Effect of Si element and YF3 addition on microstructure and phase transformation of NiTi alloy coatings

NiTi, NiTi-4Si, and NiTi-4Si-2YF 3 coatings were prepared on Ti-6Al-4V substrate by laser cladding to obtain composite multilayer protective coating for composite structure. The effects of Si and YF 3 addition on the microstructure, phase composition, microhardness , and phase transformation of the coatings were systematically analyzed. The coatings are mainly composed of NiTi, NiTi 2, and TiN phases. The addition of YF 3 results in the decrease of the dendrite TiN phase in the coating. TEM results show that the core-shell structure is observed in NiTi-4Si coating. The β -Ti phase was surrounded by the shell NiTi 2 phase. After the addition of YF 3 , the core-shell structure was found to disappear. With the addition of the Si element, the eutectic structure was found in the coatings. The eutectic structure is mainly composed of NiTi (B2) and Ti 2 Si phases. According to the SEAD result, there are crystallographic orientation relationships (ORs) between NiTi (B2) phase and Ti 2 Si phase as follows: 1 ¯ 11 B 2 / / 1 ¯ 23 Ti 2 Si . The average microhardness of the NiTi, NiTi-4Si and NiTi-4Si-2YF 3 coatings were at 468.33 HV 0.5 , 499.86 HV 0.5 , and 433.65 HV 0.5 , respectively. At the same time, the uniformity of the NiTi phase in NiTi-4Si-2YF 3 coatings is improved, which is conducive to a more complete phase transition.