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7387 |
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Friday, May 06, 2022, Hall G1 9:40 AM Laser Cladding |
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New frontiers in wire-based laser cladding |
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Maria Barbosa / Fraunhofer IWS, Germany Holger Hillig / Fraunhofer Institute for Material and Beam Technology IWS, Germany Marc Kaubisch/ Fraunhofer Institute for Material and Beam Technology IWS, Germany Irina Shakhverdova/ Fraunhofer Institute for Material and Beam Technology IWS, Germany Frank Brückner*/ Fraunhofer IWS, Germany |
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Laser cladding is widely used in industry to precisely apply tailored surface coatings as well as three-dimensional deposits for repair and additive manufacturing of metallic parts. However, the processing of larger components, like tools for oil and gas production, for the paper industry or for agriculture, is economically challenging due to the conventionally low deposition rates. Against this background, modern high-power diode lasers offer practical solutions for large-area laser cladding or additive manufacturing with significantly increased productivity. At Fraunhofer IWS a Laserline fiber-coupled diode laser of 20 kW power has been employed for over a decade to develop competitive coating solutions. The deposition rates achieved with this technology equal or even exceed typical values of the common PTA technique, while at the same time bringing significant advantages in terms of reduced heat affected zone, distortion and savings in material resources. In an optimized laser cladding coating process the cost of the feedstock material plays a crucial role. While high power powder-based laser cladding is an industrial established coating technology, for example to coat hydraulic cylinders or most recently brake discs, no high-productivity solution is known for wire-based processes. Fraunhofer IWS, with the intention to close this gap and explore the growing advantages of using wire as feedstock material, has developed a new nozzle for high-power-high-productivity laser wire cladding for coating and additive manufacturing. The COAXquattro feeds four wires at the same time into the melt pool, reaching deposition efficiencies in the same range as a powder-based process of the same material with in some instances improved coating quality. Moreover, the feeding of wires of different compositions is possible, as well as the simultaneous addition of powder particles, opening new possibilities for in-situ alloying and cost-effective production of new hardmetal compositions for coating and additive manufacturing. |