An Experimental Investigation of Laser Cladding

Laser cladding uses a laser beam to fuse materials with enhanced metallurgical properties on a substrate. A thin layer of the substrate is molten achieving good metallurgical bonding with the added material. In this paper experimental data from an industrial application of laser cladding are presented and discussed. The material of the substrate was an aluminum alloy and the cladding material was copper based powder. Under constant laser power and beam diameter, experiments were performed using various powder feed rates, process speeds and gas supply. The dimensions of the clad as well as the alloying and dilution depth were measured. The experimental data were analyzed in order to obtain a working range for the process parameters.