Combining wire and coaxial powder feeding in laser direct metal deposition for rapid prototyping

Powder and wire deposition have been used separately in many laser-cladding, rapid prototyping and other additive manufacturing applications. In this paper, a new approach is investigated by simultaneously feeding powder from a coaxial nozzle and wire from an off-axis nozzle into the deposition melt pool. Multilayer parts are built from 316L steel using a 1.5 kW diode laser and different configurations of the powder and wire nozzles are compared in terms of surface roughness, deposition rate, porosity and microstructure. The parts are analysed using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and optical microscopy techniques. Results show that deposition efficiency increased and surface roughness decreased with the combined process; some porosity was present in samples produced by this method, but it was 20-30% less than in samples produced by powder alone. Wire injection angles into the melt pool in both horizontal and vertical planes were found to be significant for attaining high deposition efficiency and good surface quality. Reasons for the final sample characteristics and differences between the combined process and the separate powder and wire feeding techniques are discussed.     

Urban road network evolution mechanism based on the ‘direction preferred connection’ and ‘degree constraint’

The urban road network is a complex system that exhibits the properties of self-organization and emergence. Recent theoretical and empirical studies have mainly focused on the structural properties of the urban road networks. This research concentrates on some important parameters such as degree, average degree, meshedness coefficient, betweeness, etc. These parameters of the real road network exhibit specific statistical properties. Some studies show that perhaps these specific statistical properties are caused by a compromise mechanism of the formation of a minimum spanning tree and the greedy triangulation. Inspired by these results, we propose a principle to construct the network (we call it a MG network in this paper) whose structure is located between the minimum spanning tree and the greedy triangulation at first. The structural properties of the MG network are analyzed. We find the formation mechanism of the MG network cannot explain the urban road network evolution well. Then, based on the formation mechanism of the MG network, we add the ‘direction preferred connection’ and ‘degree constraint’ principles to the urban road network evolution simulation process. The result of the simulation network turns out to be a planar network that is in accordance with reality. Compared with the real road network’s structural properties, we find the simulation results are so consistent with it. It indicates the validation of the model and also demonstrates perhaps the ‘direction preferred connection’ and ‘degree constraint’ principle can explain the urban road network evolution better.     

Heat Transfer and Thermocapillary Convection during the Laser Deposition of Metal Powders Implemented in Additive Technologies

Heat-transfer- and thermocapillary-convection macroprocesses observed during direct laser metal deposition (DLMD) with coaxial powder injection are examined. The study is performed using the 3D mathematical model incorporating self-consistent equations for free surface evolution, heat transfer, and hydrodynamics, which allow for powder-particle embedding into the thermocapillary convection zone under DLMD. The processes under consideration refer to the main ones underlying additive laser technologies, which determine the microstructural properties and quality of synthesized parts. The convection-diffusion equations are numerically solved using the final volume method. Calculations are carried out for the thermocapillary convection of H13 steel powder. The influence of laser-radiation characteristics (power, scanning rate, intensity distribution in the beam) and the powder-mass flow velocity on temperature fields, the structure of convective melt flow (including a maximum melt velocity), and the geometric characteristics (height and width) of the object formed is investigated.     

The influence of laser and powder defocusing characteristics on the surface quality in laser direct metal deposition

To investigate the influencing rules of the variations of powder and laser defocusing distance on surface quality and obtain the smooth surface of parts in laser direct metal deposition, the thin-walled metal parts were fabricated under three different powder defocusing distances and three different laser defocusing distances conditions. The experimental results show that a high surface quality can be obtained with the powder focussed below the substrate and laser focussed above the substrate process, and the variation in which the powder focus moves from above to below the melt pool plays a leading role and the variation in which the laser focus moves from above to below the melt pool plays a supplementary role in the influence on the surface quality. To explain the experimental results, a simple model of the track height is established.     

3-D finite element modeling of laser cladding by powder injection: effects of laser pulse shaping on the process

This paper introduces a 3-D transient finite element model of laser cladding by powder injection to investigate the effects of laser pulse shaping on the process. The proposed model can predict the clad geometry as a function of time and process parameters including laser pulse shaping, travel velocity, laser pulse energy, powder jet geometry, and material properties. In the proposed strategy, the interaction between powder and melt pool is assumed to be decoupled and as a result, the melt pool boundary is first obtained in the absence of powder spray. Once the melt pool boundary is obtained, it is assumed that a layer of coating material is deposited on the intersection of the melt pool and powder stream in the absence of the laser beam in which its thickness is calculated based on the powder feedrate and elapsed time. The new melt pool boundary is then calculated by thermal analysis of the deposited powder layer, substrate and laser heat flux. The process is simulated for different laser pulse frequencies and energies. The results are presented and compared with experimental data. The quality of clad bead for different parameter sets is experimentally evaluated and shown as a function of effective powder deposition density and effective energy density. The comparisons show excellent agreement between the modeling and experimental results for cases in which a high quality clad bead is expected.     

Electron spectroscopy and density-functional study of ‘ferric wheel’ molecules

The Li-centered ‘ferric wheel’ molecules with six oxo-bridged iron atoms form molecular crystals. We probed their electronic structure by X-ray photoelectron and soft X-ray emission spectroscopy, having calculated in parallel the electronic structure of a single ‘ferric wheel’ molecule from first-principles by tools of the density-functional theory, using, specifically, the Siesta method. The Fe local moments were found to be 4μ_B, irrespective of their mutual orientation. Neighbouring atoms, primarily oxygen, exhibit a noticeable magnetic polarization, yielding effective spin S=5/2 per iron atom, that can get inverted as a ‘rigid’ one in magnetic transitions. Corresponding energy preferences can be mapped onto the Heisenberg model with effective exchange parameter J of about −80 K.     

‘Superluminal paradox’ in wave packet propagation and its quantum mechanical resolution

We analyse in detail the reshaping mechanism leading to apparently ‘superluminal’ advancement of a wave packet traversing a classically forbidden region. In the coordinate representation, a barrier is shown to act as an effective beamsplitter, recombining envelopes of the freely propagating pulse with various spacial shifts. Causality ensures that none of the constituent envelopes are advanced with respect to free propagation, yet the resulting pulse is advanced due to a peculiar interference effect, similar to the one responsible for ‘anomalous’ values which occur in Aharonov’s ‘weak measurements’. In the momentum space, the effect is understood as a bandwidth phenomenon, where the incident pulse probes local, rather than global, analytical properties of the transmission amplitude T(p)$T\left(p\right)$. The advancement is achieved when T(p)$T\left(p\right)$ mimics locally an exponential behaviour, similar to the one occurring in Berry’s ‘superoscillations’. Seen in a broader quantum mechanical context, the ‘paradox’ is but a consequence of an attempt to obtain ‘which way?’ information without destroying the interference between the pathways of interest. This explains, to a large extent, the failure to adequately describe tunnelling in terms of a single ‘tunnelling time’.     

Innovative reconsolidation of carbon steel machining swarf by laser metal deposition

The concept of widespread recycling of metals in order to save cost, energy and ecological damage is gaining importance and this necessitates not simply disposing of machining waste. In this work a new way of reconstituting chips/swarf into a usable solid structure is explored by using them in place of metal powder in laser direct metal deposition. Samples of carbon steel machining swarf in three size ranges are reconstituted and the final structural characteristics like clad dimension, microstructure and physical properties are analysed. The results show that it is possible to reproduce a material that has full density, fine microstructure and no significant contamination from an unprecedented size and shape of particles. As general trends, individual deposition tracks become lower, wider and less hard as particle size increases. This work shows that the laser deposition process can be used with a larger range of particle geometries than previously considered and this could be the point leading to a new ‘local’ recycling method.     

Rapid exothermic synthesis of chalcopyrite-type CuInSe2

Chalcopyrite-type CuInSe₂ (CIS) was synthesized from Cu, In and Se powders by a mechanochemical process (MCP) without any additional heating. When the transparent reactor bottle was strongly shaken, the elemental powders underwent an explosive reaction. The reaction generated a large amount of heat accompanied by simultaneous strong light emission. The product was confirmed to be chalcopyrite-type CIS by X-ray powder diffraction analysis. From the results, we categorized that preparation of CIS by MCP is a form of ‘self-propagating high-temperature synthesis’ (SHS) or ‘gasless combustion synthesis’. In ordinary SHS, a reaction is initiated from a sample surface by a heat flux such as a heated wire, electric spark, or laser beam. On the other hand, in the present reaction system (Cu+In+2Se), was naturally ignited only by mechanical stimulation. Following initiation by an external stimulus, the reaction was self continuing via the exothermic heat generated. The reaction mechanism of the preparation of CIS by the MCP is discussed on the basis of present reaction observations and thermochemical data.     

Fibre laser cutting of thin section mild steel: An explanation of the ‘striation free’ effect

This paper presents the results of an experimental and theoretical investigation into the phenomenon of ‘striation free cutting’, which is a feature of fibre laser/oxygen cutting of thin section mild steel. The paper concludes that the creation of very low roughness edges is related to an optimisation of the cut front geometry when the cut front is inclined at angles close to the Brewster angle for the laser-material combination.     

Numerical simulation of the transient multiphase field during plasma deposition manufacturing composite materials

A solid/liquid/gas unified model has been developed to investigate the gradient composition formation during the plasma deposition manufacturing (PDM) composite materials process. In this model, an enthalpy porosity model was applied to deal with the melting and solidification of the deposited layer, and a level-set approach was introduced to track the evolution of the free surface of the molten pool and the deposited layer. Moreover, complicated physical phenomena occurring at the liquid/gas interface, including forced convection heat loss, heat emission and plasma heat source, have been incorporated into the governing equations by source terms. In this study, the numerical experiment of nickel base alloy powder deposited on the medium steel substrate by PDM technique was implemented based on the staggered grid and SIMPLEC algorithm. Concentration gradient distribution of the solute material at the composite material interface, fluid flow and temperature distribution in the molten pool and the deposited layer have been investigated in detail. Supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 50474053) and the High Technology Research and Development Program of China (Grant No. 2007AA04Z142)     

‘Symmetrical face’ based improved LPP method for face recognition

As one of the most important branches of pattern recognition and computer vision, face recognition has more and more become the focus of researches. In real word applications, the face image might have various changes owing to varying illumination, facial expression and poses, so we need sufficient training samples to convey these possible changes. However, most face recognition systems cannot capture many face images of every user for training, non-sufficient training samples have become one bottleneck of face recognition. In this paper, we propose to exploit the symmetry of the face to generate ‘symmetrical face’ samples and use an improved LPP method to perform classification. Experimental results show that our method can get a high accuracy.     

Heat transfer modelling and stability analysis of selective laser melting

The process of direct manufacturing by selective laser melting basically consists of laser beam scanning over a thin powder layer deposited on a dense substrate. Complete remelting of the powder in the scanned zone and its good adhesion to the substrate ensure obtaining functional parts with improved mechanical properties. Experiments with single-line scanning indicate, that an interval of scanning velocities exists where the remelted tracks are uniform. The tracks become broken if the scanning velocity is outside this interval. This is extremely undesirable and referred to as the “balling” effect. A numerical model of coupled radiation and heat transfer is proposed to analyse the observed instability. The “balling” effect at high scanning velocities (above ∼20 cm/s for the present conditions) can be explained by the Plateau-Rayleigh capillary instability of the melt pool. Two factors stabilize the process with decreasing the scanning velocity: reducing the length-to-width ratio of the melt pool and increasing the width of its contact with the substrate.     

A 3D dynamic numerical approach for temperature and thermal stress distributions in multilayer laser solid freeform fabrication process

This paper presents a 3D transient numerical approach for modeling the multilayer laser solid freeform fabrication (LSFF) process. Using this modeling approach, the geometry of the deposited material as well as temperature and thermal stress fields across the process domain can be predicted in a dynamic fashion. In the proposed method, coupled thermal and stress domains are numerically obtained assuming a decoupled interaction between the laser beam and powder stream. To predict the time-dependent geometry of the deposited material, once the melt pool boundary is obtained, the process domain is discretized in a cross-sectional fashion based on the powder feed rate, elapsed time, and intersection of the melt pool and powder stream area on the workpiece. Layers of additive material are then added onto the non-planar domain. Main process parameters affected by a multilayer deposition due to the formation of non-planar surfaces, such as powder catchment, are incorporated into the modeling approach to enhance the accuracy of the results. To demonstrate the proposed algorithm, fabrication of a four-layer thin wall of AISI 304 L stainless steel on a workpiece with the same material is modeled. The geometry of the wall, temperature, and stress fields across the modeling domain are dynamically predicted throughout the process. The model is used to investigate the effect of preheating and clamping the workpiece to the positioning table. Results show that preheating improves the process by reducing the thermal stresses as well as the settling time for the formation of a steady-state melt pool in the first layer. In addition, clamping the workpiece can also decrease thermal stresses at its critical locations (i.e. deposition region). In terms of geometrical aspects, the results show that the temperature and the thickness of the deposited layers increase at the end-points of layers 2–4. The reliability and the accuracy of the model are experimentally verified.     

Fiber laser welding of austenitic steel and commercially pure copper butt joint

The fiber laser welding of austenitic stainless steel and commercially pure copper in butt joint configuration without filler or intermediate material is presented. In order to melt stainless steel directly and melt copper via heat conduction a defocused laser beam was used with an offset to stainless steel. During mechanical tests the weld seam was more durable than heat affected zone of copper so samples without defects could be obtained. Three process variants of offset of the laser beam were applied. The following tests were conducted: tensile test of weldment, intermediate layer microhardness, optical metallography, study of the chemical composition of the intermediate layer, fractography. Measurements of electrical resistivity coefficients of stainless steel, copper and copper–stainless steel weldment were made, which can be interpreted or recalculated as the thermal conductivity coefficient. It shows that electrical resistivity coefficient of cooper–stainless steel weldment higher than that of stainless steel. The width of intermediate layer between stainless steel and commercially pure copper was 41–53 µm, microhardness was 128–170 HV_0.01.     

Microstructure study of direct laser fabricated Ti alloys using powder and wire

A compositionally graded material has been fabricated using direct laser fabrication (DFL). Two types of feedstock were fed simultaneously into the laser focal point, a burn resistant (BurTi) alloy Ti-25V-15Cr-2Al-0.2C powder and a Ti-6Al-4V wire. The local composition of the alloy was changed by altering the ratio of powder to wire by varying the feed rate of the powder whilst maintaining a fixed feed rate of wire-feed. For the range of compositions between about 20% and 100% BurTi only the beta phase was observed and the composition and lattice parameter varied monotonically. The grain size was found to be much finer in these functionally graded samples than in laser fabricated Ti64. Some samples were made using the wire-feed alone, where it was found that the microstructure is different from that found when using powder feed alone. The results are discussed in terms of the power requirements for laser fabrication of powder and wire samples.     

‘Exact’ Hartree-Fock calculations for atomic-hydrogen crystal

Preliminary ‘exact’ Hartree-Fock calculations are presented for a simple-cubic atomic-hydrogen crystal. Two types of basis orbitals have been considered. Orbital parameters and lattice spacing have been roughly optimized. The Fermi surface is found to be nearly spherical. It is made plausible that the Hartree-Fock limit has been nearly reached.     

Al–Cu intermetallic coatings processed by sequential metalorganic chemical vapour deposition and post-deposition annealing

Sequential processing of aluminum and copper followed by reactive diffusion annealing is used as a paradigm for the metalorganic chemical vapour deposition (MOCVD) of coatings containing intermetallic alloys. Dimethylethylamine alane and copper N,N′-di-isopropylacetamidinate are used as aluminum and copper precursors, respectively. Deposition is performed on steel and silica substrates at 1.33 kPa and 493–513 K. Different overall compositions in the entire range of the Al–Cu phase diagram are obtained by varying the relative thickness of the two elemental layers while maintaining the overall thickness of the coating close to 1 μm. As-deposited films present a rough morphology attributed to the difficulty of copper to nucleate on aluminum. Post-deposition annealing is monitored by in situ X-ray diffraction, and allows smoothening the microstructure and identifying conditions leading to several Al–Cu phases. Our results establish a proof of principle following which MOCVD of metallic alloys is feasible, and are expected to extend the materials pool for numerous applications, with innovative thin film processing on, and surface properties of complex in shape parts.     

‘Electron collapse’ and the resistivity of liquid cesium

The electron collapse in cesium is pictured as the formation of a ‘virtual bound state’, the tunneling process accounting for the 6s-5d dynamic conversion. The anomalous variation of the resistivity of liquid cesium with pressure has been explained satisfactorily.     

Porosity formation and gas bubble retention in laser metal deposition

One of the inherent problems associated with laser metal deposition using gas-assisted powder transfer is the formation of porosity, which can be detrimental to the mechanical properties of the bulk material. In this work, a comprehensive investigation of porosity is carried out using gas atomised Inconel 718 powder. In the analysis, a clear distinction is made between two types of porosity; namely lack of fusion and gas porosity. The results show that the two types of porosity are attributed by different factors. The gas porosity, which is more difficult to eliminate than the lack of fusion, can be as high as 0.7%. The study shows that the gas porosity is dependent on the process parameters and the melt pool dynamics. The flotation of entrapped gas bubbles was analysed, showing that in a stationary melt pool the gas would be retained by Marangoni-driven flow. The overall Marangoni-driven flow of the melt pool is in the order of five times higher than the flotation effect, and this is the reason why the melt pool geometry would tend to dominate the flow direction of the gas bubbles. Through optimisation, the gas porosity can be reduced to 0.037%.