Int. J. Microstructure and Materials Properties, Vol. 12, Nos. 1/2, 2017 25 Copyright © 2017 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd. A study on microhardness and microstructural evolution of titanium/zirconium diboride cermet coatings with varying scan speeds during laser cladding on Ti6Al4V substrate Gabriel Ayokunle Farotade* and Abimbola Patricia Popoola Faculty of Engineering and Built Environment, Department of Chemical, Metallurgical and Materials Engineering, Tshwane University of Technology, Pretoria, 0001, South Africa Email: segunfarotade@yahoo.com Email: PopoolaAPI@tut.ac.za *Corresponding author Abstract: Titanium/zirconium diboride cermet coatings were deposited at different laser scan speeds on Ti–6Al–4V alloy using laser cladding technique. Microhardness of the coatings was compared with the microhardness of the substrate, while the microstructural morphologies of coatings were evaluated via scanning electron microscope with energy dispersive spectroscopy. In addition, resultant grain sizes of the coatings were observed and phases formed within the coatings were also examined. The microhardness of the coatings was seen to be four times harder than the substrate. Scanning electron microscopic images exhibited a refinement in grain size and the development of distinct microstructural features. X-ray diffraction patterns showed significant hard phases such as Al 2 Zr and Ti 3 B 4 which may be responsible for the sky-rocketed microhardness values of the coatings. This study proffers profound insight on the influence of laser scan speed, during deposition, on the microhardness and microstructural morphology of titanium/zirconium diboride cermet coatings. Keywords: laser scan speed; titanium/zirconium diboride cermet coatings; laser cladding technique; Ti6Al4V substrate. Reference to this paper should be made as follows: Farotade, G.A. and Popoola, A.P. (2017) ‘A study on microhardness and microstructural evolution of titanium/zirconium diboride cermet coatings with varying scan speeds during laser cladding on Ti6Al4V substrate’, Int. J. Microstructure and Materials Properties, Vol. 12, Nos. 1/2, pp.25–37. Biographical notes: Gabriel Ayokunle Farotade is currently a Doctoral Research Assistant at the Department of Chemical, Metallurgical and Materials Engineering, Tshwane University of Technology, Pretoria, South Africa. His interest is in additive manufacturing, materials engineering and engineering metallurgy. He has keen interest for research and development and has produced few publications in the field.