Experimental research and multi-response multi-parameter optimization of laser cladding Fe313

Abstract As an advanced additive manufacturing technology, laser cladding has become a research hotspot in the field of material surface modification and green remanufacturing. The quality of the cladding layer directly depends on the choice of process parameters. This paper optimized the process parameters by Taguchi-grey correlation method. The orthogonal experiment of 25 groups was designed by Taguchi method, the cladding width, cladding height and dilution rate were selected as the response targets. Contour plot, surface plot and the analysis of variance (ANOVA) for signal to noise ratio (SNR) of the response targets can obtain the influence trend and magnitude of the process parameters on the geometric characteristics, combined with the grey relational theory, three response targets were transformed into single grey relational grade (GRG) value, which was quantified to optimize the process parameters for maximum cladding width, minimum cladding height and proper dilution rate. Then validation experiment was conducted to verify the improvement of the response targets. Finally, it was found that the three response targets were improved as expectation, and the optimized cladding layer has obvious advantages over those of other cladding layers in morphology and microstructure, which verified the feasibility of Taguchi-grey relational method.