Modulation of power density distribution in time and space for high speed laser cladding

Laser cladding is a technique with many advantages compared to alternative processes like overlay welding and thermal spraying. However laser cladding is not widely applied in industry. The low efficiency of the laser power, exploitation and the comparably high processing times are insufficient process conditions for economic industrial processes. In this publication approaches for a decreased processing time and increased laser power exploitation are shown. By increasing the scan velocity the power exploitation can be increased. In order to improve the cladding quality the laser power was spatially and temporally modulated. (c) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.