Concentration mode of the powder stream in coaxial laser cladding

The blown powder laser cladding process has recently been greatly enhanced by the development of a coaxial powder feed system. II provides a new route to generate the metal parts directly from CAD drawings. The performance of the coaxial powder feeder depends on various gas flow streams which significantly affect the distribution mode of the powder stream and the deposition rate in cladding. Two types of optical techniques have been adopted in this study to investigate the powder concentration mode of the coaxial jet streams. The mode of the powder stream is also mathematically modelled and compared to the experimental results of stainless steel powder. The Gaussian distribution mode in the transverse direction of the powder stream was identified by theory and experiment at cold stream conditions. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.