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Surface & Coatings Technology 202 (2008) 3933 3939

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Deposition of Ti6Al4V using a high power diode laser and wire, Part I:
Investigation on the process characteristics
Sui Him Mok, Guijun Bi , Janet Folkes, Ian Pashby
Innovative Manufacturing Processes Group, School of Mechanical, Materials and Manufacturing Engineering,
University of Nottingham, University Park, NG7 2RD, UK
Received 24 September 2007; accepted in revised form 4 February 2008
Available online 20 February 2008

Abstract
In this paper the deposition of Ti6Al4V wire with High Power Diode Laser was investigated by producing single tracks. The effect of the
wire feeding direction and angle was firstly studied. The influence of laser power, traverse speed and wire feed rate on the weight and dimension
of the deposited single tracks was then investigated. The microstructure and hardness of the single tracks were examined. Deposition with diode
laser and wire was proved to provide a high deposition rate with good quality. Columnar grains were found in the deposits. Wire feeding
orientation, laser power, traverse speed and wire feed rate were verified as factors which influenced the quality of the deposit. With similar energy
level, different power/traverse speed produced deposits with different hardness value. Hardness values tended to increase from the deposit, via the
re-melted zone till to the heat affected zone, and then decrease again when the measurements were taken in the unaffected base material.
2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
PACS: 81.15.Fg
Keywords: Deposition; Diode laser; Ti6Al4V

1. Introduction
Direct metal deposition with laser has been verified as a
promising process for surface modification, repair and component building [1,2]. Recently, further studies have been carried
out to explore the feasibility of applying this process in the aerospace industry [36]. The surface cladding can be used to
generate a thin functional layer on the surface of the component
made by cost-effective material. The material of the clad layer
is different from the base material, which can provide high temperature corrosion and wear resistance. For the application of
the metal deposition process, a high deposition rate or volume is
required. The components produced should also have the same
properties and functions as ones made by conventional methods.
In the development stage, traditionally, the components are
made by stock removal method, forging or casting, such as,
precision sand casting and investment casting. However, when

Corresponding author.
E-mail address: biguijun@gmail.com (G. Bi).
0257-8972/$ - see front matter 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.surfcoat.2008.02.008

there is any modification on the design, the production time

for the new components would be very long. The concept of
the proposed application methodology is by using the traditional
methods to produce a basic structure and applying the direct
metal deposition to add the feature onto it. So, it could help to
save time for manufacturing the whole structure and have higher
flexibility in modifying the design in a shorter period of time.
Moreover, for the repair process, it can save time and costs
compared with the replacement by a new component [7].
Due to its outstanding strength-to-weight ratio, Ti6Al4V is
one of the main materials used in the aerospace industry [8]. In the
U.S. this alloy accounts for about half of all titanium alloy usage
[9,10]. Ti6Al4V plays a major role in the blades, disc and the
cooler parts of the compressor in the jet engines because high
strength and creep resistance are required in these applications
[11,12]. Nowadays, there is increasing use of Ti6Al4V for
quite critical applications for the forged structural members in
aircraft, including undercarriage components, flap and slat tracks
in wings and for engine mountings [13].
Most of the researches have focused on the deposition with
powder, which is difficult to achieve a comparable deposition

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rate to the traditional processes, such as PTA and TIG processes.

Therefore, the proposed methodology, direct diode laser deposition with wire would be a possible way to overcome limitations in surface cladding, manufacturing and repair. For this
technology metal wires are used as the additive material. During
the powder deposition process a certain amount of powders can
not be caught by the melt pool. The powders are blown to the
surrounding environment, which causes potential hazard to the
operators and the environment. Compared with powder feeding,
wire feeding method has higher material usage efficiency. Almost all the materials fed into the melt pool during the process
are used to form the deposit. It lowers the risks to the operators
and makes the process environment friendly. Moreover, the
powder feeding nozzle plays an important role in the powder
deposition process. It makes the deposition with powder more
complicated than with wire. Another merit is that metal wires
are easily available and cheaper than powders, which makes the
wire deposition very cost-competitive.
In the literature [14] the study on the deposition of stainless
steel wire with diode laser was reported. Wire deposition with
Nd:YAG laser was also investigated in the literatures [15,16].
However, no detailed research has been carried out to study the
influence of the wire orientation, laser power, traverse speed and
wire feed rate on the deposit quality. Also the deposition of Ti-

Table 1
Composition of the Ti6Al4V
Element

Ti

Al

Fe

Si

Weight %

Bal.

6.01

3.84

0.3

0.15

0.10

0.15

0.15

alloy wire with diode laser is a promising research area. However, most of the researches focused on the deposition with Tialloy powders [36,17,18].
The aim of this project is to get an insight into the process
characteristics in an attempt to understand the property, structure and process interaction associated with the direct diode
laser deposition with wire feeding of Ti6Al4V. Deposit
quality and deposition rate will also be investigated. Parameters
will be optimised. The main properties of the deposit including
the microstructure, micro-hardness will be investigated.
2. Experimental procedure
2.1. Experimental setup
The experimental system comprises a 2.5 kW Rofin DL025
diode laser with beam delivery system, wire feeding apparatus
(wire feeder and feeding head Planetics 501) and computer numerically controlled (CNC) table for 4 motions: horizontal motion
(x axis and y axis), vertical motion (z axis) and rotational motion
(A axis). In addition, the system also includes a cooling system
(top and base cooling plates), a camera system for process observation and video capture, a chamber filled with Argon and a
Dansensor (oxygen sensor). The laser beam was set in the focal
length of 85 mm along the z axis and with the beam size of
2 mm 7 mm in focus. Fig. 1 shows the schematics of the
experimental set-up and the wire feeding orientations.
2.2. Materials
Ti6Al4V is the most common titanium alloy used in the
aerospace industry. Such an alloy presents a relatively high
strength up to 300 C and is ideal for welding. In this work 1.2 mm
Ti6Al4V wire was deposited onto 10 mm Ti6Al4V plates.
The chemical composition of the material is shown in Table 1.
2.3. Arrangement of the experiments

Fig. 1. Schematics of the experimental setup and the wire feeding orientations.

The direct diode laser possesses a top-hat power density

distribution in the slow axis direction, which is preferred for the
cladding process with wire, because the top-hat and wide beam
can give more tolerance for the wire feeding. A stable process
can be guaranteed as long as the wire is fed into the beam. In
comparison, no stable deposition process can be achieved
in the fast axis direction, while the beam is too narrow and the
wire vibrates due to the tension of rolled wire, it is very difficult
to keep the wire in the laser beam. Thus, all the experiments
were carried out in the slow axis direction of the diode laser, as
shown in Fig. 1. 70 mm-long single tracks were deposited. The
experiments were scheduled in three stages. In the first stage,
the correlation between deposit weight and surface quality with

S.H. Mok et al. / Surface & Coatings Technology 202 (2008) 39333939

3935

Fig. 2. Weight of the deposit at different angles grouped by the same feeding direction.

various feeding orientations were presented. Conclusions were

drawn and preferred wire feed angle and direction were defined
for further experiments. In the second stage, the correlations
of deposit weight with traverse speed and wire feed rate were
presented and preliminary observations of the deposition process were made. Preferred wire feeding rates were defined for
further experiments. In the third stage, further works were carried out on exploring the characteristics of the direct laser deposition process in terms of deposit dimension, microstructure and
micro-hardness.
2.4. Characterization of the samples
The samples were cross-sectioned and polished to examine
deposit quality with respect to dimension, porosity, and microhardness. The samples were then etched using 2% HF + 5%
HNO3 in water for the purpose of micro-structure analyses.
Optical Microscopes were used to study and analyse the microstructure. Micro-hardness test machine M-400 developed by
LECO was used to examine the hardness values of the single
track deposition. For the testing, a 500 g load and 15 second
loading time were applied.
3. Results and discussion
3.1. Determination of the wire feed orientation
Experiments were carried out by changing the wire feed
angles (15, 45, and 60) and directions (front, side and back

Fig. 3. Trial in back feed at 15 with 100 mm/min traverse speed.

feeding), as shown in Fig. 1, under a fixed laser power

(2.06 kW) and wire feed rate (2 m/min) at various traverse
speeds (100, 200, 300 and 400 mm/min). The graphs in Fig. 2
show the weight of the deposit at different angles with the
same feeding direction. The data indicated that under the front
feeding condition, feeding at 45 gave the highest deposition
weight (6 g at 100 mm/min). Furthermore, on back feeding and
side feeding, results showed that feeding at 60 and 15 were
preferred, respectively. They had the weights of deposition
of 5.7 g and 6.6 g at 100 mm/min. No positive results were
found when back feeding at 15 because there was very small
clearance between the fed wire and the deposit during the
process. Therefore, the wire easily hit the solidified deposit
and bent onto the protective glass of the laser head, as shown in
Fig. 3.
Generally, front feeding and side feeding provided smoother
surface compared with the back feeding. During back feeding,
wire was fed on top of deposit. Thus, the materials seemed to be
pushed away from the deposit. Therefore, a wavy surface with
bulbs on the side of the deposit was formed in back feeding
specimens. This is concordant to the results showed in [14] for
deposition with stainless steel wire. For front and side feeding,
the wires were fed from the direction towards the deposits.
Therefore, the wires were melted, formed the deposits and
pushed towards the previous still-red-hot deposits. The flow
characteristics of melt in the melt pool are better in these conditions. Due to the surface tension effect, a better surface could
be formed. Side feeding can provide a smooth surface but with
uneven edges due to the feeding direction, as shown in Fig. 4.
The uneven edges were formed by the wire which firstly reacted
with the melt pool on one side and more material was deposited
on that side.
For selecting a suitable feeding orientation, high deposition rate was a crucial factor. However, consistent feeding was
also significant, especially in net-shape component deposition
when making real parts. Multiple feeding directions could occur
during the same process. As shown from the results, feeding
at 15 is not suitable because deposition did not occur with
back feeding at this angle. Therefore, feeding at 45 or 60 is
preferred. Directional-wise, front feeding was more preferred
because a more consistent feeding was achieved at the three
different angles, within about 4.5 g to 6 g in total weight.
As a result, front feeding at 45 was chosen for the further
experiments.

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S.H. Mok et al. / Surface & Coatings Technology 202 (2008) 39333939

Fig. 4. Photos of the surface and cross-section of the single track deposited by side feeding.

Further experiments were carried out to investigate the influence of the laser power and traverse speed on the dimen-

sion of the deposit. A set of experiments with three different

laser powers (2.06 kW, 1.65 kW and 1.2 kW), various traverse
speeds (50 mm/min to 250 mm/min), fixed wire feed rates (1 m/
min and 2 m/min) and front feeding at 45 were adopted.
Deposits were generally clean and free of cracks and porosity as
shown in Fig. 7. Deposit materials were fully melted and
metallurgically bound to the base plates. Dimensional analyses
were carried out with the cross sectioned samples. Deposit
height, width and deposit angle were measured according to the
schematic in Fig. 8. As can be observed in Fig. 9, at the same
setting of laser power and wire feed rate, both deposit height and
deposit width decreased with increasing traverse speed,
especially the deposit height. For the deposition with 2.06 kW
laser power and 2 m/min wire feed rate, the deposit height
decreased from 4.96 mm to 1.40 mm (decrease up to 72%) with
increasing traverse speed. When the traverse speed was kept
constant, such as at 50 mm/min, the deposit height changed
from 4.96 mm to 3.13 mm (a reduction of about 39%). These
showed that the changes of traverse speed have a more significant effect on the deposit height than the laser power.
The deposit width changed only from 7.92 mm to 7.16 mm
(decrease less 10%) with increasing traverse speed. With the
increasing laser power from 2060 W to 1200 W and a constant
traverse speed, such as at 50 mm/min, the deposit width decreased from 7.92 to 6.84 mm (declines 13.6%). In the case of
150 mm/min traverse speed, the deposit width varied from 7.27
to 6.42 mm (varies about 11.7%). Such results indicated that
laser power affects deposit width more significantly than the
traverse speed. The very low changes of deposit width resulted
from the constant melt pool size created by the laser beam at the
same power level.

Fig. 5. Weight of the deposit against traverse speed.

Fig. 6. Weight of the deposit against the wire feed rate.

3.2. Determination of the wire feed rate

Laser power was set at 2.06 kW, the wire feed rate was varied
from 0.83 mm/min to 3.33 m/min and the traverse speed was
varied from 50 mm/min to 300 mm/min. The weight of deposit
against traverse speed was plotted, as shown in Fig. 5. It
decreased while increasing the traverse speed in all the wire feed
settings. The weight difference between the different wire feed
rate reduced from about 4 g to less then 1 g, while the traverse
speed increased. Especially, while the traverse speed reached at
200 mm/min, the weight of deposits was almost the same above
wire feed rate of 2.22 m/min. The humps observed for 2.22 and
3.33 m/min wire feed rates resulted from the unstable process
caused by the too high wire feed rates. Some un-melted wire can
be seen on the surface of the deposit. Furthermore, the relations
between the weight of deposits and the wire feed rate at different
traverse speed were plotted in Fig. 6. The weight of the deposits
increased while increasing the wire feed rates but trended to level
off or decrease when it reached 2 m/min. When the wire feed rate
was set at high levels, wire could not be fully melted. Since there
was no way for the wire to escape, it trended to push backwards
into the wire feeder and the cracking sounds were heard. Therefore, a preferred wire feed rate for the laser power 2.06 kW and
1.65 kW was chosen as 2 m/min. Similarly, the preferred wire
feed rate for the laser power 1.2 kW was chosen as 1 m/min.
3.3. Effect of the laser power and traverse speed on the dimension
of the deposit

S.H. Mok et al. / Surface & Coatings Technology 202 (2008) 39333939

3937

Fig. 7. Cross-section of the single tracks deposited with different set of parameters.

Deposit angle, also known as the contact angle (c), is one of

the factors affecting the deposition quality, especially in surface
deposition and structure build. In the laser deposition process, the
contact angle is determined not only by the surface tension effect in
the molten material, but also predominately by the laser beam size
and spatial power density distribution. Acute angles are preferred
in the direct diode laser deposition process. Therefore, good dense
deposition could be achieved and no inter-run porosity would
form. If the deposit angle is greater than 90o, gaps in between
overlapping tracks during the deposition would form [19].
Five cross-sections were prepared for each single track and
the deposited angles were measured at both left and right sides.
The average values were adopted for the discussion. As shown
in Table 2, most of the deposit angles are acute angles, ranging
from 31o to 68o except the two highlighted settings (laser
power = 2.06 kW and 1.65 kW with traverse speed = 50 mm/
min). It suggested that most of the settings are suitable for the
surface deposition and structure building. Furthermore, at the
same wire feeding rate, the deposit angle shows significant

dependence on the ratio of laser power and traverse speed. The

angle increases with increasing ratio.

Fig. 8. Schema of the cross-section for the dimension measurement.

Fig. 9. Dimension of the single tracks deposited with different set of parameters.

3.4. Micro-structure
Fig. 10 shows that all the deposits possess a columnar structure.
The grains in the deposit grew directionally from the outer surface
towards the centre of the melt pool. The cooling direction dictated
the grain structure. Heat conduction through the base plate dominated the cooling effect compared with cooling via the deposit
surface and the base plate through radiation and convection. The
heat conduction in the deposit was slow, compared to the re-melted
and Heat Affected Zone (HAZ). Therefore, large size columnar
grains grew parallel to the cooling direction, as shown in Fig. 10a,
c and e. The grain size ranges from a few hundred microns to
several millimeters depending on different laser power and
traverse speed. On the other hand, the materials in the re-melted
zone and HAZ were cooled down quickly by conduction. Fig. 10b,
d and f shows the microstructures of these two regions. The grains

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S.H. Mok et al. / Surface & Coatings Technology 202 (2008) 39333939

Table 2
Dependence of the deposit angle on the traverse speed and laser power
Laser power

Power = 2.06 kW
Power = 1.65 kW
Power = 1.2 kW

Traverse speed (mm/min)

Angle

50

100

150

200

250

Left
Right
Left
Right
Left
Right

98
92
96
88
56
60

68
62
61
60
49
51

47
46
42
48
33
36

35
36
34
38

33
31

in the re-melted area were larger in size (100 to 200 m) compared

with the grains next to the bottom of HAZ (less than 100 m). This
indicates that the cooling in the bottom of HAZ is faster than that in
the middle.
Comparing the grain sizes of the samples with different traverse speed and laser power traverse speed: a and b versus c and
d; laser power: a and b versus e and f, results indicate that these two
process parameters affected the grains sizes of the deposits. The
grain size of both deposits and HAZs decreased while increasing
the traverse speed. With reduced laser power, grain size became
smaller, especially the size in the deposit. However, the impact
was not as significant as the influence of traverse speed.
3.5. Micro-hardness
By considering the influence of different laser power and
traverse speed in terms of micro-hardness, Fig. 11 shows the
micro-hardness tested with selected samples. As can be seen,

Fig. 11. Hardness of the selected single tracks.

the hardness declined gradually with the increase of the distance

away from the interface. The hardness value decreased rapidly
between 310HV and 350HV after entering a particular region.
This region was in the base plate, which was not affected by the
laser energy.
The fluctuation of the hardness in one track resulted from the
different cooling rate in different regions. After the laser passed
through, the re-melted area and the deposit layer started cooling
down from a high temperature (over 1000 C) to room temperature (around 25 C) in a short period of time. The materials
were subjected to a condition like quenching in heat treatment and
small grains in size were formed. The heat generated by the laser
in the re-melted area and HAZ region was dominantly transferred
in all directions to the base plate by conduction. And the heat

Fig. 10. Microstructure of the selected deposits.

S.H. Mok et al. / Surface & Coatings Technology 202 (2008) 39333939

conduction is more effective in these two regions than in the

deposited layer, which resulted in the finer grain size in the remelted area and HAZ, as discussed in Section 3.4. As a result a
higher hardness in these two regions than in the deposited layer
was observed. The difference of the three hardness curves can be
explained by the different energy input and the resulted different
size of the microstructure. Results show that the highest values of
energy input (2.06 kW and 50 mm/min) which mean the deposits
and base materials absorbed the largest quantity of energy to heat
up the materials. Therefore, obviously, the longest time is needed
to cool down back to the room temperature and longer time for the
grains to grow. As a result, the deposit possessed a larger grain
size. The larger the grains size, the less the grain boundaries in the
structure and the lower values of hardness resulted.
4. Conclusions
The characteristics of the deposition of Ti6Al4V wire with high
power diode laser for the surface modification and component
building was investigated. Based on the results showed above, the
following conclusions can be drawn:
Direct Diode Laser Deposition with wire provides a high
deposition rate process: 1 kg/h of titanium can be achieved;
the deposition showed good dense, free of porosity, clean and
smooth surfaces
Front wire feeding with 45 angle was verified as the best
feeding orientation and a maximum wire feeding rate of 2 m/
min was achieved for the set-up in this research
The results manifested that the deposition width is mainly
determined by laser power; however, traverse speed influences the height more significantly than laser power; the
deposit angle achieved in this study is mainly acute, which is
suitable for the modification of large surface and component
building with overlapping deposition
Epitaxial columnar grains in the deposit were found parallel
to the building direction; The higher the energy acting on the
process, the larger the grain size obtained

3939

For the same laser power, higher traverse speed setting

resulted in a higher hardness value; for the same traverse
speed, the lower laser power brought a higher hardness
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