Applied Surface Science 321 (2014) 387395

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Applied Surface Science

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/apsusc

Effect of rare earth oxide on the properties of laser cladding layer and
machining vibration suppressing in side milling
Yanhua Zhao a,b , Jie Sun a,b, , Jianfeng Li a,b
a
b

School of Mechanical Engineering, Shandong University, Jinan 250061, PR China

Key Laboratory of High Efciency and Clean Mechanical Manufacture, Ministry of Education, Shandong University, Jinan 250061, PR China

a r t i c l e

i n f o

Article history:
Received 19 July 2014
Received in revised form 20 August 2014
Accepted 29 September 2014
Available online 7 October 2014
Keywords:
Rare earth
Laser cladding layer
Grain rene
Side milling
Machining vibration suppressing.

a b s t r a c t
Laser cladding, which can increase the hardness and wear resistance of the used components, is widely
used in remanufacture and sustainable manufacturing eld. Generally, laser cladding layer should to be
machined to meet the function as well as the assembly requirements. Milling is an effective mean for
precision machining. However, there exist great differences of physical and mechanical performances
between laser cladding layer and substrate material, including microstructure, hardness, wear resistance,
etc. This produces some new milling problems for laser cladding layer, such as machining vibration
which may lead to low productivity and worse surface integrity. Thus, it is necessary to develop a novel
laser cladding powder which can improve the surface hardness and wear resistance, while reducing the
machining vibration in milling. Laser cladding layer was prepared by FeCr alloy and La2 O3 mixed powder.
The effect of La2 O3 on the coating properties was investigated. Signal analysis methods of the time and
frequency domain were used to evaluate the effect of the La2 O3 on machining vibration in the side milling
laser cladding layer. The key ndings of this study are: (a) with the La2 O3 content increasing, the grain
size decreases dramatically and the microstructure of laser cladding layer are rene; (b) the hardness and
wear resistance of the coatings with La2 O3 are improved signicantly; and (c) the machining vibrations
of laser cladding layer with La2 O3 are obviously reduced and the chatter is effectively avoided occurring.
2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
Remanufacture, as the ultimate form of recycling, can restore the
used products of high value-added into like-new condition and get
great benets of energy-saving and emission reduction [1]. Laser
cladding has been dened as a surface-coating technique which
makes use of material with superior physical and chemical properties to protect the substrate from corrosion and abrasive wear
even at extreme conditions during service [2,3]. Therefore, laser
cladding has been developed for many years as a remanufacturing
and sustainable manufacturing technique in industry [4,5].
Generally, laser cladding layer (LCL) should to be machined to
meet the function as well as the assembly requirements. Milling
is an effective means of precision machining. However, there
exist great differences of physical and mechanical performances
between LCL and substrate material, including microstructure,
hardness, wear resistance, etc. This produces some new milling

Corresponding author. Tel./fax: +86 53188394593 1.

E-mail addresses: zhaoyanhua 007@163.com (Y. Zhao), sunjie@sdu.edu.cn
(J. Sun).
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.apsusc.2014.09.195
0169-4332/ 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

problems for laser cladding layer, such as high machining vibration,

which may lead to low productivity and worse surface integrity.
Thus, it is of great importance to develop a novel laser cladding
powder which can improve the surface hardness and wear resistance while reducing machining vibration in side milling.
1.1. Effect of rare earth and oxides
Recently, considerable attention was focused on rare earth (La,
Ce and its oxide) which can modify the properties of laser cladding
layer. Wang et al. [6] studied the effects of La2 O3 on the microstructure and wear resistance of laser clad nickel-based alloy coating
and reported that the microstructure was rened and the wear
resistance of coating was enhanced signicantly. Hao et al. [7]
investigated the effects of rare earth oxide on the hardfacing metal
microstructure of medium carbon steel and pointed out that the
microstructure was rened at rst and then coarsened with the
increase in rare earth oxide addition. In situ FeNbC composite
laser cladding layer with different CeO2 addition was produced in
die steel by Li et al. [8], and it is shown that CeO2 plays important
roles in reducing microporosities, rening grains and improving the
precipitation of NbC. Golmakaniyoon et al. [9] found that the creep

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Y. Zhao et al. / Applied Surface Science 321 (2014) 387395

Table 1
Chemical composition of substrate and laser cladding powder (%).
Chemical element

Mn

Si

Mo

Cr

Ni

Cu

Fe

KMN
FeCr alloy powder

0.130.18
0.15

0.50.8

0.170.37
1.1

0.91.1
1.0

2.22.5
17.35

1.35

0.30

0.030

0.030

1.26

Balance
Balance

strength of the Mg6Zn3Cu cast alloy was remarkably improved

by RE addition. Lu et al. [10] investigated the effect of Ce addition on the mechanical properties and damping behavior of the
CuAlMn shape memory alloys and reported that with increase
in the Ce content, the damping capacity increases initially and then
decreases. Wang et al. [11,12] reported that the damping capacity
of MgCuMn alloys and ZK60 magnesium alloys improved abnormally with the earth element addition.
1.2. Machining vibration
Machining vibration is one of the key factors inuencing the
quality of the machined surface, tool life and process stability.
Choudhury and Sharath [13] pointed out that the vibration of cutting process was one of the major factors limiting its performance
and provided an on-line control system of machine tool vibration
during turning operation. Dimla Sr. and Lister [14] investigated the
on-line metal-cutting tool condition monitoring by vibration analyses and reported that the analyses in time and frequency domains
showed some components of the measured signals to correlate well
with the accrued tool wear.
Many researchers have been looking for the methods of suppressing vibration/chatter in the cutting process. Vibration/chatter
control or suppression techniques can be classied into two main
categories, namely passive chatter suppression/control and active
chatter suppression/control. In the passive technique, the objective is to suppress chatter by changing the system behavior. The
system behavior can be changed or modied by either improving
the design of the machine tool or by using additional devices that
can absorb extra energy or disrupt the regenerative effect [15]. In
1965, Slavicek [16] proposed a variable-pitch cutter design idea for
chatter suppression. Huang et al. [17] investigated the vibration
reduction mechanism of variable-pitch end mills and found that
the variable-pitch mill can reduce the forced vibration in the cutting process. Ema and Etsuo [18] improved the damping capability
of boring tools and suppression of chatter vibration using impact
dampers. Yang et al. [19] presented a design and optimal tuning of
multiple tuned mass dampers (TMDs) to increase chatter resistance
of machine tool structures. In the active technique, as the name
suggests, chatter vibrations are actively eliminated by continuous
monitoring and diagnosis of the turning process and by executing
necessary changes in the process [20]. Lin and Hu [21] proposed an
approach in which the feed-rate and spindle speed were varied to
suppress chatter. Frumusanu et al. [22] developed a stable intelligent control technique for turning and the technique involved
online monitoring of the cutting force signal. Emad Al-Regib et al.
[23] presented a method for programming spindle speed variation
for machine tool chatter suppression and veried the effectiveness
experimentally.
The literature review shows that very few studies have concentrated on the characteristics of machining vibration of laser
cladding layer. The bulk study on the effect of rare earth is limited
to the material characteristics of laser cladding layer. And the effect
of rare earth on damping capacity is limited to the shape memory
alloys and magnesium alloys. The vibration/chatter suppression
techniques only focus on the machining systems behavior or
executing necessary parameters changing in the process. The
effect of damping capacity of materials itself on the vibration
suppression has not been investigated. And the effect of rare earth

on vibration suppressing of laser cladding layer in side milling

has not been addressed. The objective of this study is to ll in
the knowledge gap and solve the impressing issues of vibration
suppressing in laser cladding layer milling process.
1.3. Scope of this research
In this work, FeCr alloy powder with La2 O3 was deposited on
KMN steel plates by CO2 laser. The microstructures, phase constitution, hardness and wear resistance of coating were investigated.
The machining experiments were performed under dry milling of
LCL, which can be regarded as a novel material in the processing
eld. Signal analysis methods of the time and frequency domain
were used to evaluate the effect of the La2 O3 on machining vibration in side milling. Further, the variation in surface roughness with
the weight fraction changing of La2 O3 was presented in this article.
2. Experimental setup
2.1. Laser cladding experiment and coating performance analysis
FeCr alloy powder, whose particles were from 26 to 38 m in
size, was used in this study. La2 O3 powder was added into the
mixture with different mass fractions. The compositions of the
alloy mixture and the mass percent of laser cladding powders
are indicated in Tables 1 and 2, respectively. According to the
ratio of the weight fraction, FeCr alloy and La2 O3 powder were
mixed and prepared by ball milling with 72 h. KMN steel is highstrength low-alloy steel developed by Shenyang Blower Works
Group Corporation, China. And KMN steel is commonly used in
large centrifugal compressor impeller manufacturing. The KMN
steel specimen was machined into a rectangular block. The chemical composition and dimensions of the substrate are shown in
Tables 1 and 3, respectively. The surface of the substrates was polished and rinsed with acetone prior to cladding. The laser cladding
process was performed using a CO2 multimode cross-ow laser
operating at output power of 6 kW with a 3 mm beam diameter. The
beam scanning speed was 500 mm/min. Fig. 1 shows the schematic
illustration of laser cladding.
The microstructures of LCL were studied by means of scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Samples for SEM observation
were prepared using standard mechanical polishing procedures
Table 2
Compositions of the cladding powders (wt%).
No.

FeCr alloy

La2 O3

1
2
3
4
5

100
99.5
99.0
98.5
98.0

0
0.5
1.0
1.5
2.0

Table 3
The dimensions of substrate and cladding layer.
Dimension (mm)

Substrate
Cladding layer

Length

Wide

Height

50
40

78
20

5
2

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389

Table 4
Milling conditions.
Exp.#

Feed f
(mm/tooth)

Axial
DoC ap
(mm)

Cutting
speed V
(m/min)

Radial
Doc ae
(mm)

1
2
3
4
5
6
7

0.02
0.04
0.06
0.08
0.02
0.02
0.02

4
4
4
4
8
12
16

150
150
150
150
150
150
150

0.3
0.3
0.3
0.3
0.3
0.3
0.3

Fig. 1. Schematic illustration of laser cladding.

2.2. Milling experiment procedures and data collection

in association with etching at room temperature. The phase composition was identied by energy-dispersive spectroscopy (EDS)
and X-ray diffractometer (XRD; 40 kV, 30 mA, Cu-K radiation; scanning within 2 = 2090 ). The microhardness tests were performed
using a MH-6 Vickers digital microhardness tester with a load of
10 g and a dwelling time of 5 s on a section perpendicular to the
cladding direction, making a vertical prole from the coating surface to the substrate, and the averaged results of three repeat tests
were used in this article. The wear behavior of the coatings was
evaluated by sliding wear tests on friction with Tribometer (UMT2) at the laboratory atmosphere, without lubrication, at normal load
of 15 N, constant sliding speed of 5 mm/s and total sliding time of
15 min. The wear volume was observed using an optical proler
(Veeco NT9300, USA). Three replicated tests were conducted for
each wear test condition and the averaged value was given.

The cutting tests for the entire laser cladding layers were carried
out in a vertical CNC machine center (ACE-V500, Daewoo) in dry
and side-milling conditions. The experimental setup is illustrated
in Fig. 2. Detailed machining conditions are listed in Table 4. Four
levels of feed ranges from 0.02 to 0.08 mm/tooth, and four levels of
axial depth of cut (DoC) from 4 to 16 mm were selected. The cutting speed and radial depth of cut were kept constant at 150 m/min
and 0.3 mm, respectively. Machining experiments at each condition
were performed three times. Machining vibration acceleration signals were picked up by acceleration sensors (KD9002) arranged in
spindle with 4096 Hz sampling frequency. Vibration signals were
collected by a data collection instrument (Denmark B&K) after magnifying with the charger amplier (AZ802A), and then the signals
were analyzed by MATLAB software. The tool used in milling tests
is Kennametal F4AJ2000ADN30 solid cemented carbide end mills

Fig. 2. Milling experimental setup.

Fig. 3. The grains structure of laser cladding layer without La2 O3 .

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Y. Zhao et al. / Applied Surface Science 321 (2014) 387395

Fig. 4. Microstructure of ne-grained region with different La2 O3 content.

with four cutting edges, and the diameters (D) of the tools are
20 mm with equal overhang length. Before the milling test, the
samples were rough machining so that the surface atness of coating tends to be uniform. The removed material thickness of rough
machining is about 0.5 mm. And the dimensions of LCL after rough
machining are shown in Table 3. An optical proler (Veeco NT9300,
USA) was used for the surface roughness measurement of the milled
samples. Three measurements of surface roughness were taken
from the samples and the average values were used in this work.
Although test results at each milling condition are obtained, only

worthy representative results were selected and presented in this

paper for the purpose of conciseness.
3. Results
3.1. Characteristics of laser cladding layer
3.1.1. Microstructure
The grain structure of laser cladding layer without La2 O3 is
shown in Fig. 3. It can be observed that the LCL is consisted of

Fig. 5. Microstructure of coarse-grained zone with different La2 O3 content.

Y. Zhao et al. / Applied Surface Science 321 (2014) 387395

391

Fig. 7. Effect of La2 O3 on the diffraction angle of Fe.

Fig. 6. XRD spectra for the laser cladding layers.

ne-grained region in the intermediate position and coarse-grained

zone in joint surfaces. The microstructure of the coatings consists
of dendrite, cell grain and eutectic. The grain structure of cladding
layer with different composition of La2 O3 is substantially the same,
which is observed but not presented in this paper for the purpose of conciseness. The microstructures of ne-grained region
and coarse-grained zone with different La2 O3 content are shown
in Figs. 4 and 5. It can be seen that the addition of La2 O3 effectively
rene the grain structure of the FeCr alloy coating. With the La2 O3
content increasing, the size of dendrites decreases dramatically, the
number of equiaxial grains increases, the dendrite spacing reduced
and the directivity of solidication is weakened. The average grain
size is reduced from 28 to 23, 19, 14 and 8 m in coatings containing
0.5, 1.0, 1.5 and 2.0 wt% La2 O3 , respectively.
3.1.2. Phase structure
The X-ray diffraction spectrums for three samples are shown in
Fig. 6, whose content of La2 O3 is 0, 0.5, and 2.0 wt%, respectively. As
compared with those published in the literature [10,24], the peaks
in the patterns are identied. It can be seen that both 1 and1
martensites are present in the coatings. The other phases are FeCr,
Fe9.7Mo0.3, Cr9.1Si0.9 and Fe0.64Ni0.36. No La2 O3 , lanthanum
compound or new generated phase is observed after adding La2 O3 .
This phenomenon might be due to the small addition of La2 O3 .
Fig. 7 reveals that the diffraction peak of 1 martensite around 44
reduces slightly with the increase in the mass fraction of La2 O3 . It is
indicated that the interplanar spacing of Fe in the coating increased,
according to the Bragg equation (2d sin  = n). There are two

Table 5
Chemical composition of xed points by EDS.
Point

1
2
3
4

Chemical element (%)

C

Si

Cr

Fe

Ni

Mo

La

1.7
1.3
1.7
1.25

1.76
1.52
0.88
0.99

19.34
19.8
14.96
14.44

73.85
73.97
78.16
79.11

1.05
1.1
1.45
1.58

1.07
1.02
2.16
2.02

1.23
1.29
0.69
0.61

reasons leading to the increase in the interplanar spacing [25]. One

of the factors is that the solid solubilities of solute elements in the
Fe matrix increased in the process of solidication. The other is the
increase in the internal thermal tensile stress in coatings. In the
process of laser cladding, all samples experienced similar thermal
history resulted from the same process parameters. Therefore, it is
clear that the main reason of the increase of the interplanar spacing of Fe is the solid solubilities of solute elements increasing after
adding La2 O3 .
The EDS analysis for grain and grain boundary is shown in Fig. 8.
And their element contents are given in Table 5. It can be noted that
the amounts of Fe, Mo and Ni are higher in the primary dendrite as
compared to that in the interdendritic eutectic structure. Also the
interdendritic eutectic structure contains more amounts of Cr, Si
and La than in the primary dendrite. It can be deduced that the primary solidied dendrite phase consists of martensite, Fe0.64Ni0.36,
Fe9.7Mo0.3, and the eutectic structure consists of Cr9.1Si0.9.
3.1.3. Hardness
The variations of the microhardness of ve coatings along the
depth direction are plotted in Fig. 9. It can be found that the

Fig. 8. EDS spectra of laser cladding layer.

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Y. Zhao et al. / Applied Surface Science 321 (2014) 387395

Fig. 11. Wear rates of laser clad layers (a) without La2 O3 , (b) 0.5 wt% La2 O3 , (c)
1.0 wt% La2 O3 , (d) 1.5 wt% La2 O3 and (e) 2.0 wt% La2 O3 .
Fig. 9. Cross-section microhardness prole of laser clad layers.

hardness is increased with the increasing La2 O3 content, which

is the mutual result of grain-renement hardening and dispersion
hardening of La2 O3 . When the La2 O3 content is 2.0 wt%, the average
value of hardness rises to the maximum (671.75 HV). In addition,
the hardness distribution of the coating with La2 O3 addition is more
uniform compared with that of the coating without La2 O3 addition.
The hardness near the substrate is low because of the dilution of
the laser cladding layer from the substrate. However, the width of
the diluted layer is about 40 m, which is very insignicant as compared to the conventional cladding processes, and the laser beam
cladding restricts the dilution to minimum due to the lower heat
input.

La2 O3 is the lowest for all the testing specimens, which relative
sliding wear resistance is about 60% higher than that of the LCL
without La2 O3 . It can be deduced that the addition of La2 O3 is favorable to increase wear resistance of the LCL. This phenomenon can
be attributed to the following: the renement of the microstructure can increase the hardness and toughness of the coatings;
meanwhile, the combining force between the martensite and the
chromium solid solution matrix is strengthened due to the existence of La in the coatings, therefore, decrease the tendency of
cracking and spalling of the LCL with La2 O3 during wear process,
thus can undoubtedly improve the wear-resisting abilities of the
LCL.
3.2. The impact of La2 O3 on processing stability

3.1.4. Wear resistance

Fig. 10 illustrates the wear scars of the LCL. It can be seen that
the LCL with La2 O3 has smaller wear scar width than that of the
LCL without La2 O3 . Namely, the average wear scar width of LCL
is reduced from 0.4646 to 0.4155, 0.4082, 0.374, 0.3364 mm in
coatings containing 0, 0.5, 1.0, 1.5 and 2.0 wt% La2 O3 , respectively.
The wear rates of the laser cladding layers are shown in Fig. 11.
It is found that the sliding wear rate of the LCL is decreased with
increasing La2 O3 content. And wear rate of the LCL with 2.0 w%

In order to investigate the effect of La2 O3 contents on machining

vibration of LCL in the same parameters, the signals were picked up
and analyzed by time and frequency domain analysis methods.
3.2.1. Time domain analysis
As shown in Fig. 12, the vibration acceleration amplitude of Ydirection for the LCL without La2 O3 addition is higher than that of
the LCL with La2 O3 addition at the same condition. The vibration

Fig. 10. Morphology of wear scar.

Y. Zhao et al. / Applied Surface Science 321 (2014) 387395

Fig. 12. Effect of La2 O3 on the vibration at different axial DoC (V = 150 m/min,
ae = 0.3 mm, fz = 0.02 mm/tooth).

of the LCL with La2 O3 addition is decreased when the La2 O3 content increasing from 0.5 to 1.5 wt%. The lowest machining vibration
is obtained when the La2 O3 content is 1.5 wt%. And the vibration
becomes more uniform when the La2 O3 content is 0.5, 1.0 and
1.5 wt%. With further increase in La2 O3 content, the machining
vibration begins to increase, which is the largest one in the LCL
with La2 O3 addition.
The effect of La2 O3 on the vibration at different feed is shown
in Fig. 13. It can also be found that the vibration amplitude of Ydirection for the LCL without La2 O3 addition is higher than that of
the LCL with La2 O3 addition at the same parameters. The machining vibration of the LCL with La2 O3 addition is decreased obviously
at rst and then increased with the La2 O3 content increasing.
When the La2 O3 content increases to 2.0 wt%, machining vibration
becomes the largest one in the LCL with La2 O3 addition. Therefore,
machining vibration of the LCL without La2 O3 addition is severer
than that of the LCL with La2 O3 addition at the same cutting parameters.
3.2.2. Frequency domain analysis
Fig. 14 shows the three-dimensional diagrams of frequency
spectrum analysis of machining vibration by fast Fourier transform

393

Fig. 13. Effect of La2 O3 on the vibration at different feed (V = 150 m/min, ap = 4 mm,
ae = 0.3 mm).

(FFT) for ve coatings at No. 7 experiments. The primary

x-coordinate represents an integer multiple of tooth passing frequency (TPF = N SF) and the secondary x-coordinate represents
frequency (unit: Hz) in Fig. 14b and c. TPF and SF are dened in Eqs.
(1) and (2).
TPF = NgSF =

1000NV
60d

(1)

where N is the number of cutting edges, and in this works, N is

4.
SF =

n
1000V
=
60
60d

(2)

where SF is the spindle frequency, n is the spindle speed (in rpm)

and V is the linear speed (in meters per minute) of the tool.
From Fig. 14, frequency spectrum distributions of machining
vibration for ve coatings have obvious periodic, and peak values
always occur obviously at the integral multiple of spindle frequency
or tooth passing frequency. However, from Fig. 14b, it is observed
that the vibration peak value occurs at 975 Hz which is not at the
integral multiple of spindle frequency or tooth passing frequency.
Combined with those sharp noises at these parameters in testing
eld, it can be deduced that chatter had occurred in the milling
process of the LCL without La2 O3 addition. Furthermore, with the

Fig. 14. FFT of vibration at No. 7 experiment for (a) ve coatings at No. 7 experiment, (b) coating without La2 O3 and (c) coating with 1.5 wt% La2 O3 (V = 150 m/min, ap = 16 mm,
ae = 0.3 mm, fz = 0.02 mm/tooth).

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Y. Zhao et al. / Applied Surface Science 321 (2014) 387395

the LCL milling process. In addition, when the axial DoC increasing
to 16 mm, the surface roughness of the LCL without La2 O3 addition
increases markedly, which may be due to chatter occurring at this
parameter as mentioned above.
4. Discussion
4.1. Analysis of grain renement

Fig. 15. Effect of La2 O3 on the surface roughness at different axial DoC
(V = 150 m/min, ae = 0.3 mm, fz = 0.02 mm/tooth).

La2 O3 addition, the abnormal peak signal and the sharp noises disappear. Therefore, the addition of La2 O3 can effectively prevent the
occurrence of chatter during LCL milling process.
In addition, as shown in Fig. 14b and c, the peak value of the
LCL with 1.5 wt% La2 O3 is 0.64 and that of the LCL without La2 O3
addition is 8.39. The average value at integral multiple of spindle
frequency of the LCL with 1.5 wt% La2 O3 is 0.11 and that of the LCL
without La2 O3 addition is 1.63. The peak and average value varying
for the other three coatings with La2 O3 addition shows the same
trend. It is suggested that the LCL with La2 O3 addition has better
process stability compared with the LCL without La2 O3 addition,
which is corresponding with the time domain analysis.
3.3. The impact of La2 O3 on surface roughness
The effect of La2 O3 on the surface roughness at different axial
DoC and feed is shown in Figs. 15 and 16, respectively. It is shows
that the surface roughness of the LCL without La2 O3 addition is
higher than that of the LCL with La2 O3 addition at the same condition. As same as the machining vibration, the surface roughness
of the LCL with La2 O3 addition is decreased when the La2 O3 content increasing from 0.5 to 1.5 wt%. With further increase in La2 O3
content, the surface roughness begins to increase, which is the
largest one in the LCL with La2 O3 addition. The variation of these
trends, caused by the La2 O3 addition, may be due to the inuence
of the machining vibration. The increasing vibration decreases the
processing stability, and then increases the surface roughness in

Fig. 16. Effect of La2 O3 on the surface roughness at different feed (V = 150 m/min,
ap = 4 mm, ae = 0.3 mm).

The grain structure is rened with the La2 O3 addition (as shown
in Figs. 4 and 5). And obviously, the change of microstructure is
promoted by the La element. La is a surface-active element with a
rather large atomic radius (the radius of lanthanum is 0.1877 nm).
La reacts easily with other elements, such as oxygen, sulfur, nitrogen, and some stable compounds, such as Cr3 NiB, CeFeSi, LaCrO4
and LaNi8 C2 can be formed during laser cladding [26]. Part of the
compound may oat on the liquid phase before solidication and be
cleaned off the cladding layer as slag. Thus, inclusion content within
the coatings is decreased and the coatings are puried by deoxidation and desulfuration. On the other hand, some compound as well
as La2 O3 itself may become particles of heterogeneous nucleation.
The number of crystal nuclei is increased during the crystallization of the laser remelted zone, and it is benecial to increase the
nucleation rate and promote non-spontaneous nucleation [26,27].
The greater the number of crystal nuclei, the ner the crystal grains
of the crystal [28]. In addition, since the atomic radius of La is rather
large and La is surface active elements, La distribute mostly over
the grain boundary (as shown in Table 5). When the grains grow,
La atoms and compounds over the grain boundary would make a
dragging effect on the movement of the grain boundary and the
growth of grain would be suppressed. Therefore, the grain size is
further rened.
The increase in hardness and wear resistance of LCL may be
due to the ne-grained structure resulting from the La2 O3 addition,
which can cause the metal strengthening by grain size reduction.
This is based on the fact that it is difcult for a dislocation to pass
into another grain, especially if it is very misaligned. Atomic disorder at the boundary causes discontinuity in slip planes. The ner
the grains, the larger the area of grain boundaries impedes dislocation motion. Grain size reduction usually improves toughness as
well. Therefore, improving the strengthening and toughness leads
to increase the hardness and wear resistance.
4.2. Analysis of vibration suppressing
As mentioned in the literature review, excessive vibration/chatter leads to fast wear of tools and gives poor surface quality
of the processed parts. According to the milling tests results, the LCL
with La2 O3 addition can signicantly reduce machining vibration
and effectively avoid chattering occurring. This may be due to the
damping capacity of the LCL with La2 O3 addition is enhanced.
It is generally accepted that the self-accommodation of martensitic plates and a high density of mobile twins in the martensite
condition lead to high damping capacity of the martensite of the
alloys [29]. Thus, when La2 O3 is added to FeCr alloy, La is easy
to react with the impure elements and can purify the liquid alloy,
which can decrease the inherence of the movements of martensitevariant interfaces. Meanwhile, the martensite variant oriented due
to the La addition, which leads to the improvement of the interface
mobility. Additionally, the number of martensite-variant interfaces increases due to the existing different type of martensite,
as indicated by XRD results. Therefore, the damping capacity of
the LCL with La2 O3 addition is enhanced by means of increasing
the mobility and the number of martensite-variant interfaces. This
is precisely why the machining vibration is signicantly reduced
when the La2 O3 content is 0.5, 1.0 and 1.5 wt%.

Y. Zhao et al. / Applied Surface Science 321 (2014) 387395

However, with further increase in La2 O3 content, machining

vibration increases obviously (as shown in Figs. 12 and 13). The
experimental results can be explained as follows: the grain size of
LCL with La2 O3 addition decreases obviously. Thus, the mobility of
interfaces can be restricted by the grain boundary. The decrease
in mobility of martensite-variant interfaces due to an increment of
the grain constraint can lead to the decrement of damping capacity.
In addition, the size and distribution of La-rich phase play important roles in affecting the damping properties of the martensite
for FeCr alloys. With the increase in La content, the La-rich phase
grows and the volume fraction of the precipitated phase increases
gradually. The existence of the La-rich phase hinders effectively
the movement of the boundaries between martensite variants and
twin boundaries, which leads to the decrease of the damping capacity. Therefore, when the La2 O3 content is 2.0 wt%, the vibration
increases obviously, but still lower than that of the LCL without
La2 O3 addition.
As discussed above, it can be concluded that there exists an
appropriate amount of La2 O3 content for achieving a maximum
damping capacity and minimum processing vibration for the LCL.
Combining the wear test results, the laser cladding layer with
1.5 wt% La2 O3 exhibits high damping capacity and relatively high
wear resistance. Therefore, it can be concluded that a certain
amount of La2 O3 addition not only improves the damping capacity,
but also enhances the wear resistance of LCL, which is very useful
for remanufacture of used parts by laser cladding.
5. Conclusion
The laser cladding layer aiming at vibration suppressing was
successfully prepared using the mixture of FeCr alloy and La2 O3
powders. The properties of the coatings and the milling vibration
characteristics were investigated. The major conclusions can be
summarized as follows:
The microstructure of laser cladding layer is rened because of
the La2 O3 addition.
The hardness and wear resistance is improved signicantly which
may be due to the metal strengthening by grain size reduction.
Machining vibrations of LCL with La2 O3 addition are signicantly
reduced and the chatter is effectively avoided occurring. This may
be due to the damping capacity of LCL with La2 O3 addition is
enhanced.
Acknowledgements
The authors acknowledge the nancial support of National
973Key Basic Research Program (2011CB013403) and Taishan

395

Scholar Program Foundation of Shandong to carry out this research

work.
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