1. Introduction
Metal materials find extensive applications across various industries, making the enhancement of their surface properties crucial [
1,
2,
3]. The TC4 alloy, colloquially termed as the “space metal” and “ocean metal”, is prevalently utilized in sectors such as aerospace and national defense, owing to its commendable comprehensive performance [
4]. The suitability of the TC4 alloy for aggressive marine environments hinges on its indispensable corrosion resistance. While titanium alloys can form a stable oxide film in standard corrosion environments, offering protection to the underlying metal, the juxtaposition of TC4 alloy with other metals can precipitate electrochemical corrosion in real-world scenarios [
5,
6,
7]. This phenomenon can culminate in the damage or detachment of the oxide film. Prolonged exposure to marine conditions subjects marine engineering to the combined impact of wear and corrosion, potentially jeopardizing its integrity and lifespan [
8,
9,
10].
To improve the corrosion resistance of titanium and titanium alloy, surface modification technology is one of the effective ways to gain the comprehensive performance of the TC4 titanium alloy. In response to the challenges presented by corrosive environments, researchers have sought methods to enhance the corrosion resistance of TC4 [
11,
12,
13,
14,
15,
16,
17]. Various techniques, including ion implantation, electroless plating, laser cladding, plasma spraying, vapor deposition, and micro-arc oxidation, are commonly utilized to modify the surface of the TC4 alloy. Sun et al. [
18] found that an electroplate Ta-10W coating improved the substrate metal corrosion resistance by slowing down the corrosion tendency and rate, increasing the charge transfer resistance and dielectric property of the double layer. Liu et al. [
19] suggest that according to the plasma immersion ion implantation (PIII) technique, the TC4 sample of Ag ion dose at 1.0 × 10
17 ions/cm
2 has the best corrosion resistance with the lowest corrosion current density and the least porosity in a 3.5% NaCl saturated solution. Zhou et al. [
20] indicated in the experiment that TC4/ZrO powder is deposited by directed energy deposition (DED). As the content of alloying element Zr increased, the grains were refined. The corrosion product detection showed that ZrO
2 oxide might reduce the compactness of the TC4 passive film containing TiO
2 and Al
2O
3, which resulted in a slight decrease in corrosion resistance. However, each surface modification technology had its inherent limitations—the ion implantation layer, for instance, is thinner; electroless plating potentially pollutes the environment; plasma spraying exhibits poor adhesion; vapor deposition demonstrates a slower forming film and deposition rate; and the films produced by micro-arc oxidation carry numerous defects.
The CoCrW alloy, a member of the Stellite alloy family, stands out for its commendable hardness and corrosion resistance, further bolstered by its non-magnetic properties [
21,
22,
23,
24,
25,
26]. The CoCrW alloy is widely used in various fields because of its non-magnetic and corrosion-resistant characteristics. Previous studies by Lu et al. [
27,
28] have evaluated the microstructure, mechanical characteristics, and electrochemical behavior of CoCrW alloys in dental applications using selective laser melting (SLM) and demonstrated that CoCrW alloys possess outstanding corrosion resistance. You et al. [
29] investigated the relationship between the microstructure and mechanical anisotropy of SLM-prepared CoCrW alloys, which revealed the alloy’s dense structure and superior mechanical properties. Miyake et al. [
30] studied the microstructure and heat treatment effects on LMD-prepared CoCrW alloy, which indicated that heat treatment reduces carbon content, thereby enhancing hardness and improving corrosion resistance. On the basis of the above research, it can be found that CoCrW alloy has excellent wear and corrosion resistance, and it is promising to be applied to the TC4 surface of marine engineering to avoid the failure of TC4 due to its wear and corrosion.
Cobalt chromium tungsten alloy (CoCrW) is the hard alloy that can withstand all kinds of wear and corrosion and high temperature oxidation. Given these characteristics, the present study employed laser cladding technology to incorporate a CoCrW cladding layer onto the TC4 alloy surface, aiming to bolster its corrosion resilience in marine settings. Successful deposition of a high-density, crack-free CoCrW alloy layer onto the TC4 alloy was confirmed through this method. The microstructure of the CoCrW alloy layer was analyzed using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), while the corrosion properties of CoCrW and CrNi coatings on the TC4 alloy were evaluated through an electrochemical workstation and a comprehensive immersion test. The findings underscore that this approach can markedly enhance the corrosion resistance of the TC4 alloy, holding potential for marine engineering applications.
2. Materials and Methods
TC4 titanium alloy was selected as the matrix material with a dimension of 100 mm × 100 mm × 10 mm, and its nominal chemical composition is listed in
Table 1.
Before initiating the laser cladding process, the matrix was cleaned using ultrasonic ethanol to remove oil contaminants. The cladding surface of the sample was then roughened by sandblasting using brown corundum with a particle size of 550 μm, aiming to boost the substrate material’s cladding absorption rate. The sandblasting equipment is shown in
Figure 1.
To obtain micron-sized powders, a CoCrW alloy rod underwent gas atomization with nitrogen gas (N
2). After atomization, the powder was classified into various particle size segments using a powder sieve. The selected atomized powder for this investigation had a particle size ranging from 53 μm to 150 μm and a purity of 99.99%. The atomizing dispersion equipment is shown in
Figure 2.
This powder was then dried in a vacuum oven at 200 °C for two hours.
Table 2 and
Figure 1 illustrate the chemical compositions and morphologies of the two materials, respectively. As shown in
Figure 3, it can be clearly seen that the diameter and size of the powder were quiet different—some powders were spherical and the shape of the powder particles was incomplete, which may be caused by the preparation processes.
The CoCrW powders were coaxially introduced through a powder feeder control and conveyed to the cladding zone by an inert gas (argon) at a pressure of 0.7 atmospheres for laser cladding. A DL-LPM-V type cross-flow CO2 laser processing system was employed alongside the powder feeding device. The laser parameters were set as follows: a laser power of 3 kW, laser spot diameter of 3 mm, traverse speed of 900 mm/min, overlap of 50%, and defocusing amount of +30 mm. Resultantly, a 1.2 mm thick laser cladding coating was acquired, with a post-grinding coating thickness of 0.3–0.6 mm.
The sample’s microstructure and morphology were inspected using a scanning electron microscope (SEM, Zeiss Sigma 300, Carl Zeiss AG, Oberkochen, German). EDS spectroscopy was employed to determine the elemental composition content16, and the crystals’ morphology and orientation were examined by electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) using an Oxford Nordly max3 EBSD outfitted with an HKL-EBSD system. The phase structure of CoCrW coatings was ascertained by an X-ray diffractometer (XRD, smartlab9K, RIGAKU, Tokyo, Japan), operating at a 40 kV, 30 mA, and 1°/min scan rate, using a Cu-Kα radiation source with the angle range extending from 0° to 100°.
Electrochemical experiments employed standard three-electrode cells. Evaluation of the electrochemical properties of the cladding layer was conducted in a 3.5 wt.% NaCl solution (pH = 7), simulating a seawater environment, under 24 °C atmospheric pressure. Electrochemical testing utilized the CS2350H bipotentiostat. The setup included a saturated calomel electrode as the reference, a platinum electrode as the auxiliary, and the sample as the working electrode; the exposed area of the sample was 1 cm2. After stabilization of the open circuit potential (OCP), potentiodynamic polarization curves were derived, spanning from 0.2 V to 1.4 V, with a fixed scan rate of 0.5 mV/s and a voltage range of −1 V to 1 V. Each test was repeated three times, and the resultant data were averaged. The Tafel extrapolation technique was employed to determine the corrosion potential, corrosion current density, and corrosion rate. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) was applied for coating analysis in the three-electrode setup.
The corrosion resistance of the CoCrW coatings and TC4 matrix in harsh marine and acidic environments was assessed following the immersion test protocols outlined in the ASTM G1-03 [
31] and ASTM G31-2012 standards [
32]. To replicate the marine environment of the hull, a 3.5 wt.% NaCl solution was utilized. The acidic corrosion environments were emulated using 0.5M H
2SO
4, 0.5M HCl, and 0.5M HNO
3 solutions. Immersion tests for both the cladding and matrix were executed at 20 °C, 50 °C, 80 °C, and 110 °C, respectively.