Cladding &

Coating
with Diode Lasers
June 2005

Laserline GmbH ! Mülheim-Kärlich !

Germany
www.laserline.de
Laserline GmbH, Germany 1
Cladding & Alloying with Diode Laser

Advantages of Diode Lasers

Homogeneous alloying results

Optimized focus adaptation

Highest process efficiency of all lasers

Easily automated, high process stability

Applications

Repair welding of valuable parts, corrosion

and wear protection in automotive industry,
e.g. valve seats, drilling and forming tools,
e.g. down-hole drilling in oil industry
Photo: Technogenia - LCT, UK

Laserline GmbH, Germany 2

 Cladding: Typical Data
1000

Laser
Beam quality [mm mrad]

H a rtl
ö te n ding • Direct and fiber-coupled diode lasers
d
Cla
100

eißen
Schw

Hybrid
schw
eißen Power
n
iß e
hw e
Schne
iden T ie
fs c • 1000 W to 6000 W
10
10 100
Power [W]
1000 10000
Beam quality
• 100 to 400 mm mrad

Spot dimensions
• Ø 2 to 4 mm, 2 x 2, 3 x 3 or 1 x 5 mm!

Material
• Tools subject to wear are clad with
powder from hard particles or hard metals

Clad samples

Laserline GmbH, Germany 3

Diode Laser Types for Cladding

Direct diode laser, LDL 160 with

coaxial powder cladding nozzle
Multi diode laser

Fiber-coupled diode laser

Laserline GmbH, Germany 4

Cladding/Alloying: Principle

Powder and assist gas is fed into the laser

Laser Beam beam coaxially or off-axis

Laser Beam melts powder and eventually

base material
Powder
nozzle Alloying or depositing of powder onto base
and gas material in one or more layers

Repair or coating in a single process

Spot geometry adapted to parts and

process
Cladding zone

Laserline GmbH, Germany 5

Cladding: Options
Cladding optics, different manufacturers (IWS,
Precitec, Balliu and others)
Integrated coaxial powder feeding, transport
gas, shield gas
Integrated sensors for process monitoring
Mechanical shutter, stack management
Cover Slide cassette for cladding optics
Optics with different beam
dimensions and working distances
Supply unit with enhanced programming and
PC-based control
Additional sealing of laser head. Connection
for dry, clean air. Pressure sensor

Laserline GmbH, Germany 6

Alloying of Al Cylinder Liners with Si

Power: 3000 - 6000 W

Beam quality: 200 –
400 mm mrad
Special optics for inside
access to liners

Photo: Uni Bayreuth

Laserline GmbH, Germany 7

Alloying of Al Cylinder Liners with Si
6 kW Diode Laser

2 x 3 kW Diode Laser

LDL 160-6000 / LDL 160-6000 S

Wear protection of cylinder liners
Aim: efficient process for alloying /
cladding with Si powder Photo: Uni Bayreuth

Laserline GmbH, Germany 8

Alloying of Al Cylinder Liners with Si
Results of basic research
Efficient process (40% of optical energy transferred)
Alloying depth 1 mm, residual stress may be set
Increase in hardness: 110 HV ! 160 HV / 400 HV

40 "m
100 "m

Homogeneous alloying result Evenly distributed primary Si grains

Hydro Aluminium Laserline GmbH, Germany 9
Deutschland GmbH Lehrstuhl Metallische Werkstoffe
Comparison of Technologies
CO2-Laser Diode laser
Power [kW] 5 3
Speed [mm/s] 15 15
Width of clad [mm] 5 5
Speed of clad [mm!/s] 75 75
Amount of clad [kg/h] 2,16 2,2
Data: IREPA, Strasbourg, France

Diode Lasers achieve comparable

results as CO2-Lasers with only
60 % of the energy required

Powder Cladding Nozzle for Diode Laser

Laserline GmbH, Germany 10

Cladding with Diode Laser

Examples of components
Wire based cladding (left)
Powder based process (right)

Laserline GmbH, Germany 11

Cladding with Direct Diode Laser

Core: edge modification

Preparing of moulds
Material build-up 2 x 2 mm at the edge
Requirements:
- sharp edge
- 100 % density
- hardness HRC 50
- good connection to side wall
Welding time: 18 min
Photo: Röders Process finish time
high speed cutting: 47 min

Photo: Röders

Laserline GmbH, Germany 12

Integration: Diode Laser System

Fiber-coupled diode laser for cladding

Photo: Technogenia - LCT UK

Direct diode laser for laser assisted

machining (Hembrug turning machine)

Photo: Uni Dublin

Laserline GmbH, Germany 13

Cladding with Fiber-Coupled Laser

LDF 1500-4000:
Repair of valuable parts
Wear protection
Efficient and cost-effective process
Successful replacement of CO2-Laser
Laserline GmbH, Germany Photos: Technogenia LCT, UK 14
Cladding with Fiber-Coupled Laser

Cladding/Coating with Diode laser

High precision thick deposits
(0.5 – 4 mm)
Fully automated, industrial process
Spherical Tungsten carbide hard facing
Hardness > 3,000 HV
Applications
Oil drilling – down hole tools
Construction ceramics – Wear
protection only where necessary
Foundries – pan scrapers
Steel industry – conveyor rollers in
steel mills

Laserline GmbH, Germany Photos: Technogenia LCT, UK 15

Cladding with Diode Laser

Machining Tool

3D-part for Treatment of Glass

Cylinder for Cutting
Laserline GmbH, Germany Photos: Stiefelmayer 16
Cladding with Diode Laser

3-D parts for glass manufacturing

Wear protection
Powder-based cladding process

Laserline GmbH, Germany 17

Cladding with Fiber-Coupled Laser
LDF 1500-4000:
Wear protection of mixer blade
Efficient and cost-effective process

Laserline GmbH, Germany 18