Direct rapid high-temperature alloy prototyping by hybrid plasma-laser technology

Direct metal or end-use-material prototyping technology has received widespread attention in the world. However, it is difficult to obtain the full density metal or high performance specialty material parts only by using laser beam at present. The authors have thus conducted development research of direct and rapid plasma deposition manufacturing (PDM) by using plasma arc beam, but there are some problems such as the part accuracy and surface state are required to improve, and the energy is insufficient to melt high-temperature alloy and refractory materials perfectly if using micro-plasma arc gun although it is able to gain near net shape parts. In this paper, a new direct and rapid metal prototyping technology by using hybrid plasma-laser deposition manufacturing (PLDM) is developed for obtaining near net shape full density and good surface intractable high-temperature alloy prototype. Unlike PDM technology, a laser beam is entered into the plasma arc beam as assisting heat energy, and added for surface modify. In this study, attempts are made to improve part accuracy, basic performance of surface and inner. The results show that the laser beam can diminish the molten pool diameter, enhance the stability of the plasma arc beam, improve the surface state and make plasma arc-igniting easier. The inner layer of the part fabricated with this process has no porosity, and the deposition layers are metallurgical bonded. Thus the PLDM technology is able to overcome the shortcomings of existing RP and RT, and can be used for direct refractory and intractable materials prototyping.