Numerical simulation and experimental analysis of thermal conduction and stress in laser cladding repair of thin-walled parts

• Published in: Optics and laser technology 2025-02, Vol.181, p.111897, Article 111897
• Main Authors: Yang, Tong, Zhang, Liqiang, Zhang, Meihua, Wu, Di, Wu, Nan, Xu, Panping, Shi, Jing
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Deformation control; Laser cladding; Microstructure; Optimization; Simulation
• ISSN: 0030-3992
• DOI: 10.1016/j.optlastec.2024.111897

•Heat transfer and 3D stress simulation experiment on laser cladding process of thin-walled parts using Abaqus.•Scanning paths were optimised by simulation experiments.•Less heat build-up and thermal stress on the substrate after path optimisation.•Optimised multi-layer stacking pattern effectively reduces deformation of thin-walled parts and improves cladding quality. To minimize the deformation of thin-walled parts during the laser cladding process and enhance the quality of the repaired parts, the Finite Element Abaqus software was used to develop a thermal conduction and 3D stress model, the heat source used in the experiments was a double ellipsoid heat source model. This model simulates the thermal process and the deformation resulting from residual stresses in the laser cladding process on a titanium alloy substrate with a thickness of 2 mm. Through the simulation, the temperature field of the substrate at the end of each pass was obtained, and the cladding sequence with the smallest temperature gradient during the multi-pass laser melting process was determined. By combining simulation and practice, the multilayer stacking pattern was optimized to achieve deformation control. Analog simulation experiments indicate that the optimized single-layer multi-pass laser cladding method results in less heat accumulation and thermal stress compared to the unidirectional sequential scanning method. The flatness test results show that the specimens have less deformation with the optimized multilayer stacking method. In addition, the metallographic organisation of the two cladding specimens is analysed in this paper, and the results show that the optimised specimens exhibit excellent microstructures and properties.