from the conferences organized by TANGER Ltd.
A number of modern surface processing methods use an energy flux. The examples include electro-spark deposition (ESD) and laser processing (LP). Electro-spark deposition is a cheap high-energy process. The method was first used in the USSR in the 1940s almost simultaneously with the destructive electrical discharge machining. The ESD technique was studied intensively in the 1960s. In the next decade, it was commonly applied to deposit hard-melting materials on selected metals and alloys, mainly steel. Polish scientists became interested in electro-spark alloying of coatings as early as in the 1980s. Electro-spark deposited coatings have some disadvantages but these can be easily eliminated. One of the methods is laser processing; a laser beam is used for surface polishing, surface geometry formation, surface sealing or for homogenizing the chemical composition of the deposited coatings. The corrosion resistance of C45 steel coated with WC-Cu electro-spark technique and the influence of the laser treatment process on the properties of the coatings were examined in a chloride environment. The coatings were deposited by means of an EIL-8A. The laser processing was performed with an Nd:YAG, BLS 720 system. The studies were conducted using WC-Cu electrodes produced by the powder metallurgy route. The potentiodynamic polarization technique was mainly used. Scanning electron microscope (SEM) was employed for the observation the surface of materials. The structure of coatings was dependent on the composition of electrospark electrodes. It is assumed that the use of laser-modified electro-spark deposited coatings will increase the applications of using relatively inexpensive materials in areas requiring special alloys, for example, sealing technology, precision products or surfaces in sliding contact.
Keywords: ESD coatings, laser processing, corrosion resistance, microstructure, surface topography© This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.