Product Code: ICA12_P133

Analysis and Simulation of the Effects of the Melt Pool Flow During Laser Deposition of a Multiphase Material
Authors:
Mushtaq Khan, Manufacturing and Management Group, School of Mechanical, Aerospace and Civil Engineering, The Univ. of Manchester; Manchester Great Britain
Michael Vogel, Manufacturing and Management Group, School of Mechanical, Aerospace and Civil Engineering, The Univ. of Manchester; Manchester Great Britain
Juansethi Ibarra-Medina, Manufacturing and Management Group, School of Mechanical, Aerospace and Civil Engineering, the University of Manchester; Manchester Great Britain
Andrew J Pinkerton, Manufacturing and Management Group, School of Mechanical, Aerospace and Civil Engineering, The Univ. of Manchester; Manchester Great Britain
Narcisse NDri, ESI GmbH; Essen Germany
Mustafa Megahed, ESI GmbH; Essen Germany
Presented at ICALEO 2012

The effects of Laser Cladding (LC) process parameters on characteristics such as track height and width have now been well investigated, experimentally, analytically and numerically. Less predictable, due to complexity of the non-linear physical effects during LC, but still highly significant for practical application, are characteristics such as the microstructure and mechanical properties of the final clads or parts produced from them.

This paper presents an investigation into the LC of M2 steel using a coaxial nozzle. Single scan tracks were produced on M2 substrates at a number of specific energies and line masses and also modelled using a coupled Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) and Finite Elements (FE) model of the process. Characteristic of the clad track are predicted using the model with and without the influence of melt pool flow accounted for and the predictions compared with the experiment outcomes, analyzed via techniques such as Optical microscopy, Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) and X-Ray Diffraction (XRD). The results highlight the many parameters that affect the LC process.