Laser cladding: the relevant parameters for process control

We investigate the propagation of a high power CO 2 laser beam through a powder stream in the condition of laser surface cladding. During this process, a powder material and a gas are blown coaxially with the laser beam, toward a laser generated melt layer on a moving substrate. The final result in terms of surface properties, depends on a number of parameters including laser beam intensity, powder nature, flow rate and distribution, nature and velocity of the gas mixture in the interaction volume, The influence of the various parameters have been investigated experimentally and an evaluation of the laser energy redistribution in the interaction volume above the solid sample has been made. Calculations show the range of variation for the main directly adjustable parameters: dynamic action of the transport gas and laser beam intensity. A classification of the relevant parameters is attempted.