Coaxial laser cladding on an inclined substrate

This paper describes an experimental and theoretical study of the cladding mode of coaxial laser cladding on an inclined substrate. Based on the image analysis of the powder stream and clad profile measurements in coaxial laser cladding, it was found that irregular clad profiles always formed on an inclined surface and the location of the peak profile shifted away from the clad center. This phenomenon is caused by uneven distributions of powder concentration and laser beam intensity. A modified Gaussian mode for powder stream and laser beam was proposed to estimate the clad profiles on an inclined plane under laser beam irradiation. The effects of the inclined steel substrate on the CO₂ laser beam absorption and stainless-steel powder catchment were examined experimentally. The results show that both the laser absorption and the powder catchment on the mild steel decrease with increasing the cladding angle. From the analysis of laser beam mode, the clad width is equivalent to the beam spot size on the inclined substrate. However, the clad height correlates well with the distribution of the powder concentration. The results show that the Gaussian cladding mode could be adopted in various laser cladding applications such as rapid prototyping and butt welding to predict the clad profiles precisely.     

Supersonic flow characteristics in laser grooving

The gas flow structure in laser grooving has been evaluated by numerical simulation and experiments in this study. A nozzle designed with a specific arrangement of compound jets for laser grooving has been tested. For this nozzle configuration the compressible flow structure of a shock wave induced by a supersonic side jet has been predicted in a numerical simulation using FLUENT, a computational fluid dynamics code and visualized in the experiment where the wall pressure on the grooving zone was evaluated and measured for jets impinging on the substrate at varying attacking angles of the side jet. The results obtained numerically and experimentally were comparable. In addition, the relationships between the material removal efficiency and the flow structure have also been established. It transpired that the attacking angle made a significant and dramatic improvement on the flow structure and grooving appearance and that a large wall pressure with a clear grooving profile can be obtained for attacking angles between 40° and 50° in the present test setup.     

Study on cross-section clad profile in coaxial single-pass cladding with a low-power laser

In this paper, a model of cross-section clad profile on the substrate in coaxial single-pass cladding with a low-power laser was studied. The static model of powder mass concentration distribution at cold-stream conditions was defined as a Gaussian function. In coaxial single-pass cladding with a low-power laser, since the influence of surface tension, gravity and gas flow on the clad bead could be neglected, the cross-section profile of the clad bead deposited by a low-power laser on the substrate was dominated by the powder concentration at each point on the pool and the time when the material was liquid at this point. The height of each point on the cross-section clad profile was defined as a definite integration of a Gaussian function from the moment at which the melt pool was just arriving at the point to the moment at which the point left the melt pool. In the presented experiment, powder of Steel 63 (at 0.63 wt% C) was deposited on a substrate of Steel 20 (at 0.20 wt% C) at the laser power of 135 W. The experimental results testified the model.     

Analysis and prediction of single laser tracks geometrical characteristics in coaxial laser cladding process

Direct Laser Fabrication is a promising new manufacturing technology coming from laser cladding process. From a coaxial nozzle, powder is fed through a laser beam on a substrate. The powder melting and solidification processes lead to the fabrication of a part layer by layer. In this work 316L stainless steel powder is used to form laser tracks on a low carbon steel substrate. The layer geometry is an important process characteristic to control the final part of fabrication. This paper presents analytical relationships between the laser tracks geometrical characteristics (width, height, area, penetration depth) and the processing parameters (laser power P, scanning speed V and powder mass flow Q_m). Three values of each processing parameters are fixed and so 27 different experiments have been made and analyzed. The validity of these results is discussed studying the correlation coefficient R, the graphical analysis of the residuals and the uncertainty evaluations. Two kinds of models are studied to predict the form and the geometrical characteristics of the single laser tracks cross sections. The first one is an analytical model in which the distribution of the powder in the feed jet is supposed to govern the laser clad geometry. Three distributions are proposed: Gaussian, uniform and polynomial. In the second model the general form of the clad cross section is supposed to be a disk due to the surface tension forces. Analytical relationships are established between the radius and the center of the disk in one hand and the process parameters in the other hand. This way we show that we can reproduce the laser track geometry in all the area experimentally explored.     

An in-process method for the inverse estimation of the powder catchment efficiency during laser cladding

An estimation of the heat loss by conduction can be obtained from measurements of the surface temperature and an overall heat balance at the clad laser interaction zone. Through an inverse calculation of the boundary temperature from observed surface temperatures the powder catchment efficiency can be estimated along with the variation in the clad height expected during laser cladding. This method shows a possible way to monitor and control the clad height and profile as required by near net shape manufacturing methods based on laser cladding.     

Concentration mode of the powder stream in coaxial laser cladding

The blown powder laser cladding process has recently been greatly enhanced by the development of a coaxial powder feed system. It provides a new route to generate the metal parts directly from CAD drawings. The performance of the coaxial powder feeder depends on various gas flow streams which significantly affect the distribution mode of the powder stream and the deposition rate in cladding.Two types of optical techniques have been adopted in this study to investigate the powder concentration mode of the coaxial jet streams. The mode of the powder stream is also mathematically modelled and compared to the experimental results of stainless steel powder. The Gaussian distribution mode in the transverse direction of the powder stream was identified by theory and experiment at cold stream conditions.     

Formation of cross-sectional profile of a clad bead in coaxial laser cladding

In order to determine a cross-sectional profile of a clad bead in coaxial laser cladding, its formation mechanism is investigated theoretically and experimentally. In laser cladding, every point at the back edge of a melt pool is contributed to a cross-sectional profile of the clad bead to be formed, and points at the same pool edge but on different cross sections are located at different cross-sectional profiles of the clad bead. A cross-sectional profile of a clad bead is composed of points of intersection between the cross section and a series of pool edges. Model of the cross-sectional clad profile in single-pass coaxial laser cladding is developed. A 500 W CO₂ laser is used in the experiment. The experimental result agrees well with the calculated cross-sectional clad profile.     

The formation of micro/nanoparticles in laser-enhanced electroplating with continuous-wave and pulsed Nd-YAG laser interactions

The copper particles generated by the laser-enhanced electroplating method have been investigated in this study, and the results have been examined at various process conditions. The electrolyte jet of copper sulfate was impinged on a stainless steel electrode and irradiated with a Nd-YAG laser at continuous-wave (CW) and Q-switched output modes, respectively, to generate the particle size distribution from micro- to nano-scale.According to the electrochemical dynamics theory, the mechanism of the proposed technique for the particles formation is mainly due to the thermal effects from the laser interaction in electroplating. In the experiments, the laser energy absorbed by the electrolyte jet and the temperature rise of the electrode during the laser radiation has been measured. In the numerical simulation, the temperature fields of the impinging jet of the laser nozzle were calculated. It shows that the growth of the particle is significantly corresponding to the laser power and pulse mode of the laser interaction.     

Simulation of the acceleration mechanism by light-propulsion for the powder particles at laser direct material deposition

The results of the numerical analysis of heat- and mass-transfer processes at powder particles' motion in a gas flow and laser beam by light-propulsion force during the laser cladding and direct material deposition are presented. Under consideration were the stainless steel particles, the radiation power range of the CO₂ laser were 1000, 3000 and 5000 W. Finally, the particles of 45 μm in diameter reach the maximum velocity of about 80, 220, 280 m/s. It is shown that as particles are heated by the laser up to the temperature approaching the boiling point, the particles' velocity in the light field by the vapor recoil pressure may increase significantly. The radius of the particles slightly varies due to the evaporation; the losses in the clad material mass are negligibly small. Comparisons of numerical results with known experimental data on light-propulsion acceleration of single particles (aluminum, aluminum oxide and graphite) under the influence of pulse laser radiation are also presented. Particle acceleration resulting from the laser evaporation depends on the particle diameter, powder material properties, focusing degree and attenuation laser beam intensity by the direction of its propagation.     

Prediction of clad angle in laser cladding by powder using response surface methodology and scatter search

Currently, laser cladding is an important process that allows the deposition of thick protective coatings on substrates. The article presents an experimental investigation of the influence of processing parameters on clad angle in laser cladding by powder (LCP). The clad angle is determined from the mathematical expression relating to the clad height and clad width. The cladding angle model was developed in terms of laser power, scanning speed, and powder mass flow rate by means of response surface methodology. A first-order equation covering a narrow range of the variables and a second-order equation covering a wide range of the variables are presented. An optimization technique, Scatter Search, is used to determine optimal processing parameters. The adequacy of the predictive model was tested by analysis of variance and found to be adequate.     

Flow structures around an inclined substrate subjected to a supersonic impinging jet in laser cutting

In laser cutting, the flow structure around a substrate significantly affects the material removal rate, the cutting depth and the surface finish of the cutting front. In this paper, the phenomena of shock wave that is induced by a supersonic impinging jet emanating from a straight nozzle onto a substrate with varying inclined angles has been simulated numerically and visualized experimentally. The numerical model offers fairly good prediction in comparison with the experiments. It transpires that the angle of inclination has a significant and dramatic effect on the flow structure and that a large wall pressure with a steep gradient can be built up when the angle is large.     

Numerical simulation of powder transport behavior in laser cladding with coaxial powder feeding

Laser cladding with coaxial powder feeding is one of the new processes applied to produce well bonding coating on the component to improve performance of its surface. In the process, the clad material is transported by the carrying gas through the coaxial nozzle, generating gas-powder flow. The powder feeding process in the coaxial laser cladding has important influence on the clad qualities. A 3D numerical model was developed to study the powder stream structure of a coaxial feeding nozzle. The predicted powder stream structure was well agreed with the experimental one. The validated model was used to explore the collision behavior of particles in the coaxial nozzle, as well as powder concentration distribution. It was found that the particle diameter and restitution coefficient greatly affect the velocity vector at outlet of nozzle due to the collisions, as well as the powder stream convergence characteristics below the nozzle. The results indicated a practical approach to optimize the powder stream for the coaxial laser cladding.     

Numerical analysis of supersonic gas-dynamic characteristic in laser cutting

The influence of the processing parameters on the dynamic characteristic of supersonic impinging jet in laser cutting is studied numerically. The numerical modeling of a supersonic jet impinging on a plate with a hole is presented to analyze the gas jet–workpiece interaction. The model is able to make quantitative predictions of the effect of the standoff distance and exit Mach number on the mass flow rate and the axial thrust. The numerical results show that the suitable cutting range is slightly different for different exit Mach number, but the optimal cutting parameter for certain exit total pressure is nearly changeless. So the better cut quality and capacity can be obtained mainly by setting the suitable standoff distance for a certain nozzle pressure.     

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.     

Concentration model based on movement model of powder flow in coaxial laser cladding

The structure below the coaxial nozzle is critical since the spatial distribution of metal powder particles determines the laser attenuation as well as catchment efficiency. It is difficult to simulate the powder concentration distribution, because the complex phenomena involved in the two-phase turbulence flow. In this paper, the air-powder flow is studied along with powder properties, nozzle geometries and shielding gas setting. A Gaussian model is established to quantitatively predict the powder stream concentration in order to facilitate coaxial nozzle design optimizations. An experimental setup is design to measure the powder concentration for this process. The simulated results are compared with the experimental results. This study shows that the powder concentration mode is influenced significantly by powder properties, nozzle geometries and shielding gas setting.     

Study on concurrent measurements of velocity and density distributions for high-speed CO2 flow

Velocity and density distributions of a high-speed and initial CO₂ jet flow have been analyzed concurrently by a developed three-dimensional digital speckle tomography and a particle image velocimetry (PIV). Two high-speed cameras have been used for the tomography and one for the PIV since a shape of a nozzle for the jet flow is bilaterally symmetric and the starting flow is fast and unsteady. The speckle movements between no flow and CO₂ jet flow have been obtained by a cross-correlation tracking method so that those distances can be transferred to deflection angles of laser rays for density gradients. The three-dimensional density fields for the high-speed CO₂ jet flow have been reconstructed from the deflection angles by the real-time tomography method, and the two-dimensional velocity fields have been calculated by the PIV method concurrently and instantaneously.     

On the oscillating flame characteristics in nonpremixed laminar coflow-jets: An experimental and numerical study

This study investigates the characteristics of oscillating lifted flames in laminar coflow-jets experimentally and numerically by varying both fuel density (by varying propane and n-butane mixtures) and coflow density (by diluting air with N₂/He mixtures). Two different lifted flame oscillation behaviors are observed depending on these parameters: oscillating tribrachial lifted flame (OTLF) and oscillating mode-change lifted flame (OMLF), where a rapid increase in flame radius is observed. The regimes of the two flames are identified from experiments, which shows that OMLF occurs only when the effect of the negative buoyancy on the flow field by the fuel heavier than air becomes significant at low fuel jet velocity. OMLFs are also identified to distinguish OTLF regime from flame extinction, which implies that an OMLF can be extinguished when the positive buoyancy becomes weak, losing its stabilizing effect, or when the negative buoyancy becomes strong, further enhancing its destabilizing effect. Transient numerical simulations of both OTLF and OMLF reveal that the OMLF occurs by a strong toroidal vortex and a subsequent counterflow-like structure induced by relatively-strong negative buoyancy. Such a drastic flow redirection significantly changes the fuel concentration gradient such that the OMLF changes its mode from a tribrachial flame mode (decreasing edge speed with fuel concentration gradient) to the premixed flame-like transition mode when the fuel concentration gradient becomes very small (increasing edge speed with fuel concentration gradient). Again, a tribrachial flame mode is recovered during a rising period of flame edge and repeats an oscillation cycle.     

Effects of process variables on laser direct formation of thin wall

In this paper, effects of process variables on wall thickness, powder primary efficiency and speed of forming a thin metallic wall in single-pass coaxial laser cladding are investigated, and some resolution models are established and testified experimentally. With some assumptions, each of wall thickness, powder primary efficiency and formation speed can be defined as a function of the process variables. Wall thickness is equal to width of the molten pool created in single-pass laser cladding and determined by laser absorptivity, laser power, initial temperature, scanning speed and thermo-physical properties of clad material. Powder primary efficiency and formation speed are both dependent on an exponential function involving the ratio of melt pool width, which is decided by the process variables, to powder flow diameter. In addition, formation speed is influenced by powder feed rate. In present experiment, a 500 W continual-wave (CW) CO₂ laser is used to produce thin-wall samples by single-pass coaxial laser cladding. The experimental results agree well with the calculation values despite some errors.     

The heating and acceleration dynamics of Al2O3 particles in the axisymmetric heterogeneous flow emanating from a plasma torch with inter-electrode inserts

Measured data on the temperature and velocity of Al₂O₃ particles of size fraction 34±6 μm in the jet emanating from a DC plasma torch with inter-electrode inserts under conditions of axisymmetric heterogeneous flow are reported. The velocity and temperature of individual particles were measured using a laser-optical diagnostic complex, which was a combination of a bifocal laser anemometer and a pyrometer based on a compact spectrometer. For measuring the temperature of individual particles in the particle-laden plasma jet, three-color pyrometry was used. The obtained data on the characteristics of particles in the jet emanating from the plasma spray torch with inter-electrode inserts equipped with a unit for radial-annular injection of powder into the plasma jet show that the implemented conditions for processing powder materials allow reaching a high homogeneity of the aggregate state of particles in the jet flow (～ 100 % of melted particles).     

叶片倾角变化对扩压器中非定常流动的影响

本文对离心压气机中扩压器与叶轮匹配时的非定常流动进行了数值研究,主要研究了不同扩压器叶片倾角对扩压器中流场的影响,结果显示,扩压器叶片倾角的改变对扩压器中的流场有很大影响,适当调整扩压器叶片的倾角可以减小扩压器流场的波动,同时,叶片与机匣和轮毂的夹角的变化,对于扩压器中流动的分离的发展有重要影响.因此选择合适的扩压器叶片倾角可以改善离心压气机级的性能.