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.     

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.     

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.     

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.     

Clad profiles in edge welding using a coaxial powder filler nozzle

The powder catchment and clad profile of the edge welding were investigated by experimental and numerical approaches in this study. The clad profile on the edges joined by a coaxial powder filler nozzle with a CO₂ laser was measured and compared with the powder concentration mode, which was confirmed by powder flow visualization and numerical computations.In the numerical simulation of an impinging jet of gas-powder flow on an edge joint, the powder concentration distributed on a V groove joined by two plates was solved by FLUENT software. Based on the Gaussian mode of the powder distribution in the jet flow, a simplified mode function was proposed to estimate the clad profiles in the edge joint.Cladding experiments were performed for mild steel substrates with thicknesses of 2 and 6 mm under 1 kWCO₂ laser irradiation for 304L stainless steel powder. The results show that the concave clad profiles were generated at large incline angles and the powder catchment efficiency might increase with the joint angle and substrate thickness.Based on the analytical results of the cold powder streams impinging on the edge joint, the similarity between the clad profile and the powder concentration in the edge joint is retained only at small incline angles for thin substrates. Due to the heating effects of laser beam spot and the powder re-distribution inside the edge joint, the deviation of the clad profile between the computation and experiment is increased with the incline angle and substrate thickness.     

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.     

Process monitoring of powder pre-paste laser surface alloying

Instead of the continuous powder delivery method using a powder feeder for thick layer laser cladding, pre-pasting of the alloying powder on the substrate is a widely used method to supply the coating powders into the melt pool for LSA. A method to monitor the process of laser surface alloying based on the infrared emission from the melt pool using infrared photodiodes was developed. The technique is solely aimed at the process of laser surface alloying using pre-paste metal powder on the substrate surface prior to laser melting. This monitoring technique is able to distinguish the existence or the absence of the pre-paste powder and the consistency of the laser surface alloying process. The technique is of low cost and is simple to implement into the process.     

送粉角度对激光熔覆铁基复合涂层形状特征的影响

通过分析激光熔覆过程中光束、粉末和熔池间的作用机理,建立了送粉式激光熔覆材料有效利用率的数学模型,在此基础上推导了送粉角度与工艺参数之间的定量关系式,并计算了不同送粉角度下的熔覆材料有效利用率、熔高和横截面积。结果表明,在熔覆工艺参数不变的条件下,理论计算的熔覆材料有效利用率、熔覆层高度和横截面积均随送粉角度的增加而增大,且均高于实验检测值。激光熔覆过程中,由于粉末烧损和机械损失,使熔覆材料有效利用率、熔高和横截面积随送粉角度变化出现最大值,理想送粉角度为60。     

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.     

Effects of powder concentration distribution on fabrication of thin-wall parts in coaxial laser cladding

In this paper, model of effects of powder concentration distribution on fabrication of thin-wall parts in coaxial laser cladding was developed. There exists relationship between powder concentration distribution and power density distribution, which affects fabrication of thin-wall parts in coaxial laser cladding. Changes in powder concentration distribution lead to changes in wall thickness and wall growing rate. Fluctuation of powder feed rate deteriorates the growing wall in laser cladding. Deviation of the powder flow stream makes the powder concentration distribution, the thermal flux density and consequently the molten pool not symmetrical against the x-axis, resulting in irregular upper faces of the formed wall. This was verified by the results of experiment.     

Identification and qualification of temperature signal for monitoring and control in laser cladding

Laser cladding has been successfully introduced into industry for the use in wear and corrosion applications and in the repair work such as turbine components, moulds and dies. Through monitoring and furthermore controling the cladding process, the quality and reproducibility in the production can be ensured. Thus the economic efficiency can increase through the reduced scrap rate. The aim of this work is to identify and analyse the infrared temperature signal emitted from the melt pool, which could be used for quality control and for closed loop control. Different measure systems including a photodiode, pyrometer and CCD camera with different functional wavelengths were used to detect the temperature radiation. The detected signals show dependence on the main process parameters including laser power, powder feeding rate and scanning speed. The results of the clad such as dilution and dimension have very good correlation with the measured temperature signal. A process monitoring and control system based on the infrared temperature signal with coaxial alignment of the ancillary lenses was established and tested successfully.     

Numerical investigation of the microstructure of a clad layer produced via laser cladding with coaxial metal powder injection

The microstructure of a clad layer produced via selective laser cladding with coaxial metal powder injection is studied numerically. The Johnson–Mehl–Avrami–Kolmogorov equation for condensed systems with inhomogeneous rates of nucleation is used to model the phase change kinetics. The impact of the substrate boundary along with interconnected heat transfer and phase change processes on the final microstructure of a built-up layer is demonstrated. The qualitative difference between the behavior of the temperature on the built-up layer’s surface and at the depth of the substrate is established, revealing the inhomogeneous microstructure of the final layer.     

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.     

Impact of localized surface preheating on the microstructure and crack formation in laser direct deposition of Stellite 1 on AISI 4340 steel

Crack formation in laser cladding of the hardfacing alloy Stellite 1 on AISI-SAE 4340 steel was prevented through locally preheating the substrate prior to the deposition process. Numerical analysis showed that the preheating process helps developing a relatively steadier melt temperature as well as decreasing the cooling rates and consequently the thermal stresses during the subsequent deposition process. Microstructural analysis revealed a thicker cross-section with smoother surface profile, more uniform surface hardness and even distribution of a dendritic morphology in the preheated sample. This confirmed the presence of a well-developed melt pool with a homogeneous composition at solidification. The microstructure of non-preheated sample was, however, considerably non-uniform consisting of macro-scale colonies of dendritic and lamellar (eutectic) structures. The experimental observations, as implied through the numerical results, showed that the preheated sample, in general, reveals more uniform structure and properties making it less prone to cracking during the deposition process.     

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.     

Plunging method for Nd : YAG laser cladding with wire feeding

The effects of wire feeding direction and position, cladding time, and cladding speed on the quality of cladding layer for laser cladding with wire feeding are studied. Experiment results indicate that the wire feeding direction and position are important for wire laser cladding. By adopting the correct wire feeding direction and position, the wire can be plunged into the melt pool and can be melted by the heat of the molten metal. With the increase of cladding speed, the dilution of clad layer can be reduced and the growth of the grain size of heat-affected zone of the base metal can be limited. If proper cladding parameters are used, the clad layers will have a good surface shape, sound metallurgical bonding with base metal, low dilution, and the effect of heating on heat-affected zone metal can be limited. The hardness of the clad layer and heat-affected zone are checked. It indicates that with the increase of cladding speed, the hardness of the clad layer and heat-affected zone increases.     

Solidification and microstructural aspects of laser-deposited Ni-Mo-Cr-Si alloy on stainless steel

Laser cladding of stainless steel substrate was carried out using Ni-32Mo-15Cr-3Si (wt%) alloy powder. Laser cladding parameters were optimized to obtain defectfree and metallurgically bonded clad. Variation in solidification rate, cooling rate and compositional variation resulted in heterogeneous microstructure. Microstructure was found to be distinctly different in regions of clad cross-section. Majority of the region was found to consist of eutectic of Mo-rich hcp intermetallic Laves phase and NiFe fcc gamma solid solution phases. Extensive microstructural examinations of different clad regions have been carried out using microscopy and microanalysis techniques.     

Numerical simulation of temperature distribution and TiC growth kinetics for high power laser clad TiC/NiCrBSiC composite coatings

A three dimensional model was proposed to simulate high power laser clad TiC/NiCrBSiC composite coatings on Ti6Al4V alloys. The temperature distribution, temperature curves on different nodes, three dimensional shape and size of TiC melting region, molten pool and heat affected zone (HAZ) of the substrate were obtained. To have a clear physical insight into the phase transformation and microstructure evolution in the coatings during laser cladding process, a theoretical kinetic analysis was performed to elucidate the nucleation, growth velocity, and size of TiC particles on the basis of simulated temperature curves of the molten pool. A good quality TiC/NiCrBSiC composite coating with low dilution rate and excellent metallurgical bond was fabricated under optimal processing parameters using powder mixture of TiC and NiCrBSiC as clad material and cuboid of Ti6Al4V alloys as substrate. To validate the reliability of the proposed model, the theoretical results were compared with the microstructure of the coatings. It shows that these theoretical results are in excellent agreement with the experiment cases.     

Estimation of laser solid forming process based on temperature measurement

By using a moving disc heat source model, an analytical model was developed to describe laser solid forming (LSF) process with the feedback of the surface temperature of the molten pool, which can be used to estimate the geometric characterizations (width and height) of the clad layer rapidly. An on-line temperature measurement system was established and some single-pass cladding experiments were conducted while the molten pool temperature was monitored. It was found that the estimated geometric characterizations agreed well with the experimental results. In addition, the power consumed by conduction, convection, radiation, evaporation and absorption during LSF were also estimated by the model. It was shown that the majority of the total absorbed power was conducted to the substrate. The effective model can not only be used to optimize the processing parameters but also potentially applied to the real-time feedback control.     

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.