Investigation of Hastelloy C Laser Clad Melt Pool Size and its Effect on Clad Formation

The melt pool size of a single-track clad in the laser cladding of Hastelloy C, a Nickel based alloy, on mild steel substrate has been investigated. The effect of laser processing parameters, such as laser power density, scan rate and powder mass flow rate on the melt pool size has been examined. It was found that the melt pool size is strictly controlled by the melt pool temperature which increases with laser power but decreases with increasing scan rate and powder mass flow rate. The melt pool size is critical for the clad formation in terms of clad height and dilution with the substrate. The clad height increases linearly with the ratio of melt pool size to powder stream diameter while the dilution is an exponential function of the ratio of melt pool size to laser spot size.