Numerical simulation of thermal transfer and flow behavior of Ni60AA formed by laser cladding

Abstract

The thermal behavior of the cladding layer and the flow behavior of the molten pool significantly affect the geometry, temperature distribution and microstructure of the cladding track, thus affecting the mechanical properties of the cladding. Based on the interaction between the laser and powders, a calculation method of the cross-sectional area of the cladding track is proposed. The droplet energy method and the moving grid method are first combined to establish the surface growth model of the cladding track, to calculate the geometry of the cladding track. Then, the temperature field and flow field of the cladding track are studied. The driving forces of the molten pool flow including shear viscosity, gravity, buoyancy, surface tension at the gas-liquid boundary and pressure between liquids are considered to carry out the dynamics study of the molten pool. According to the force condition of the infinitesimal in the molten pool, the dynamic rules and boundary rules of the molten pool are established, so as to solve the flow field of the molten pool. In addition, the calculated geometry of the cladding track is compared with the experimental result to verify the accuracy of the model, and the microhardness of the cladding track is measured. The results show that the relative error between the simulation and the experiment is less than 6%, and the microhardness of the cladding layer is significantly improved. This work can provide a method for studying the morphology, temperature field, and flow field of laser cladding.

Keywords

• Laser cladding
• Thermal transfer
• Flow behavior
• Geometric profile
• Numerical model