Microsturctures and properties of Ti-Si intermetallic compound layers by arc cladding

The surface treatment technique of pre-placing silicon powders on the pure titanium substrate before arc cladding was applied to prepare Ti-Si intermetallic compound surface layers.Resulted in different fused amounts between pre-placing silicon powders and the pure titanium substrate prepare different surface layers by changing welding currents.The purpose was to strength the substrate metallurgically.The microstructures of the layers and the interfacial zone were investigated by optical microscopy, scanning electronic microscopy and X-ray diffraction.And the microhardness profiles and the abrasive resistance of the layers were measured.The experimental results showed that the microstructures of the arc cladded layers change from hypoeutectic, eutectic to hypereutecticwith increasing welding currents.Ti₅Si₃ phase hardened the layers and made their abrasive resistance obviously higher than that of the pure titanium substrate.