Analytical modelling of full single-track profile in wire-fed laser cladding

Laser cladding is an additive manufacturing technology that enables rapid large-volume deposition of metal onto a substrate by forming a stable track on a target surface. It is now widely used for surface functionalization and parts repairing. In this paper, the full shape of the material deposition has been analytically modelled, including bulge (the part above the surface) and melt pool (the part below the surface). The modelling approach is to calculate the interfacial tension based on the capillary theory at the interface between bulge and air, melt pool and substrate, and determine the full profiles of the deposited material when varying process parameters (e.g. laser power, scanning speed and wire feed rate). The model was validated by performing experiments for various process parameters followed by the appropriate measurements, i.e. on coordinate measurement machine for the bulge and under optical microscope of the cross sections cutups for the solidified melt pool, showing that the errors of laser cladded shapes between experiments and simulations could be as low as 14 % at the bulge for optimized process parameters that could be used in real manufacturing conditions. As this model has been treated as a time-dependent process, this makes it easily implemented on any machine tool/manipulator. This approach allows the control of the shapes of the bulge and melt pool by simply varying the laser scanning speed.