Numerical simulation of curved surface of gear in laser cladding

Most of the temperature and stress fields simulations in laser cladding were based on flat surface, while actually cladding may occur on any curved surface. The difference between cladding on flat surface and curved surface is that the latter will result in uneven distribution of laser power. Experiments of laser cladding have been done on different material gears under various technical conditions, and crackles have been observed by SEM. Some factors that affect laser power actually, such as laser shielding, the incident angle of laser and curved surface of gear are all considered. Based the analysis of the shape of layer after cladding and the phase transformaion during cladding, temperature and stress fields of gear surface laser cladding have been simulated by ANSYS in this article. The results indicate that appropriate material matching and base preheating can decrease the likelihood of crackles, even eliminate it.