激光金属沉积成形过程热行为的研究

激光金属直接快速成形技术是在80年代末期出现的快速原型技术（Rapid Phototyping, RP）基础上结合同步同轴送料激光熔敷（On-axis Laser Cladding）技术发展起来的一项先进制造技术。它涉及机械、激光、计算机辅助设计（CAD）、计算机辅助制造（CAM）、计算机数字控制（CNC）、材料科学等领域的关键技术。它突破了传统快速成形工艺方法和成形材料的局限，是目前快速成形诸多方法中研究最多、最有发展前途的新型制造技术。它基于材料累加思想，能够在无需任何刀具和模具的情况下由CAD模型直接驱动沉积成形金属零件，从而大大缩短了新产品的研发周期并节省了大量的资源。中国科学院沈阳自动化研究所开展了该技术的研究，并研制开发了激光金属沉积成形系统（Laser Metal Deposition Shaping, LMDS）。本文介绍了金属零件激光直接快速成形技术的原理和特点，分析了当前金属零件激光快速成形过程数值模拟研究的热点和发展趋势。结合激光金属沉积成形系统的研究需要和遇到的实际问题，阐述了激光、金属粉末和基板三者之间的相互作用，利用有限元的方法数值模拟了各种影响成形精度和效率的因素对激光金属沉积成形系统过程热行为的影响，包括不同扫描方式、不同基板预热温度等，并利用激光金属沉积成形系统系统进行了验证。具体的研究内容如下： 1. 阐述了激光与金属粉末之间的相互作用。激光快速成形过程中，高功率激光束与基板金属交互作用产生熔池，同步送入的金属粉末在熔池内被迅速熔化然后迅速凝固。熔池内的冶金动力学过程包括传热、传质、对流及气-液界面冶金反应和固-液界面扩散等与工艺质量的好坏密切相关，直接影响成形零件内气体和夹渣物的吸收、聚集和逸出，进而影响成形零件的微观组织、成分变化及其它物理冶金性能。基于熔池内传质、传热及流动对成形层的组织和性能的决定性作用，建立了激光金属沉积成形过程的数学模型和有限元模型。 2. 利用有限元分析中的“单元生死”技术，通过APDL语言编程建立了激光金属沉积成形系统过程三维多道多层的数值模拟模型，得到了激光金属沉积成形系统过程中试样和基板内的温度、温度梯度以及热应力分布规律。 3. 研究了沿长边平行往复扫描、沿短边平行往复扫描以及层间正交变向平行往复扫描等不同扫描方式对激光金属沉积成形系统过程热行为的影响，得到了不同扫描方式下试样和基板的温度、温度梯度和热应力变化规律，并结合快速凝固理论对这一过程中出现的现象进行解释。 4. 为了实现基板的预热，根据热传导理论自主设计开发了用于激光金属沉积成形系统过程的基板预热系统。该系统由基板预热器、智能PID控制器以及计算机串口温度检测和反馈控制等部分组成，具有结构简单、功能完善、可靠性高等特点。它既可以通过智能PID控制器实现对基板预热温度的控制，也可以通过计算机串口实现对基板预热温度的实时检测、记录以及反馈控制，从而使基板预热温度在室温～600℃之间连续调节。此外，它的计算机串口温度检测模块还可以用来实现对激光金属沉积成形系统成形过程基板温度的实时监测，为数值计算提供较为准确的边界条件以及用来检验和校正数值模型的正确性与可靠性。 5. 利用数值模拟的方法研究了基板预热温度分别在室温、200℃、300℃、400 ℃、500 ℃、600 ℃时对激光金属沉积成形系统过程温度、温度梯度以及热应力的影响。在相同的条件下，利用激光金属沉积成形系统系统和基板预热系统进行了实际成形实验。对成形实验得到的试样进行了深入的研究，包括：成形试样的成形高度和表面质量与基板预热温度的关系；成形试样的利用扫描电镜分析成形试件沉积层的显微组织特征；利用能谱仪分析沉积层合金元素的化学成分偏析情况。 6. 建立了集数值模拟和成形加工于一体的软件平台。它既可以实现简单零件变模型尺寸、变热物性参数和变工艺参数的数值模拟，也可以直接驱动激光金属沉积成形系统完成简单零件的快速成形。这为研究各工艺参数如激光功率、扫描速度、送粉速率、光斑尺寸以及基板预热温度等对激光金属沉积成形系统过程的影响提供了一个平台。

Determining the elastic-plastic properties of metallic materials through instrumented indentation

En los últimos años, y asociado al desarrollo de la tecnología MEMS, la técnica de indentación instrumentada se ha convertido en un método de ensayo no destructivo ampliamente utilizado para hallar las características elástico-plásticas de recubrimientos y capas delgadas, desde la escala macroscópica a la microscópica. Sin embargo, debido al complejo mecanismo de contacto debajo de la indentación, es urgente proponer un método más simple y conveniente para obtener unos resultados comparables con otras mediciones tradicionales. En este estudio, el objetivo es mejorar el procedimiento analítico para extraer las propiedades elástico-plásticas del material mediante la técnica de indentación instrumentada. La primera parte se centra en la metodología llevada a cabo para medir las propiedades elásticas de los materiales elásticos, presentándose una nueva metodología de indentación, basada en la evolución de la rigidez de contacto y en la curva fuerza-desplazamiento del ensayo de indentación. El método propuesto permite discriminar los valores de indentación experimental que pudieran estar afectados por el redondeo de la punta del indentador. Además, esta técnica parece ser robusta y permite obtener valores fiables del modulo elástico. La segunda parte se centra en el proceso analítico para determinar la curva tensión-deformación a partir del ensayo de indentación, empleando un indentador esférico. Para poder asemejar la curva tension-deformación de indentación con la que se obtendría de un ensayo de tracción, Tabor determinó empíricamente un factor de constricción de la tensión () y un factor de constricción de la deformación (). Sin embargo, la elección del valor de y  necesitan una derivación analítica. Se describió analíticamente una nueva visión de la relación entre los factores de constricción de tensión y la deformación basado en la deducción de la ecuación de Tabor. Un modelo de elementos finitos y un diseño experimental se realizan para evaluar estos factores de constricción. A partir de los resultados obtenidos, las curvas tension-deformación extraidas de los ensayos de indentación esférica, afectadas por los correspondientes factores de constricción de tension y deformación, se ajustaron a la curva nominal tensión-deformación obtenida de ensayos de tracción convencionales. En la última parte, se estudian las propiedades del revestimiento de cermet Inconel 625-Cr3C2 que es depositado en el medio de una aleación de acero mediante un láser. Las propiedades mecánicas de la matriz de cermet son estudiadas mediante la técnica de indentación instrumentada, haciendo uso de las metodologías propuestas en el presente trabajo. In recent years, along with the development of MEMS technology, instrumented indentation, as one type of a non-destructive measurement technique, is widely used to characterize the elastic and plastic properties of metallic materials from the macro to the micro scale. However, due to the complex contact mechanisms under the indentation tip, it is necessary to propose a more convenient and simple method of instrumented indention to obtain comparable results from other conventional measurements. In this study, the aim is to improve the analytical procedure for extracting the elastic plastic properties of metallic materials by instrumented indentation. The first part focuses on the methodology for measuring the elastic properties of metallic materials. An alternative instrumented indentation methodology is presented. Based on the evolution of the contact stiffness and indentation load versus the depth of penetration, the possibility of obtaining the actual elastic modulus of an elastic-plastic bulk material through instrumented sharp indentation tests has been explored. The proposed methodology allows correcting the effect of the rounding of the indenter tip on the experimental indentation data. Additionally, this technique does not seem too sensitive to the pile-up phenomenon and allows obtaining convincing values of the elastic modulus. In the second part, an analytical procedure is proposed to determine the representative stress-strain curve from the spherical indentation. Tabor has determined the stress constraint factor (stress CF), and strain constraint factor (strain CF), empirically but the choice of a value for and is debatable and lacks analytical derivation. A new insight into the relationship between stress and strain constraint factors is analytically described based on the formulation of Tabor’s equation. Finite element model and experimental tests have been carried out to evaluate these constraint factors. From the results, representative stress-strain curves using the proposed strain constraint factor fit better with the nominal stress-strain curve than those using Tabor’s constraint factors. In the last part, the mechanical properties of an Inconel 625-Cr3C2 cermet coating which is deposited onto a medium alloy steel by laser cladding has been studied. The elastic and plastic mechanical properties of the cermet matrix are studied using depth-sensing indentation (DSI) on the micro scale.

Laser surface cladding of MRI 153M magnesium alloy with (Al+Al2O3)

Laser surface cladding was carried out on a creep-resistant MRI 153M magnesium alloy with a mixture of Al and Al2O3 powders using a pulsed Nd:YAG laser at scan speeds of 21, 42, 63 and 84 mm/s. The Al2O3 particles partially or completely melted during laser irradiation and re-solidified with irregular shapes in the size range of 5–60 µm along with a few islands as large as 500 µm, within the grain-refined Mg-rich dendritic matrix. More than an order of magnitude improvement in wear resistance after cladding was attributed to the presence of ultra-hard Al2O3 particles, increased solid solubility of Al and other alloying elements, and a very fine dendritic microstructure as a result of rapid solidification in the cladded layer. However, corrosion resistance of the laser cladded alloy was reduced by almost an order of magnitude compared to that of the as-cast alloy mainly due to the presence of cracks and pores in the cladded layer.

Directional bend sensor based on an asymmetric modification of the fiber cladding by femtosecond laser

A femtosecond laser was used to modify a part of the cladding of a standard LPG bend sensor. The device produced wavelength shifts depending upon the direction of bend, thus making a shape sensor.

Bending characteristics of fiber long-period gratings with cladding index modified by femtosecond laser

A femtosecond laser has been used to asymmetrically modify the cladding of fiber containing long-period gratings. Following modification, devices in single-mode fiber are shown to be capable of sensing the magnitude and direction of bending in one plane by producing blue and red wavelength shifts depending upon the orientation of the bend. The resulting curvature sensitivities were -1.62 and +3.82 nm&middotm. Devices have also been produced using an elliptical core fiber to study the effects of the cladding modification on the two polarization eigenstates. A cladding modification applied on the fast axis of the fiber is shown to affect the light in the fast axis much more significantly than the light in the orthogonal state; this behavior may ultimately lead to a sensor capable of detecting the direction of bending in two dimensions for applications in shape sensing.

Low loss depressed cladding waveguide inscribed in YAG:Nd single crystal by femtosecond laser pulses

A depressed cladding waveguide with record low loss of 0.12 dB/cm is inscribed in YAG:Nd(0.3at.%) crystal by femtosecond laser pulses with an elliptical beam waist. The waveguide is formed by a set of parallel tracks which constitute the depressed cladding. It is a key element for compact and efficient CW waveguide laser operating at 1064 nm and pumped by a multimode laser diode. Special attention is paid to mechanical stress resulting from the inscription process. Numerical calculation of mode distribution and propagation loss with the elasto-optical effect taken into account leads to the conclusion that the depressed cladding is a dominating factor in waveguide mode formation, while the mechanical stress only slightly distorts waveguide modes.

Bending characteristics of fiber long-period gratings with cladding index modified by femtosecond laser

A femtosecond laser has been used to asymmetrically modify the cladding of fiber containing long-period gratings. Following modification, devices in single-mode fiber are shown to be capable of sensing the magnitude and direction of bending in one plane by producing blue and red wavelength shifts depending upon the orientation of the bend. The resulting curvature sensitivities were -1.62 and +3.82 nm·m. Devices have also been produced using an elliptical core fiber to study the effects of the cladding modification on the two polarization eigenstates. A cladding modification applied on the fast axis of the fiber is shown to affect the light in the fast axis much more significantly than the light in the orthogonal state; this behavior may ultimately lead to a sensor capable of detecting the direction of bending in two dimensions for applications in shape sensing. © 2006 IEEE.

Directional bend sensor based on an asymmetric modification of the fiber cladding by femtosecond laser

A femtosecond laser was used to modify a part of the cladding of a standard LPG bend sensor. The device produced wavelength shifts depending upon the direction of bend, thus making a shape sensor. © 2005 Optical Society of America.

Double-cladding Yb3+ fiber for free-space optical communication

The experiment result of Nd:YVO4 laser pumped by laser diode that was amplified by double-cladding Yb3+ fiber is reported. Stable mode-locking pulses are obtained at repetition rate of 320 MHz and the output power is 15 mW. When laser power is amplified by Yb3+- doped double-cladding fiber amplifier, its power can get to 600 mW. Based on these, experiment of double-frequency is carried out, and green laser with power of 4 mW is obtained. (c) 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

High-power Nd:YAG planar waveguide laser with YAG and Al2O3 claddings

Thermal effects in Nd:YAG planar waveguide lasers with non-symmetrical claddings are discussed. The heat generated in the active core can be removed more efficiently by directly contacting the active core to the heat sink. Several cladding materials are compared to optimize the heat removal. Furthermore, uniform pumping is achieved with oblique edge-pumping technique. Using quasi-CW pumping at 1 KHz repetition rate, an average output power of 280 W with a slope efficiency of 38% is obtained with a positive unstable resonator. (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The laser-assisted cold spray process

Thick metal coatings are currently deposited via two well established routes, Laser or arc based cladding, and thermal spray. A new coating technique known as Laser-assisted Cold Spray (LCS), which aims to expand on the capabilities of the two process routes currently available, is under development at the University of Cambridge in the UK. LCS is a development of the Cold Spray process (CS) in which coatings are built up from powder particles which are entrained within a gas stream and accelerated through a de Laval nozzle, impacting the substrate at supersonic speeds that exceed a material dependent critical velocity.