Microstructure and Properties of Cu-Ni-W-Si Gradient Coating on Copper Alloy by Laser Cladding

You, Kaiyu; Zhong, Qi; Ye, Hanchang; Jiang, Yuxiang; Ji, Chenjiayue; Ouyang, Haoran; Zhai, Pengyuan; Li, Fengcheng; Cai, Zhenyang

doi:10.3390/ma19132781

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Open AccessArticle

Microstructure and Properties of Cu-Ni-W-Si Gradient Coating on Copper Alloy by Laser Cladding

by

Kaiyu You

¹,

Qi Zhong

¹,

Hanchang Ye

¹,

Yuxiang Jiang

¹,

Chenjiayue Ji

¹,

Haoran Ouyang

¹,

Pengyuan Zhai

²,

Fengcheng Li

² and

Zhenyang Cai

^1,3,*

¹

School of Materials Science and Engineering, Central South University, Changsha 410083, China

²

New Technology Promotion Institute of China Ordnance Industries, Beijing 100089, China

³

Key Laboratory of Non-Ferrous Metal Materials Science and Engineering, Ministry of Education, Central South University, Changsha 410083, China

^*

Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.

Materials 2026, 19(13), 2781; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma19132781

Submission received: 13 May 2026 / Revised: 15 June 2026 / Accepted: 22 June 2026 / Published: 30 June 2026

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Functional Coatings and Films for Thermal, Wear and Corrosion Protection)

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Abstract

To enhance the surface hardness and wear resistance of copper alloy workpieces, a Cu-Ni-W-Si gradient coating was fabricated on a Cu-Cr-Zr alloy substrate using coaxial powder-feeding laser cladding technology. Employing surface macroscopic morphology, flaw detection results, and cross-sectional microstructure as evaluation methods, along with the coating’s surface microhardness as a performance indicator, orthogonal experiments were sequentially conducted on the laser cladding process parameters for the Cu-Ni-10(W,Si) bottom layer and the Cu-Ni-20(W,Si) top layer. The optimized process parameters were identified as follows: a laser power of 4500 W (5000 W for the top layer), a scanning speed of 30 mm/s (60 mm/s for the top layer), and a scanning step of 2 mm. Subsequently, the phase composition and microstructure of the Cu-Ni-W-Si gradient coating were analyzed, and the microhardness distribution as well as the room-temperature friction and wear performance were evaluated. The results show that the coating achieves a hardness of 417 HV, which is 5.8 times higher than that of the substrate, and exhibits a wear rate of 3.52 × 10⁻⁴ mm³/Nm, corresponding to 49.1% of the substrate’s wear rate. The excellent performance of the coating is attributed to the favorable gradient metallurgical bonding between the coating and the substrate, as well as the presence of finely dispersed WSi₂ high-hardness wear-resistant phases within the coating.

Keywords: copper alloy; Cu-Ni-W-Si coating; laser cladding; orthogonal experiment

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MDPI and ACS Style

You, K.; Zhong, Q.; Ye, H.; Jiang, Y.; Ji, C.; Ouyang, H.; Zhai, P.; Li, F.; Cai, Z. Microstructure and Properties of Cu-Ni-W-Si Gradient Coating on Copper Alloy by Laser Cladding. Materials 2026, 19, 2781. https://doi.org/10.3390/ma19132781

AMA Style

You K, Zhong Q, Ye H, Jiang Y, Ji C, Ouyang H, Zhai P, Li F, Cai Z. Microstructure and Properties of Cu-Ni-W-Si Gradient Coating on Copper Alloy by Laser Cladding. Materials. 2026; 19(13):2781. https://doi.org/10.3390/ma19132781

Chicago/Turabian Style

You, Kaiyu, Qi Zhong, Hanchang Ye, Yuxiang Jiang, Chenjiayue Ji, Haoran Ouyang, Pengyuan Zhai, Fengcheng Li, and Zhenyang Cai. 2026. "Microstructure and Properties of Cu-Ni-W-Si Gradient Coating on Copper Alloy by Laser Cladding" Materials 19, no. 13: 2781. https://doi.org/10.3390/ma19132781

APA Style

You, K., Zhong, Q., Ye, H., Jiang, Y., Ji, C., Ouyang, H., Zhai, P., Li, F., & Cai, Z. (2026). Microstructure and Properties of Cu-Ni-W-Si Gradient Coating on Copper Alloy by Laser Cladding. Materials, 19(13), 2781. https://doi.org/10.3390/ma19132781

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Microstructure and Properties of Cu-Ni-W-Si Gradient Coating on Copper Alloy by Laser Cladding

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