Three Major Challenges Facing Laser Cladding Technology

Laser cladding technology involves adding cladding materials to the substrate surface and using a high-energy-density laser beam to fuse them with a thin layer of the substrate surface, forming a metallurgically bonded cladding layer on the substrate.

Laser cladding can achieve surface modification or repair effects, thereby effectively extending the service life of production equipment in industries such as manufacturing, energy, military, machinery, and remanufacturing.

Laser cladding technology is a highly economical technique that can prepare high-performance alloys on inexpensive substrates, not only reducing costs but also conserving rare materials. Currently, China's laser cladding technology is in the intermediate stage of industrial application, but it still faces challenges in multiple aspects.

1. The laser cladding material system needs improvement

Currently, there are few specialized additive systems for laser cladding, and there is no complete or unified set of evaluation indicators for the quality of laser cladding layers. Only by developing more specialized additive systems for laser cladding and improving the evaluation and application standards for cladding layers can the widespread adoption of laser cladding technology be truly realized, leading to optimized resource allocation.

2. Cost issues still require attention

Although the powder cost of laser cladding technology is relatively low, the actual cost of laser cladding has always been a challenge for enterprises. Most laser processing companies are unable to immediately accept laser cladding technology due to its high processing cost for single products and remain skeptical about the performance of laser cladding products, which greatly restricts the development of laser cladding technology. Despite its many advantages and promising prospects, laser cladding is destined to follow a winding development path with a long way to go.

3. Application level/scale needs to adapt to market demands

Current theoretical and applied basic research on laser cladding technology is mostly focused on materials science and engineering. However, as a typical manufacturing process technology, applied basic research combining this technology with engineering objects is relatively weak. For example, in large-area laser cladding, cladding layers are prone to cracking, which remains a very challenging issue. Due to the process characteristics of "high temperature, rapid cooling," cladding layers are prone to stress concentration and cracking, severely impacting the engineering application of laser cladding technology. From the perspective of cracks, analyzing the formation mechanism of cracks is essential.

Currently, the application level and scale of laser cladding temporarily cannot meet market demands, and the disconnection between industry, academia, and research is also a major factor affecting the effectiveness of laser cladding engineering applications.