Grain refinement and mechanical properties improvement of AlCuFeCoNi high-entropy alloy coatings fabricated by resonant ultrasonic assisted laser cladding

Laser cladding technology has gained significant popularity for the preparation of high-entropy alloy (HEA) coatings. This is primarily due to its notable benefits, such as a low dilution rate and a robust bonding capability. However, the laser cladding process's rapid solidification effect and the high entropy impact led to the formation of defects in the coatings, such as non-uniform organization and elemental segregation. In this paper, the resonant ultrasonic vibration was used to regulate the organization and improve the microhardness and friction properties of the AlCuFeCoNi HEA coatings. The experimental findings demonstrate that ultrasonic vibration enhances both the width and depth of the coating's molten state, while simultaneously reducing the height of the coating. Before and after the introduction of ultrasonic vibrations, the coating consists of two phases, bodycentered cubic (BCC) and face-centered cubic (FCC). However, the magnitude of the FCC phase significantly increased with higher power. The internal grains of the coating were significantly refined by ultrasonic vibration, and the average grain size was refined from 68.34 mu m to 35.28 mu m, and the area occupied by equiaxial grains also increased with the increase of ultrasonic power, and the segregation of the FCC phase dominated by Cu elements was suppressed. When the ultrasonic power was 30 %, the microhardness of the coating was increased from 553.19 +/- 5.15 HV0.2 to 600.47 +/- 3.61 HV0.2. The addition of ultrasonic vibration increased the wear resistance of the coating and lowered the coefficient of friction from 0.558 to 0.409. Furthermore, the friction mechanism of the coatings before and after the addition of ultrasonic vibration did not change, and both were abrasive wear with slight oxidative wear.