Research on molten pool shape during laser rapid forming through the close-range continuous photography

Laser Rapid Forming (LRF) is a new and advanced manufacture technology to accomplish near net shape metal components with high performance for use in the aerospace, defense and chemical processing industries. In this paper the close-range continuous photography is used to take side views on the cladding zone in order to disclose inherent characteristic of the laser rapid forming process. The vivid molten pool shape is obtained by adopting image partition technology since the not molten area is eliminated from the photos. It is found that the molten pool size depended essentially on the LRF process parameters. With introducing the metal powders into the focus spot of the laser beam, the molten pool retains a segment arc raised outward and the molten pool free surface inclines to the axis of laser beam. Further results show that the molten pool inclination plays an important role on the microstructure of the LRF components.