Laser cladding of copper-based materials for building electrical discharge machining electrode

The paper investigates the feasibility of laser cladding of copper-based materials. As an application aspect of rapid prototyping (RP), the process could be used to build electrodes for electrical discharge machining (EDM). Two types of material system-Cu/W (with and without nickel) and Cu/B4C (with and without nickel) in certain compositions were studied. The laser cladding was conducted in a 3000W CO2 laser machine using various parameters. The microstructures of laser cladding samples were checked and analysed by SEM. The performance of electrodes made from these materials was examined in the terms of machining rate and wear rate.