AWS New Welding Technologies

June 15 -16, 2010

Salay Stannard

CLADDING AND
ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING USING
LASER APPLIED POWDER PROCESSES

Who Is Joining
Technologies?
About 60 employees
25,000 SF, With Room to Expand At Current
Location
2,000 SF Dedicated to Laser Cladding
Laser Applied Wire (LAW) Additive
Processing
Laser Applied Powder (LAP) Additive
Processing
Laser Welding
EB Welding
GTAW
Lasers Systems Design & Integration
Supply Chain Management

The Necessity for Component

Repair and Surfacing
Why
repair technologies are
Technologies
needed:

Wear and Damage

Sealing Surfaces
Mounting / Fretting Surfaces
Bearing and Loaded Surfaces
Tools and Dies
Manufacturing Nonconformities
Under flled castings
Incorrect Machining
Design Changes
High Value Parts
Long Lead Times

Laser Based Repair Technologies

Pulsed Wire
Cladding
CW Laser Wire
Cladding
Laser Blown
Powder Cladding

Pulsed Laser Wire Cladding

Wire is positioned on top of

substrate
Wire is stationary relative to
part
Laser fuses wire to substrate
by a series of spot welds
Manual or automated
processing
Manual process is well suited
to limited production or highly
irregular repairs
Not well suited to crack
sensitive materials due to
rapid heating and cooling rates
Low deposition rates due to
low average laser power,

Continuous Wave (CW) Laser Wire

Cladding
Laser beam creates molten

pool on part
Filler wire is fed into pool
by precision wire feed
Wire is melted and
incorporated into the pool
to create a bead
Process is nearly always
automated
Better for crack sensitive
materials
~10x higher deposition
rates than pulsed wire

Laser Powder Cladding

Laser beam creates molten

pool on part
Metal powder is blown into
pool
by precision powder feed
system
Powder is melted and
incorporated into the pool to
create a bead
Process is always automated
Largest selection of available
clad materials
~10x higher deposition rates
than

Laser Powder Cladding

Blown Powder Nozzle

Schematic

Multijet
Nozzle

Coaxial
Nozzle

Need for Cladding and Additive

Manufacture
Aerospace
Power Generation
Oil/Gas

Special Challenges in Aerospace

Processing
Need: Overhaul and Repair
Process: Limited industry specifcations
FAA & OEM barriers

Limited to repair and design work

Document/Control
Stringent metallurgical requirements
Minimal heat input required
Poor capture rate: 30-40% detail, 12-20%
knife edges

Machine cannot be modifed after source

approval

Special Challenges in Power Generat

Need: Hard facing,
corrosion resistance
Longer processing times
for large part surface areas
JT: 9.6lb/hr approx 90% capture
Part geometry varies job to job
Less stringent on powder quality
Open metallurgy requirements
Accepting of HAZ, dilution, etc.

Special Challenges in Oil/Gas

Need: Hard facing,
corrosion resistance,
wear resistance
Longer processing times
for large part surface areas
Less stringent on powder quality
Accepting of HAZ, dilution, etc.

Work Cell for Aerospace Processing

Platform:
Cartesian CNC preferred
Beam quality is important
Solid-state systems -Disk or fbre
lasers
JT: 2kW 4kW Trumpf disk laser

Clad Requirements:
Powder- Rotary vs. Atomized
Quality is critical!

Accepting of additive with wire

Typical repair thickness <
0.060
Inconel 625, 718
4047
Materials depositedinclude:
Stellite 6, 21

Work Cell for Power Generation

Platform:
Processing
Flexible beam quality,
direct diode systems possible
3 -7mm spot size
Coaxial system, He powder delivery

Clad requirements:
Typical thickness 0.040 0.200
JT: deposited 0.040 3+
30-60 HRc, > 45 HRc cracking possible
with carbide powders

Materials deposited include:

Stellite 6, 21
Inconel 622, 625, 718
Ni-Cr
Carbides

Tool Steels

Work Cell for Oil/Gas Processing

Platform:
Flexible beam quality, direct diode
systems possible
3 -7mm spot size
Coaxial system, He powder
delivery
Clad requirements:
Typical thicknesses 0.040 2
> 0.080 cracking possible

Materials deposited include:

WC-Cr

Carbides
WC-Co-Cr
Ni-Cr
Inconel 622, 625, 718

Advantages of Powder vs. Wire

Laser Wire Cladding

Welding with wire is a well established

aerospace process
Typically lower capital investment than for
powder
Crack and pore free deposition is
attainable for many common aerospace
materials using commercially available
wire
100% utilization of fller material

Laser Powder Cladding:

Higher maximum deposition rates

Larger variety of possible clad materials
Processing head is compact,
omnidirectional and completely non contact
Minimum feature size and heat input are
limited only by minimum laser focus size
and economics
Lower dilution

LAW Work Cell

Designed and built by Joining
Equipment
Technologies
Trumpf TruDisk 1000 Laser supply
3- Axis CNC control with rotary
Wire 0.010 0.025 diameter
Closed loop servo controlled wire feed
Real time power density control while
welding
Non contact profle scanning with data
storage

LAP Work Cell

Trumpf TruDisk 4002 (4kW) Laser
Equipment
Supply
KUKA KR 30/HA (High Accuracy) Robot
Approx. 6ft radius hemisphere range
66lbs. payload
KUKA DKP 400.1 Rotary/Tilt Table
Approx. 880lbs. load
Programmable Dual Powder Feeders
On the Fly Focus spot size control
Multi-jet or Coaxial powder delivery

Equipment Acquisition

August installation of Trumpf 505 Powder Cladding

system
6kW CO2 Laser
6.5ft X 3.2ft X 2.5ft envelope
5 Axis motion platform
High capacity rotary
Programmable spot size
High absolute and relative accuracy
Two hopper powder feed

Lab Expansion and LAP

Additional 10,000 sq ft cladding
Upgrade
workspace
Accommodations for parts up to
3ft dia x 40ft long x 5 tons
30ft linear rail for robot positioning
Multi-ton capacity precision head stock,
tail stock and steady rests

Both laser additive

technologies, wire and
powder, have many overhaul
and repair applications for the
aerospace, power generation,
and oil/gas industries.
When compared to traditional
repair processes additive
manufacturing maintains base
metallurgy with low heat
inputs and a high degree of
control.
Industry acceptance remains
a challenge, but is sure to

Salay Stannard Process Development Engineer salays@joiningtech.com

Scott Poeppel Manager of Additive Processes spoeppel@joiningtech.com
Dave Hudson President
dhudson@joiningtech.com

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