A simple model of powder catchment in coaxial laser cladding

High efficiency of the powder deposition in coaxial laser cladding is a key subject for this new technique adopted to the industry. A catchment model was proposed in this study to characterise the particle bonding under laser heating in the cladding process. The phenomena of the particle rebound and adhesion on substrate were discussed and the catchment efficiency was math ematically modelled based on the beam spot and the stream cross-section are a. The theoretical catchment efficiency was further verified with the exper iments and the results give an insight of the powder stream characteristics of the coaxial nozzle. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.