356 CHINESE OPTICS LETTERS / Vol. 6, No. 5 / May 10, 2008
Boundary coupled dual-equation numerical simulation on
mass transfer in the process of laser cladding
Yanlu Huang (
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Wenqing Shi (
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School of Mechanical Engineering, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510641
Received October 23, 2007
The coupled numerical simulation on fluid flow, heat transfer, and mass transfer in the process of laser
cladding is undertaken on the basis of the continuum model. In the simulation of mass transfer in the
laser molten pool, the concentration distribution in the regions on different sides of the interface between
cladding layer and substrate is calculated separately and coupled at the co-boundary. The non-equilibrium
solute partition coefficient is obtained from equilibrium solute partition coefficient according to the Sobolev
model. By using the developed software which is based on the commercial software PHOENICS 1.4, the
distribution of Fe in laser molten pool in an experiment of cladding Stellite 6 on 12CrMoV is calculated.
The obtained results well coincide with the experimental ones.
OCIS codes: 140.0140, 140.3390, 000.3860.
Laser cladding is generally used to improve hardness,
wear and corrosion resistance, and some other surface
characteristics of individual products
[1−4]
. It is known
that the mechanical prop e rties for metal parts strongly
depend on the parameters of crysta lline structure, which
depends on the alloy type, the cooling rate, and the alloy
composition. For be st performance , a low dilution for the
cladding layer is expected. Genera lly, alloying should be
uniform over the laser melted zone, while a grated distri-
bution is demanded in some cases. Uniform alloying will
be achieved, if the alloying additions are melted quickly
as introduction into the pool and the combined convec-
tion diffusion of matter in the melt pool redistributes the
solute effectively throughout the molten pool. Though
insulation of solute would be expected to occur at the
solidifying interface, high cooling rates, in combination
with essentially uniform liquid compo sition at the solid-
liquid interface, could greatly reduce the scale of local
heterogeneity in co mpo sition.
Laser cladding is essentially a fusion and solidification
process, which involves complicated interactions among
the laser beam, metal powders, the substrate material,
and processing gases. There are over ten variables which
strongly influence the characteristics of the clad part
[5]
.
Process optimization requires both theoretical and ex-
perimental understanding of the associated physical phe-
nomena. Numerical modelling offers a cost-efficient way
to better under stand the related complex physics in a
laser cladding process. It helps to reveal the effects and
significance of each processing parameters on the desired
characteristics of clad par ts. Successful theoretical guid-
ance enables intelligent closed-lo op control in a high qual-
ity and stability process, and s aves time and cost in trans-
ferring the laser cladding technology from one system to
another. In the previous works, a model for the simula-
tion of fluid flow, heat transfer, formation of the cladding
layer, and interaction be tween laser beam and powder
stream during the process of laser cladding with powder
feeding has been presented, and it successfully predicted
the characteristics of the laser cladding processing
[5,6]
.
It has been pointed out that convection plays a ma-
jor role in arc, laser, and electron beam weld pools
[6−10]
.
Convection is the most importa nt factor influencing the
geometry of the pool including pool shape, undercut, and
ripples, and c an re sult in defects such as variable pene-
tration, poros ity, and lack of fusion. Convection is also
primarily respo ns ible for mixing and therefore affects the
composition of the weld pool. Hence, some k nowledge o f
the mechanisms and characteris tics of material redistri-
bution within the molten pool is desired to better under-
stand the process of alloy production in laser cladding.
The objectives of this work are to formulate a model for
mass transport during laser cladding and e valuate the
model predictions for different situatio ns.
The mathematical model in this study is based on the
following assumptions. 1) Laser beam profile is assumed
to be Gaussian and constant along the z direction, i.e.,
the depth-of-focus effect is ignored. 2) The liquid metal
is considered as an incompressible Newtonian fluid. Flow
in the mo lten pool is considered to be laminar . 3) The
fluid flow is driven by the buoyancy force in the molten
pool and surface tension gradients on the molten pool
surface. 4) The solid and liquid phases are considered as
a continuum medium. The velocity of solid phase is zero.
5) There is no diffusion transpo rt in solid phase.
The continuum model for binary solid-liquid phase
change system
[11]
was used, and a fixed-grid and mov-
ing coordinate sys tem was adopted to deal with fluid
flow and heat tr ansfer pr oblem involving moving heat
source. The governing equations in the moving frame
can be written as follows.
The first one is the continuity equation
∂(ρ)
∂t
+
∂(ρu
j
)
∂x
j
= 0. (1)
The second one is the momentum c onservation equa-
tion
∂(ρu
i
)
∂t
+
∂
∂x
j
(ρu
i
u
j
) =
∂
∂x
j
(µ
∂u
i
∂x
j
) −
∂p
∂x
i
+ S
i
, (2)
1671-7694/2008/050356-05
c
2008 Chinese Optics Letters