Various small metal forming tools utilized in hot extrusion of non-ferrous metals and alloys are susceptible to severe wear and sticking at high temperatures, thermal softening and fatigue leading to premature failures and extra interruptions in production due to frequent tool replacements. Laser cladding combined with appropriate material selection proved to be a suitable technique to increase the tool life significantly. To implement this, a fully closed-loop semi-automatic laser cladding cell was developed. The procedure consists of induction unit for preheating and Nd:YAG laser for cladding, which both are adaptively controlled. In order to clad more than one surface of the tool, the most flexible way to do the cladding was to keep the laser and powder nozzle stationary while the robot manipulates the tool. Due to small dimensions of the tool and cooling channels beneath the surface to be clad, heat accumulates largely during the cladding process, which leads to increasingly higher levels of dilution and lower levels of hardness between different surfaces. Using adaptively controlled laser power, surfaces with equal dilution and hardness were obtained. With adaptively controlled induction heating unit, preheating phase of the process was suppressed down to minimum, and accuracy as well as repeatability was improved substantially compared with conventional preheating methods, which are also impractical in serial production.
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ICALEO 2008: 27th International Congress on Laser Materials Processing, Laser Microprocessing and Nanomanufacturing
October 20–23, 2008
Temecula, California, USA
ISBN:
978-0-912035-12-3
PROCEEDINGS PAPER
Fully closed-loop semi-automatic laser cladding cell in a serial production of small tools
Jari Tuominen;
Jari Tuominen
1
Department of Materials Science, Laser Application Laboratory, Tampere University of Technology
Korkeakoulunkatu 6, Tampere, 33101, Finland
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Jyrki Latokartano;
Jyrki Latokartano
2
Department of Production Engineering, Laser Application Laboratory, Tampere University of Technology
Korkeakoulunkatu 6, Tampere, 33101, Finland
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Petri Vuoristo
Petri Vuoristo
1
Department of Materials Science, Laser Application Laboratory, Tampere University of Technology
Korkeakoulunkatu 6, Tampere, 33101, Finland
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Published Online:
October 01 2008
Citation
Jari Tuominen, Jyrki Latokartano, Petri Vuoristo; October 20–23, 2008. "Fully closed-loop semi-automatic laser cladding cell in a serial production of small tools." Proceedings of the ICALEO 2008: 27th International Congress on Laser Materials Processing, Laser Microprocessing and Nanomanufacturing. ICALEO 2008: 27th International Congress on Laser Materials Processing, Laser Microprocessing and Nanomanufacturing. Temecula, California, USA. (pp. P122). ASME. https://doi.org/10.2351/1.5061434
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