High-speed laser cladding technology enables laser additive manufacturing

In the wave of rapid development of science and technology, laser technology has become the core driving force of advanced manufacturing industry, profoundly reshaping the production pattern of various industries. Among them, high-speed laser cladding technology has become the key technology in the field of material surface modification and repair by virtue of its significant advantages, and has attracted much attention. In this scientific and technological competition, ZKZM has stood out from the crowd by virtue of its profound scientific research background and unremitting technological attack, and has become the backbone of leading the technological development of the laser additive manufacturing industry.

High-speed laser cladding technology uses a high-energy density laser beam as the heat source to accurately clad special metal alloy powder on the surface of the metal substrate. Under the action of laser energy, the powder is rapidly melted and solidified, forming a metallurgical combination with the substrate on the surface of the substrate, dense and uniform, and controllable thickness of the coating. The coating not only significantly improves the wear resistance, corrosion resistance, high temperature resistance and oxidation resistance of the workpiece, but also repairs the dimensions of the workpiece that has been worn or processed incorrectly, which greatly enhances the performance of the workpiece and effectively prolongs its service life.

 

Compared with the traditional TIG arc additive, ultra-high-speed flame spraying, plasma spraying and electroplating hard chrome technology, high-speed laser cladding technology has obvious advantages: thin thickness of the single coating, which can realize the fine surface treatment; metallurgical bonding to ensure that the coating and the substrate of high-strength bonding; a small heat-affected zone to minimize the impact on the performance of the substrate material; high surface flatness, which can reduce the subsequent processing procedures; pollution-free, in line with the modern green manufacturing concept, is a well-deserved advanced surface modification technology. Modern green manufacturing concept, is deservedly advanced surface modification technology.

 

High-speed laser cladding is a new technology that appeared at the end of 2017. In 2018, ZKZM successfully developed and launched China's first high-speed laser cladding equipment, which broke the technological monopoly of foreign products at the first time, causing the price of the same type of foreign products to plummet by 80%, significantly reducing the procurement cost of domestic enterprises, and pushing the high-speed laser cladding technology to be widely used in China. After years of development, high-speed laser cladding technology has matured in China, with dozens of participating enterprises, but the power level is mostly below 10,000 watts. Above 10,000 watts, the durability and reliability of the key components of high-speed laser cladding head are reduced, and the life span is shortened, which can't meet the industrialized application.

 

Since 2022, ZKZM has exclusively launched 10,000-watt high-speed laser cladding equipment. Linzhou Heavy Machinery (stock code 002535) has used a dozen of ZKZM 10KW high-speed laser cladding equipment for the laser cladding of the inner and outer walls of its cylinder hydraulic pillars. Compared with 6000W high-speed, 10KW high-speed has the advantages of high efficiency, strong coating bonding and easy crack control, etc. However, in the metallurgical industry, the surface of heavy rolls often needs thick coating, high hardness and wear-resistant coating, and 10KW cladding equipment are still difficult to cope with the task. For this reason, ZKZM will launch 15KW and 20KW high-speed laser cladding equipment in 2025.

 

In addition, the current market of high-speed laser cladding equipment is all powder melting equipment, no industrial-grade high-power wire melting equipment. Germany and domestic individual manufacturers developed 6000W below the melting wire equipment, but the melting efficiency and equipment reliability are far from reaching the industrial level, the market application of silk are using electric arc technology. For this reason, ZKZM, after years of technological research, the second half of 2024 launched a 10KW fused wire equipment, filling the industry gap. 2025 launched a 15kW fused wire equipment. It has established the international leading position of domestic equipment technology.

 

In summary, ZKZM's 10,000-watt powder melting equipment and 10,000-watt wire melting equipment are in the international leading level. Especially, the 10,000-watt wire melting equipment can be used not only for laser cladding and laser welding, but also for laser welding and laser 3D printing. ZKZM will play a great role in promoting the development of China's and even the world's additive (re)manufacturing industry.