In-process vibration-assisted high power Nd : YAG pulsed laser ceramic-metal composite cladding on Al-alloys

An in-process vibration-assisted laser cladding method was designed for imp roving the shrinkage cavities of pulsed Nd:YAG laser ceramic-metal composit e cladding on Al-alloys. The substrate was vibrated during the cladding pro cess. A signal generator in this study externally modulated the frequency, amplitude, and wave shape of the vibration. An acceleration sensing device was used to monitor the vibration condition to ensure the modulation was co rrect. The feasibility of using the in-process vibration-assisted method fo r improving the shrinkage cavities of pulsed Nd:YAG laser SiC + Al-Si cladd ing on an Al-alloy was then experimentally evaluated. The experimental resu lts show that the in-process vibration-assisted method significantly improv es the degree of cavity shrinkage when the penetration depth is not very gr eat. Analysis of the data shows that with vibration-assisted cladding, the depth of penetration increases with frequencies between 200 and 1500 Hz. Th e results were especially significant for 800 mV modulation vibration. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.