Abstract
Laser-based Directed Energy Deposition (DED-LB) represents a production method of growing importance for cladding and additive manufacturing through the use of metal powders. Yet, most studies utilize substrate materials with thicknesses of multiple millimeters, for which laser cladding of thin-sheet substrates with thicknesses less than 1 mm have only been scarcely studied in the literature. Most studies cover the use of pulsed laser sources, since sheet distortion due to excess energy input is a key problem in laser cladding of thin-sheet substrates. Hence, the authors of the present investigation seek to expand the boundaries of cladding thin-sheet substrates through the use of a high-speed laser cladding approach which utilizes a continuous-wave, ytterbium fiber laser and traverse speeds of 90 mms−1 to clad stainless steel sheets with a thickness of 0.8mm. Furthermore, fundamental process–property relationships for the target values of clad width, clad height, and dilution depth are studied and thoroughly discussed. Additionally, process maps for the target values are established based on manifold experiments, and the significance of process parameters on target values is studied using analysis of variance. The results demonstrate that clad widths as high as 1413 μm and dilution depths as low as 144 μm can be obtained by high-speed laser cladding of thin-sheet substrates. Thus, pathways toward thin-sheet substrates with enhanced performance are opened.
Highlights
Published: 9 August 2021Laser cladding is a production process which utilizes the continuous feed of powder or wire material and the focused energy of a laser beam to create metallurgically bonded, three-dimensional contours on manifold substrate materials [1]
Based on the use of a locally focused heat source, laser cladding is classified as an additive manufacturing process with Directed Energy Deposition (DED) in ISO 52900 [10]
It can be concluded that the particle velocity at the nozzle outlet and, the interaction time between the powder particle and laser beam only has a minimal influence on clad width
Summary
Laser cladding is a production process which utilizes the continuous feed of powder or wire material and the focused energy of a laser beam to create metallurgically bonded, three-dimensional contours on manifold substrate materials [1]. As the melt pool moves on the substrate surface, a heat-affected zone is created beneath [3]. Based on these characteristics, laser cladding can be used to repair existing structures [4,5], add protective layers against corrosive or abrasive wear [6], and—if the cladding process is carried out repeatedly—perform additive manufacturing of monolithic materials, such as nickel-alloys [7]. Laser cladding is, in the literature, often referred to as Laser Metal Deposition (LMD) or Laser Engineered Net Shaping (LENS)
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