Laser Cladding

Laser cladding is an additive manufacturing technique that can be used to enhance the surface of materials. It is a line of sight process that can deposit a wide variety of metallic alloys in a highly controlled way. The multiple and overlapping thermal cycles that the surface and deposited material undergoes during the deposition process affects deposition efficiency as well as the microstructure and final performance of the clad coating. This project will study laser cladding, with scope for inclusion of some modelling work. Laser cladding will be carried out using the 2 kW fibre laser within The Faculty of Engineering. The project will benefit from the suite of microstructural characterisation equipment within the university’s nanoscale and microscale research centre, which will be employed to determine the effect of process parameters on clad material, including study of how laser cladding parameters influence final clad geometry and a review of the various current methods used to measure dilution in order to generate application relevant guidelines.