Effect of solution and artificial aging heat treatment on the hardness, friction and wear properties of laser cladding and roll-formed 18Ni300 materials

18Ni300 is widely used in precision moulds, national defence, and other engineering fields due to its high strength and toughness, and because its properties can be greatly changed after heat treatment. In this research, the 18Ni300 cladding layer was fabricated on 18Ni300 substrate using the laser cladding method and a solid solution artificial aging treatment was carried out to analyse its macro morphology and metallographic organization. Comparison of hardness, friction, and wear of cladding layers manufactured by laser cladding and of materials produced by rolling was performed before and after heat treatment. The results show that the solution and artificial aging heat treatment has a significant effect on the microstructure of the cladding layer fabricated by laser cladding. There are obvious differences in the organization and morphology of different parts of the cladding layer before heat treatment; the metallographic organization and morphology of different parts of the cladding layer after heat treatment are the same. The trend of change of material hardness before and after heat treatment is the same in that the cladding layer is greater than the rolled material and the hardness of the material after heat treatment is much greater than the hardness of the material before heat treatment. The hardness and wear resistance of the material after solution and artificial aging heat treatment has been significantly improved, and the impact on the rolled production material of the melted cladding layer manufactured by laser cladding is even greater.