The influences of processing parameters on forming characterizations during laser rapid forming

Laser rapid forming experiments were carried out with 316L stainless steel and nickel-base alloy to investigate the influences of the processing parameters on forming characterizations systematically. It is found that the height of a single cladding layer was very important for fabrication accuracy and forming stability of components of laser rapid forming because it was affected by almost all processing parameters and was quite difficult to precisely control. For the system with lateral powder feeding pattern, the powder injection point was the most important factor to the height control of single layer. The variation of the width of single clad, which was mainly affected by laser power, spot diameter and scanning velocity, was similar to that in laser surface melting. The surface quality was another important characterization for laser rapid forming and was remarkably affected by oxidation and the powder adhesion. In order to improve the surface quality, the flow flux of shielding gas should be not less than 10 1 min(-1) and the powder stream cannot be injected to the tail part of the melt pool. Based on the investigation, some metal components were fabricated. (C) 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.