inventors

• Cui Hongzhi
• Huang Wei
• Liu Feiya
• Ma Guoliang
• Jiang Boyu
• Mo Cuidi
• Gong Liukui

Classifications

• B22F10/25

  Direct deposition of metal particles, e.g. direct metal deposition [DMD] or laser engineered net shaping [LENS] · CPC title

• C22C32/0047

  with carbides, nitrides, borides or silicides as the main non-metallic constituents · CPC title

• C22C1/053

  with in situ formation of hard compounds · CPC title

• B23K26/352

  for surface treatment · CPC title

• B23K10/027

  Welding for purposes other than joining, e.g. build-up welding · CPC title