Effect of laser re-melting on geometry and mechanical properties of YCF102 cladding layer

The aim of this paper is to investigate the effect of laser re-melting on the morphology and mechanical properties of cladding layer under different laser power conditions. In this study, the laser re-melting tests were performed on YCF102 cladding layer with different laser power, and the morphology and microstructure of each cladding layer were researched by optical microscopy. Meanwhile, the microhardness and wear resistance of YCF102 cladding layer after laser re-melting with different laser power were studied. The results show that laser re-melting can not only improve the morphology of cladding layer, but also improve the microhardness and wear resistance of cladding layer. However, the excessive re-melting laser power leads to the increase of the number of defects in the cladding layer and the deterioration of the mircrohardness and wear resistance of cladding layer. When the re-melting laser power is 650 W, the cladding layer not only has a small surface roughness and no defects, but also has good mechanical properties. •Laser re-melting can reduce the number of defects in the cladding layer.•Laser re-melting can improve the surface morphology and mechanical properties.•Excessive re-melting laser power causes degradation of the mechanical properties.•Re-melting laser power is related to surface morphology and mechanical properties.