Laser cladding is a modern joining process that uses a laser beam to melt a powdered alloy and then clad it on a substrate. This technology differs from other established conventional methods by using a high-energy laser beam heat source rather than an electric arc or gas flame, which provides the feasibility of applying thin covering layers. Furthermore, laser cladding is known for its flexibility and suitability for various protective coating methods, such as functional grading, multi-layering, e.g. The good connection of advanced materials to high-temperature materials plays an important role in making them well integrated in aerospace applications at high temperatures. Various processing routes have been employed, including powder metallurgy, plasma spraying, and physical and chemical vapor deposition. In recent years, laser cladding has been widely used to cover layers of different compositions to form functionally gradient type systems. This is due to the beneficial metallurgical bonding provided by laser cladding, as little dilution as possible and reduced workpiece variation. One of the main aspects of cladding quality and efficiency control is particle heating induced by laser radiation, but little knowledge is reported in the literature. However, modeling studies have been conducted on particle temperatures that undergo the same thermal processes as plasma heating. Additionally, other attempts at modeling thermal spray systems employ parameters derived from empirical relationships independent of the laser system. On the other hand, laser particle interaction models can be tested by comparison with experimental measurements.

Laser cladding or laser deposition is a processing technology used to add one material to the surface of another material in a controlled manner. As the target surface is scanned, a stream of the desired metal powder is fed into a focused laser beam, leaving behind a deposited coating of the selected material. This allows the applied material to be deposited selectively and exactly where needed with low heat input. Laser cladding is a surface modification technology that has been used to prepare valve plates for engine components in the motor industry, among other applications. During this process, the particles mix with the molten metal on the surface. Composite or alloy materials are then formed to improve the properties of the original material, such as its resistance to corrosion, temperature and wear.

Process advantages:

• Extra material can be placed exactly where needed.
• Can be deposited and deposited to a very wide selection of different materials.
• The sediment is completely fused to the substrate with almost no porosity.
• Small heat input results in a narrow HAZ (heat affected zone).
• Small heat input also results in limited deformation of the substrate and reduces the need for additional corrective processing.
• Easy to automate and integrate into CAD/CAM and CNC production environments.

Due to the large amounts of material processed every day, laser cladding technology is always looking to reduce overall costs and extend component life. Our contribution to the industry is to provide customers with tailor-made coating solutions to meet their individual needs. Industries that would benefit from the use of laser cladding include: oil and gas; pumps and valves; materials processing; mining and tunneling; dredging; recycling; power generation/renewable energy; refractory processing; fiberglass production; pulp and paper production; wood processing; Cement production.

Laser cladding is a directed energy deposition (DED) process in which a high-power laser is used to melt metal powder or wire stock onto a metal surface to repair damaged surfaces or enhance surface properties. An inherent disadvantage of laser cladding is that high energy density heat sources induce high thermal gradients that generate thermal strains and residual stresses large enough to drive plastic deformation and deform the part beyond its geometric tolerances. The physical properties of laser cladding are then controlled by laser heat input and heat loss due to radiation, convection, and conduction to the surrounding system. In previous work, experimental studies and finite element modeling have been performed to improve the understanding of the laser cladding process. Heigl et al. used for in situ and post-processing measurements to demonstrate that both the magnitude and pattern of deformation during laser cladding depend on the scanning mode and heat input. Improved thermal model accuracy. By implementing measured free and forced convection in laser cladding simulations. The current work seeks to further improve the accuracy of thermal simulations of laser cladding by directly accounting for conduction losses in the fixture body in the finite element model. Contacting objects do not conduct heat as they would through a continuum medium. Contact occurs only where surface peaks extend from one surface to another, resulting in many microcavities between contact points. Heat transfer occurs by conduction through the contact points, by thermal radiation through the microcavities, and by conduction through any trapped fluid. The effective conductivity through the contact junction is called gap conductance. Frequently, the reciprocal of this value is reported as contact resistance , which has been shown to be a function of contact pressure, contact material, temperature, ambient fluid, and direction of thermal gradient. Theoretical and empirical models of contact resistance have been proposed and validated. Due to the multiplicity of variables, each of these models is process-specific, which hinders a general adaptation to finite element models.