Plunging method for Nd:YAG laser cladding with wire feeding

The effects of wire feeding direction and position, cladding time, and cladding speed on the quality of cladding layer for laser cladding with win feeding are studied. Experiment results indicate that the wire feeding direction and position are important for wire laser cladding. By adopting the correct wire feeding direction and position, the wire can be plunged into the melt pool and can be melted by the heat of the molten metal. With the increase of cladding speed, the dilution of clad layer can be reduced and the growth of the grain size of heat-affected zone of the base metal can be limited. If proper cladding parameters are used, the clad layers will have a good surface shape, sound metallurgical bonding with base metal, low dilution, and the effect of heating on heat-affected zone metal can be limited. The hardness of the clad layer and heat-affected zone are checked. It indicates that with the increase of cladding speed, the hardness of the clad layer and heat-affected zone increases. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.