Study on deposition rate and laser energy efficiency of Laser-Induction Hybrid Cladding

• Cladding efficiency of laser-induction hybrid cladding (LIHC) was studied.
• LIHC can improve the coating deposition rate remarkable.
• LIHC can improve the laser energy efficiency remarkable.

Laser-Induction Hybrid Cladding (LIHC) was introduced to prepare metal silicide based composite coatings, and influence of different factors such as laser type, laser power, laser scan speed and induction preheating temperature on the coating deposition rate and laser energy efficiency was studied systematically. Compared with conventional CO2 laser cladding, fiber laser-induction hybrid cladding improves the coating deposition rate and laser energy efficiency by 3.7 times. When a fiber laser with laser power of 4 kW was combined with an induction preheating temperature of 850 °C, the maximum coating deposition rate and maximum laser energy efficiency reaches 71 g/min and 64% respectively.