Reliable and efficient power generation is a major global issue due to political and environmental concerns. However, in the power industry, the components of power generation equipment are subjected to the test of gas, high temperature, high pressure, and corrosive media in varying degrees in the operating environment. Long-term equipment may be partially damaged due to aging. In order to prolong the service life of expensive production equipment, surface remanufacturing technology can be used to repair it.
Laser cladding technology is an important method of material surface modification technology. It uses high-energy-density laser beams to rapidly melt the alloy and substrate surface with different compositions and properties, forming a completely different composition and alloy on the surface of the substrate. Under rapid thermal action, the substrate is subject to little thermal effect and no deformation. The molten layer alloy is self-contained, with dense structure, fine grain, increased hardness and toughness, and greatly improved surface properties. Laser cladding technology solves a series of technical problems such as thermal deformation and thermal fatigue damage that are inevitable in traditional electric welding, argon arc welding, and other thermal processing processes.
It is mainly used in three aspects:
1. Surface modification of materials, such as steam turbine blades, rolls, etc.;
2. Repair of parts, such as wind turbine spindle, planet carrier, planet wheel, etc;
3. Rapid prototype manufacturing, that is, using metal powder layer by layer to sinter and stack to rapidly produce models. The use of lasers can also repair damaged 3D complex parts, which fully reflects the flexibility and advancement of laser remanufacturing technology.
Many other components in power plants could benefit from using laser cladding as the corrosion solution.