CRITICAL-STATE OF LASER CLADDING WITH POWDER AUTO-FEEDING

A 2 kW continuous CO2 laser and a powder auto-feeding apparatus have b een used to deposit single tracks of Co-base alloy on to an A(3) steel substrate. In the critical state, the effect of two combined process parameters on the macro-quality of the coating and the relationship be tween these parameters are discussed. The results show that the specif ic energy and powder density are two important combined process parame ters for the quality of the coating. The critical state is also useful for us to determine the process parameters, according to the macro-qu alify required in practice.