Laser cladding is widely used in industry to precisely apply tailored surface coatings, as well as three-dimensional deposits for repair and additive manufacturing of metallic parts. However, the processing of larger components is economically challenging mainly because of low deposition rates. At Fraunhofer IWS a Laserline fiber-coupled diode laser of 20 kW power has been employed for over a decade to develop competitive coating solutions. The deposition rates achieved with this technology is comparable to those of common PTA technique, while at the same time bringing significant advantages in terms of reduced heat affected zone, distortion and savings in material resources.

In an optimized laser cladding coating process the costs of the feedstock material play a crucial role. While high-power powder-based laser cladding is an industrially established coating technology, for example to coat hydraulic cylinders or most recently brake discs, no high-productivity solution for wire-based processes is available. Fraunhofer IWS has developed a new nozzle for high-power high-productivity laser wire cladding for coating and additive manufacturing. The new COAXquattro system feeds four wires at the same time into the melt pool, reaching deposition efficiencies in the same range as a powder-based process with the same material. For selected materials, the improvement in coating quality compared to powder laser cladding is achieved. Furthermore, with COAXquattro system, simultaneous feeding of powder particles to wire cladding presents a great potential for in-situ alloying and cost-effective production of new compositions on material alloying or hardmetal-reinforced composites for coating application and 3D additive manufacturing.