Recycle and Reuse of Inconel718 Alloy Powder as Laser Cladded Coating Material

The wasted Inconel-718 alloy powder,an advanced aircraft engine material,was recycled and reused as a homogeneous coating material in repairing surface damage of components by laser cladding.The influence of the recycling times on the powder microstructure and tribological behavior of the laser cladded coatings was investigated with X-ray diffraction,energy dispersive spectroscopy,scanning electron microscopy and mechanical probes.The preliminary results show that the recycling time matters.For example,as the recycling time increased,the average-size,irregularity and surface roughness of the spherical grain increased from 56 to 79 μm,owing to the grain growth in laser melting,and the loss-rate monotonically decreased.The bending strength of the laser cladded coating,synthesized with the powders recycled for three times and comprising equiaxed grains and epitaxial dendric textures,considerably decreased,possibly because of larger grain-size and greater non-uniformity of microstructures.