Research progress of supersonic laser deposition technology: The state of the art and future perspective

Abstract

Supersonic laser deposition (SLD) is a new coating and fabrication process in which a supersonic powder stream generated in cold spray (CS) impinges onto a substrate which is simultaneously irradiated with a laser. It will be increasingly employed for depositing coatings and metal additive manufacturing because of its unique advantages: solid-state deposition of dense, homogeneous and pore-free coatings onto a range of substrate, high build rate at reduced operating costs without the use of expensive gas heating and large volumes of helium gas, and opening up a new opportunity for efficiently depositing high hardness metallic powders which are usually difficult to be deposited solely by CS.Based on the current research results in our group, this paper systematically reviews the state of the art of supersonic laser deposition technique at home and abroad, from the viewpoints of materials selection, process optimization, properties characterization, equipment design and so on. The existing issues in these aspects are deeply analyzed and the corresponding solutions are tentatively proposed. Meanwhile, the potential industrial applications of supersonic laser deposition technique in various fields are elaborated in detail as well as the future perspectives and challenges facing this technology, in order to provide insight for further investigations and innovation in supersonic laser deposition as an emerging combination additive re-/manufacturing technology with high efficiency, low cost and high quality.Supersonic laser deposition (SLD) is a new coating and fabrication process in which a supersonic powder stream generated in cold spray (CS) impinges onto a substrate which is simultaneously irradiated with a laser. It will be increasingly employed for depositing coatings and metal additive manufacturing because of its unique advantages: solid-state deposition of dense, homogeneous and pore-free coatings onto a range of substrate, high build rate at reduced operating costs without the use of expensive gas heating and large volumes of helium gas, and opening up a new opportunity for efficiently depositing high hardness metallic powders which are usually difficult to be deposited solely by CS.Based on the current research results in our group, this paper systematically reviews the state of the art of supersonic laser deposition technique at home and abroad, from the viewpoints of materials selection, process optimization, properties characterization, equipment design and so on. The existing issues in these a...