827

Component repair using laser direct metal deposition

A J Pinkerton*, W Wang, and L Li
The School of Mechanical, Aerospace, and Civil Engineering, The University of Manchester, Manchester, UK

The manuscript was received on 14 September 2007 and was accepted after revision for publication on 20 March 2008.

DOI: 10.1243/09544054JEM1008

Abstract: Recent studies have indicated that laser direct metal deposition can be used for
repairing deep or internal cracks and defects in metallic components. In order to implement
the method, it is necessary to machine a groove or slot to the depth of the defect and refill it.
This work investigates advantages and potential problems with the technique and compares
the results from using two different slot geometries: one rectangular and one triangular in
cross-section. H13 hot-work tool steel components are used and H13 powder is deposited using
a 1.5 kW diode laser and lateral nozzle. Different combinations of deposition parameters are
tested and each sample is analysed in terms of mass deposition rate, deposition microstructure,
evidence of porosity, size of the heat-affected zone, and microhardness. Results are evaluated
using statistical techniques and the important parameters that control each variable are identi-
fied. The work provides evidence that the method can produce high-quality repairs, but poros-
ity at the boundaries between the original part and the added material is a problem.

Keywords: laser, direct metal deposition, H13 steel, statistical analysis, repair

1 INTRODUCTION resulting in distortion and heat-related effects in the

During the life of a component it may be subject to
local impacts, corrosion, variable or regular thermal
cycles and stresses, or other testing conditions with
the potential to cause local defects or cracking. For
example, cracks can be initiated in welds by mis-
matched creep properties, at geometric discontinu-
ities in foundry goods on account of residual
thermal stresses, and in turbine shafts and blades
owing to high-cycle fatigue and corrosion [1]. Fatigue
and stress cracks are common initiators of failures
that cause high-performance and high-value compo-
nents to be discarded as useless [2]. The development
of ultrasonic techniques means that internal cracks
can now be detected before failure occurs [3], but
there is no established method to repair them.
Historically, fusion welding has been used for
repair of surface cracks. One of the first methods
was tungsten inert gas (TIG) welding [4]. However,
while relatively easy to apply, this method produces
a lot of heat and can cause high residual stresses,
*Corresponding author: School of Mechanical, Aerospace, and
Civil Engineering, University of Manchester, PO Box 88,
Sackville Street, Manchester M60 1QD, UK. email: andrew.
pinkerton@manchester.ac.uk
base metal [5]. Plasma transferred arc (PTA) welding
[6] and electron beam (EB) welding [7] are alternative
processes requiring lower heat input but needing
more complex and expensive apparatus. EB welding,
in particular, gives a very precise heat flux, but it
needs a vacuum environment so is more expensive
and difficult to apply to larger parts [8]. The high-
velocity oxyfuel (HVOF) thermal spraying technique
[9] is a procedure that has found use in many indus-
tries. There is less component distortion than
with TIG welding and it has many advantages over
plasma spraying, including deposition of a thicker
and lower-porosity coating. However, tight control
of depth and spread of deposited material is not
possible, meaning an extensive secondary machining
stage is usually required.
The process of laser direct metal deposition
(LDMD) [10, 11] is well suited to surface repair appli-
cations. LDMD involves creating a moving melt pool
on a metal surface using a laser and blowing metal
powder of the same or a different type into it using
an inert gas stream. The added material increases
the size of the pool, which rapidly solidifies into a
raised track when the laser moves on. The deposition
area can thus be precisely controlled. Residual stres-
ses are formed but are lower than from TIG welding

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828 A J Pinkerton, W Wang, and L Li
and can be compressive at the surface [12, 13]. The
physical and corrosion properties of the final mate-
rial can be difficult to predict because it undergoes
a repeated heating–cooling cycle [14], but they can
in many cases exceed those of the parent material
[15]. The application of the repair process has been
researched by several authors [16, 17]. Wang et al.
[18] used a dual-beam laser arrangement for repairing
surface cracks in Ni-based superalloy components; the
method was designed for cracks of 0.1–0.3 mm width.
The repair of internal cracks is more difficult than
the repair of surface cracks because it is necessary
first to mill a slot down to the affected area to remove
the crack and surrounding material and then refill the
volume with the same metal. Grum and Slabe [19]
reported a study on the repair of narrow surface
cracks in 12 per cent Ni hot-working maraging tool
steel by a laser surface melting method. Song et al.
[20] studied the rebuilding of a V-slot of up to 20 mm
in depth in medium-carbon steel with stainless steel,
using multilayer deposition with a CO2 laser. However,
as different materials were used, that could not strictly
be classed as a like-for-like repair technique. Han et al.
[21] used thermal imaging techniques, to study the fill-
ing of rectangular slots with stainless steel and mod-
elled the process. These authors found the process to
be unstable, which was attributable to the powder
injection process.
Repair methods have found wide application in a
number of industries, including the aerospace and
turbine industries [16, 22–26]. Demand for them is
likely to continue, and increased concern about the
environment is also encouraging the use of repair or
similar methods [27] for the repair of components
or for the remanufacture of complete assemblies in
other industries [27]. LDMD can play a role in this;
however, no attempt has yet been made to consoli-
date the results from studies of LDMD for internal
crack repair using rectangular and triangular (V)
cross-section slots by assessing if the same para-
metric relationships hold for each. In this paper,
potential problems with the application of LDMD to
repair damaged components are investigated, and
the effects of process parameters and slot geometry
on the process are analysed.
2 EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURE
2.1 Methods and materials
The base metal used in the investigation was the
chromium hot-work tool steel H13, with composition
(wt %): 0.4C, 5.3Cr, 1Si, 0.3Mn, 1.4Mo, 1V, 0.005S,
balance Fe [28]. This steel is widely used in the die
casting industry. All base blocks were rectangular,
with exterior dimensions of 24 · 16 · 12 mm. A slot
of rectangular cross-section, 3.3 mm wide and 6.0 mm
Proc. IMechE Vol. 222 Part B: J. Engineering Manufacture
deep, was machined along the mid-line of the upper
surface (24 · 16) of one set of blocks, parallel with
the longer side. A slot of triangular cross-section,
6.0 mm deep and with 60
included angle, was
machined along the mid-line of the upper surface of
a second set of blocks. The same volume of material
was thus removed from every block. After machining,
the upper surfaces of the blocks were grit blasted.
Predried H13 powder with a particle size of
53–150 mm was used to replace the machined-away
volume using laser direct metal deposition (LDMD).
An FST PF-2/2 disc-type powder feeder manufactured
by Flame Spray Technologies Ltd was used to deliver
the powder. Argon was used as the conveyance gas,
and an additional 0.67 L/s flow of argon from a lateral
nozzle with an internal diameter of 30 mm acted as a
shield gas to reduce surface oxidation during deposi-
tion. Power was supplied by a Laserline LDL 160–1500
diode laser with a maximum power of 1.5 kW and a
dual-wavelength output of 808 and 940 nm (infrared).
The beam was directed onto the surface using a lens
with a focal length of 300 mm, such that the upper
surface of the block lay in the imaging plane. The laser
beam in that plane was rectangular with a size equal to
3.5 mm (slow axis) · 2.5 mm (fast axis). During the
experiment, the diode laser beam was kept stationary
and the workpiece was moved with a CNC x–y table
parallel to both the slow axis of the beam and the
groove. Prior to each experiment and between tracks,
the height of a sample was adjusted in the z direction
using a manual adjustment mechanism on the workta-
ble. The experimental apparatus and base samples
used are illustrated in Fig. 1.
After an experiment, the repair quality was initially
evaluated by visual observation. The samples were
then sectioned in a transverse plane, and ground
and polished using standard metallographic techni-
ques. The polished specimen surfaces were etched
with 3% Nital (10 mL nitric acid, 90 mL methanol),
Fig. 1 Laser deposition with slotted base blocks (schematic)
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 Component repair using laser direct metal deposition
and the morphology and microstructures were exam-
ined using optical microscopy and a Philips XL32
ESEM-FG. The degree of porosity in a rebuilt area
was quantified by analysis of the optical micrographs
using the Photoshop 8.0 software package to quantify
the number of pixels representing porosity and the
overall rebuilt area and dividing accordingly to obtain
the average porosity ratio.
A cross-section through each sample was tested for
hardness using a Buehler MicroMet digital microin-
dentation hardness tester. The mean hardness was
assessed by taking the average of five hardness mea-
surements at points within the original slot. Three
points were evenly spaced on the centre-line of the
slot and two points were at the width of the slot at
2 mm below the original substrate surface.
Some repair deposits were performed specifically
for tensile strength testing by using wider substrate
pieces (24 · 200 mm). After repair, the start and end
of the filled groove were ground away, and the under-
side of the specimen was ground to give a total depth
of 7.7 mm (slot depth plus 1.2 mm). Any defects in the
base of the slot were thus preserved, but the analysis
mainly tested the strength of the repair in the middle
of the block rather than the substrate. A gauge length
of 25 mm was evaluated at a strain rate of 3 mm/min
using an Instron 4507 tensile/compressive test rig.
2.2 Plan of experiments
Two experiments were performed, one for the
square-slot specimens and one for the V-slot speci-
mens. A 33 factorial design method was used [29]; the
Design-Expert (Stat-Ease Inc., http://www.statease.
com/) software package was used to assist with
experiment planning. The same three levels of power,
P, powder mass flowrate, F, and traverse speed, V,
were used in each experiment, and as many deposi-
tion runs as necessary for complete filling of a
machined slot were made at each parameter combi-
nation. This meant in most cases that there was
some additional material deposited above the origi-
nal surface of the base block, but this could, in a
practical repair situation, be easily machined away.
The number of tracks taken to fill a slot was taken
as a quantitative indicator of the deposition rate.
The levels used in the experiments are shown in
Table 1 [29].
Table 1 Assignment of levels to the independent process
variables tested
Delivered laser Powder mass Traverse speed
Level power (kW) flowrate (g/s) (mm/s)
1 0.9 0.237 1 Total
0 1.2 0.472 3
1 1.5 0.710 6 *DOF ¼ degrees of freedom.
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829
The significance of relationships between the
dependent variables (the number of tracks to fill a
slot, the porosity, the size of the heat-affected zone,
and the mean hardness of the deposited material)
and the independent variables was assessed in this
way by analysis of variance (ANOVA) using the
Design-Expert and SPSS software (http://www.spss.
com/spss/) packages. ANOVA analysis was per-
formed with a level of significance of 0.05 (i.e. a
95 per cent confidence level) throughout and initially
included product terms to assess simple interactions
between the process variables.
3 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
3.1 Mass deposition rate
It took between 1 and 24 separate tracks to fill a slot
completely. Because it is the deposition rate rather
than the number of tracks required to fill a slot that
is expected to be physically related to the independent
process parameters, an initial inverse transformation
was applied to the experimental data. ANOVA analy-
sis, including all main and product terms was found
to give only a moderate fit for the square slots and
an insignificant relationship for the V-slots. Model
reduction to assess only main effects resulted in the
satisfactory identification of significant parameters
shown in Tables 2 and 3. The significance of each
relationship is shown by the standard F-test; the final
column aids the interpretation of the value by giving
the probability of it occurring if the null hypothesis is
true (i.e. there is no factor effect).
Table 2 indicates a highly significant model. Speed
and powder flow are very important factors in the
deposition rate within a square groove. Laser power
as an independent term has little or no significance.
This is in agreement with results by Paul et al. [30]
for deposition of Inconel 718 on a plane surface, who
found power to be the least significant main indepen-
dent process variable. It is also an indication that, at
the parameters tested, the deposition rate is mass
rather than power limited [31] and that there is
sufficient power available to assimilate all power
Table 2 Analysis of variance (ANOVA) for the number of
tracks to fill a square slot
Sum of Mean
Source squares DOF* square F-value Prob > F
Model 0.668 3 0.222 39.808 <0.0001
Power 0.008 1 0.008 1.529 0.2265
Powder flow 0.064 1 0.064 11.533 0.0021
Speed 0.595 1 0.595 106.3637 <0.0001
Lack of fit 0.156 23 0.006
0.824 26
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830 A J Pinkerton, W Wang, and L Li

Table 3 Analysis of variance (ANOVA) for the number of

tracks to fill a V-slot
Source Sum of DOF* Mean F-value Prob > F
squares square

Model 1.508 3 0.310 6.027 0.0005

Power 0.380 1 0.380 7.406 0.0117
Powder flow 0.629 1 0.629 12.248 0.0018
Speed 0.498 1 0.499 9.714 0.0046
Lack of fit 1.633 23 0.071
Total 3.141 26

*DOF ¼ degrees of freedom.

reaching the melt zone. This could at least in part be

due to the upper parts of the slots shielding the melt
pool from incoming powder. Table 3 shows a similar
pattern, with powder flow again appearing to have
most significance, although power appears more
important than for deposition in a square groove,
possibly owing to reduced powder shielding in this
case. These relationships are shown via scatter plots
in Fig. 2; the commonly used term of specific energy
(power/(speed · beam diameter) ) is used in Fig. 2(b).
If Nsquare and NV are the number of tracks taken to
fill the square and V-slots respectively, and P, F, and
V are the coded factors representing the laser power,
powder mass flowrate, and traverse speed respec-
tively, then regression analysis gives the predictive
equations (1) and (2). As expected, the equations
indicate that the number of tracks required decreases
with powder flow and increases with speed. Surpris-
ingly, they also indicate that the number increases
with power, which appears to contradict established
relationships between power, or specific energy and
LDMD deposition rates on a surface [31, 32]. How-
ever, in a mass- rather than power-limited deposition
regime, ‘meltdown’ may have occurred in this case,
assisted by overall substrate heating owing to the
multiple passes required to fill most of the slots. Fig. 2 Number of runs required to fill the machined slots
The consequential reduction in the height of the versus (a) line mass and (b) specific energy
tracks would then have reduced the rate at which
the slot was filled, at least vertically
adjacent tracks [34]. Intralayer porosity is often sphe-
1
¼ 0:24  0:022P þ 0:06F  0:18V ð1Þ rical areas of porosity within a layer – its cause is not
Nsquare always clear but is thought to be related to gas
dissolved or entrapped within the melt [35]. Factors
1 that can lead to porosity include inconsistent specific
¼ 0:37  0:15P þ 0:19F  0:17V ð2Þ
NV energy, misplaced tracks, an oxide layer preventing
or hindering fusion, and initial porosity in the
3.2 Porosity
powder.
Pore and void formation is a problem that has been ANOVA analysis was performed in the same way as
identified in LDMD on a plane surface and can be for the number of layers; in this case it was not neces-
divided into three categories. Interrun porosity [33] sary to eliminate interactions to identify significant
is caused by the horizontally aligned or offset tracks relationships. The analysis results are shown in
of incompatible aspect ratios and forms near the Tables 4 and 5.
base of deposited tracks. Interlayer lack of fusion For the square slots, no one factor dominates; all
porosity is caused by incomplete bonding between main factors and tested interactions are significant,

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 Component repair using laser direct metal deposition 831

Table 4 Analysis of variance (ANOVA) for porosity in a

filled square slot

Sum of Mean Prob

Source squares DOF* square F-value >F

Model 0.351 6 0.058 16.05 <0.0001

Power 0.088 1 0.088 24.09 <0.0001
Powder flow 0.117 1 0.117 32.18 <0.0001
Speed 0.072 1 0.072 19.88 0.0002
Power · powder flow 0.019 1 0.019 5.202 0.0313
Power · speed 0.026 1 0.026 7.018 0.0138
Powder flow · speed 0.029 1 0.029 7.905 0.0094
Lack of fit 0.091 20 0.005
Total 0.442 26

*DOF ¼ degrees of freedom.

Table 5 Analysis of variance (ANOVA) for porosity in a

filled V-slot

Sum of Mean Prob

Source squares DOF* square F-value >F

Model 0.023 6 0.004 14.60 <0.0001

Power 0.004 1 0.004 15.36 0.0006
Powder flow 0.018 1 0.018 68.01 <0.0001
Speed 0.000 1 0.000 1.011 0.3244
Power · powder flow 0.001 1 0.001 2.141 0.1559
Power · speed 0.000 1 0.000 0.026 0.8737
Powder flow · speed 0.000 1 0.000 1.035 0.3188
Lack of fit 0.007 20 0.000
Total 0.029 26

*DOF ¼ degrees of freedom. Fig. 3 Microstructure in a transverse plane of the sample

although the main factors have higher F-values than
the interactions. Conversely, for a V-slot, power and
powder flow are the dominant factors, with speed
and all interactions having insignificant effects on
the level of porosity. Examination of some of the slots
with higher levels of porosity indicated that large
areas of interrun-type porosity were responsible.
The voids were irregular and generally longer verti-
cally than horizontally, which would not have been
the case if they were entirely due to interlayer lack
of fusion. The micrographs showed that porosity
was particularly evident near corners of the slots.
The porosity expected in a square and a V-shaped
slot can be predicted using the interpolated equa-
tions (3) and (4), which show that porosity increases
with both identified main parameters – powder flow
and power. Powder flow has the most notable effect
on track height and therefore reduces the aspect
ratio (track width/track height). This process would
probably increase interrun porosity – Steen et al.
[33] recommended an aspect ratio of greater than
5 for a 50 per cent (horizontal) track overlap for
porosity-free volume deposition. For increases in
laser power to increase porosity is counterintuitive
and may be due to its secondary effect on mass
prepared at a line energy of 1200 J/mm and or line
mass of 0.237 g/mm: (a) optical micrograph of
fusion zone; (b) SEM of deposited material
assimilation and therefore individual track height or
its contribution to overall substrate heating and
hence formation of ‘stray’ molten areas
Csquare ¼ 0:118 þ 0:070P þ 0:081F  0:63V
þ 0:040PF  0:46PV  0:049FV ð3Þ
CV ¼ 0:053 þ 0:015P þ 0:031F þ 0:007PF ð4Þ
3.3 Microstructure and the heat-affected
zone (HAZ)
The original substrate material was H13 in an unhar-
dened condition. Metallurgical examination identi-
fied it as ferritic with a homogeneous distribution of
carbides. Figure 3 shows a higher-magnification opti-
cal micrograph (a) and an SEM image (b) of the
deposition area and fusion zone respectively from a
typical sample.
The microstructure in the rebuilt zone in most sam-
ples is fine, free of microporosity and cracks. Grain
direction on moving outwards is radial and the grains
are highly elongated, indicating directional cooling.

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832 A J Pinkerton, W Wang, and L Li
Fig. 4 Micrographs of cross-sections through selected samples prepared at a speed of 3 mm/s and a line
mass of 0.237 g/mm: (a) V-type 1500 J/mm; (b) V-type 200 J/mm; (c) V-type 900 J/mm; (d) square
1500 J/mm; (e) square 200 J/mm; (f) square 900 J/mm
This reflects the ‘self-quenching’ nature of the LDMD
process and the fact that the majority of the absorbed
heat from the laser is rapidly conducted to the sub-
strate. There is a distinct fusion bonding interface
between the added material and the substrate.
Figure 4 compares micrographs of cross-sections
through selected square and V-slots. The central dark
region seen in Figs 4(a) and (c) and 5(b) is tempered
martensite. The cooling rates typically experienced in
LDMD are rapid and in normal heat treatment the
H13 steel can be fully hardened by an air cool [36].
Additionally, previous work has shown that surface
deposition of H13 produces martensitic structures
[32]. Some primary carbides are also visible. The sur-
rounding light regions are untempered martensite,
which is light etching, and represent areas that have
been heated above the critical temperature only once.
The area of the HAZ was quantified from the pro-
duct of its width at the upper surface and the depth
at the centre-line of the slot minus the cross-sectional
area of the slot (19.2 mm2). Taking a more complex
geometry for the zones would not have affected the
ANOVA that follows. The strengths of the relationships
of the size of the HAZ with the primary input variables
and interactions between them were tested, and the
analysis is shown in Tables 6 and 7.
The most significant parameter for size of the HAZ
when filling a square slot is traverse speed, although
powder flow and, to a lesser extent, power are also
important. This is in agreement with the work of
Rostami and Raisi [37], who showed that, for a laser
heat source moving over a semi-infinite substrate
with no mass addition, the heat-affected zone and
Proc. IMechE Vol. 222 Part B: J. Engineering Manufacture
melt pool size decrease as the translational speed of
the beam increase. Conversely, when filling a V-slot,
powder flow is very significant and any relationship
between HAZ size and speed has over a 10 per cent
chance of being pure chance.
Equations (5) and (6) predict HAZ size from the
coded input variables. In both cases the area is pre-
dicted to decrease with power, powder flow, and
speed. This unusual result is a combination of the nor-
mal reduction in melt zone with speed that is seen
when there is no mass addition and the fact that power
and powder flow lead to a greater amount of material
being deposited. This moves the source of the heat
higher in the slot for subsequent passes of the laser,
reducing any further heating effect near the base of
the slot. The stronger relationship between HAZ size
and power for V-slots could be because deposition at
the narrow bottom part of the slot moves the heat
source upwards more quickly than deposition in the
broad bottom part of a square slot
HAZsquare ¼ 39:2  6:67P  8:10F  11:5V  0:98PF
þ 1:70PV þ 7:54FV
ð5Þ
HAZV ¼ 41:5  3:14P  11:5F  6:12V þ 5:44PF
þ 4:49PV þ 7:18FV
ð6Þ
3.4 Hardness
The hardness in the rebuilt zone and the tensile
strength of the rebuilt area were tested as an indication
of the cooling rates during formation [38] and the
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 Component repair using laser direct metal deposition 833

Table 6 Analysis of variance (ANOVA) for the size of the

HAZ formed filling a square slot

Sum of Mean
Source squares DOF* square F - value Prob >F

Model 5092 6 848.8 7.361 0.0001

Power 800.4 1 800.4 6.942 0.0142
Powder flow 1182 1 1182 10.25 0.0037
Speed 2381 1 2381 20.65 0.0001
Power · powder flow 11.53 1 11.53 0.100 0.7545
Power · speed 34.85 1 34.85 0.302 0.5874
Powder flow · speed 682.4 1 682.4 5.918 0.0225
Lack of fit 2882 20 144.129
Total 7975 26

*DOF ¼ degrees of freedom.

Table 7 Analysis of variance (ANOVA) for the size of the

HAZ formed filling a V-slot

Sum of Mean
Source squares DOF* square F-value Prob >F

Model 4438 6 739.7 2.947 0.0258

Power 177.4 1 177.4 0.707 0.4085
Powder flow 2372 1 2372 9.448 0.0051
Speed 673.2 1 673.2 2.682 0.1140
Power · powder flow 355.5 1 355.5 1.416 0.2452
Power · speed 242.2 1 242.2 0.965 0.3354
Powder flow · speed 618.2 1 618.2 2.463 0.1291
Lack of fit 6276 20 313.8
Total 10713 26

*DOF ¼ degrees of freedom.

integrity of the bonding. Figure 5 shows microhardness

Fig. 5 Microhardness distributions along the rebuilt clad-
ding layers of samples at a line energy of (a,b)
1200 J/s and (c,d) 400 J/s.
profiles in transverse cross-sections through four sam-
ples after multipass deposition. These profiles are typi-
cal of all the samples. Microhardness varies from
approximately HV 200 in the original substrate to
over HV 700 within the redeposited area. This exceeds
the normal working hardness of the material, which is
HV 400–600 [39, p. 146] and provides further evidence
for the martensitic nature of the deposit. Comparison
with Fig. 5 indicates that the limit of the hardened
zones in both horizontal and vertical directions
matches the HAZs identified visually.
ANOVA analysis of the effects of input parameters
and interactions on the mean deposit hardness
required the models to be reduced to linear terms
to obtain significant relationships. The results were
then clear and indicated that, for both square and
V-slots, powder mass flowrate was the most signifi-
cant parameter (F-values of 0.032 and 0.050 respec-
tively). Laser power was insignificant in both cases,
and traverse speed had a weaker effect for the
square slot only (F-value 4.28, Prob > F 0.0479).
Hardness increased with increasing powder flow,
which is not what would be expected for surface
deposition, as an increased deposition rate implies
a larger melt pool, reduced cooling rate [40], and
therefore coarser microstructure and lower final

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834 A J Pinkerton, W Wang, and L Li
Fig. 6 Stress–extension curves for LDMD samples: (a)
1200 W, 0.237 g/s, 6 mm/s; (b) 1200 W, 0.237 g/s,
1 mm/s
hardness [38]. However, in this case the high powder
feed rate acted to reduce the number of passes
required to fill a slot and therefore the number of
reheat cycles experienced, and this meant there
was less remelting and probably therefore coarsen-
ing of the original deposited microstructure. Addi-
tionally, the smaller the number of passes required
to fill a slot, the lower is the degree of overall sub-
strate heating and thus the higher is the cooling
rate for deposition of the final tracks.
3.5 Tensile strength
Transverse tensile testing was carried out on two
square and two triangular slot samples, and the results
are shown in Fig. 6 and quantified in Table 8.
The stresses are in all cases considerably lower
than the ultimate tensile strengths of soft annealed
H13 (670 MPa) and tempered H13 (1.7 GPa) [36]. In
fact, although some plastic deformation of the base
material may have occurred, failure stresses are lower
Proc. IMechE Vol. 222 Part B: J. Engineering Manufacture
Table 8 Failure parameters for V-slot and square-slot
specimens
Failure
Line energy Line mass stress Failure
Slot type (J/mm) (g/mm) (MPa) strain
V 250 0.0395 483 0.33
Square 250 0.0395 427 0.18
V 1200 0.237 340 0.13
Square 1200 0.237 309 0.13
than even the yield stress of the heat-affected mate-
rial in and surrounding the original slot [36, 41].
Examination of the specimens indicated that in
both cases the V-slots had failed in the middle of
the redeposited area, while the square slots had failed
in the fusion zone, near the original slot wall. The
square slots appeared to have incompletely fused
planes corresponding to the initial sides of the
machined slot. It is likely that this is because, when
depositing material in a square slot, the laser beam
did not impinge directly onto the side walls, so crea-
tion of a fusion bond would have relied solely on the
heat conducted from the molten zone. When the slot
was V-shaped the laser beam could impinge directly
on the side walls and hence directly provide sufficient
energy for a good fusion bond.
The micrographs shown in Fig. 4 show another
possible reason for the premature failure of samples.
Small cracks can be seen around the fusion area in
Fig. 4(d), and these were generally present in samples
prepared at higher line energy. They were most likely
caused by stresses around the repair zone as a result
of thermal contraction during the rapid cooling
phase. Stress relief is normally recommended for
H13 after hardening [39].
4 CONCLUSIONS
The use of diode laser direct metal deposition as a
means of repairing internal cracks in metallic compo-
nents has been assessed by repairing slots with rectan-
gular and triangular cross-sections in H13 steel and
statistically analysing the results. In all cases, the final
state of the deposited material was tempered marten-
site with high hardness surrounded by a heat-affected
zone of untempered martensite. A solid deposit with
fine microstructure and good fusion bond to the base
can be formed, but the formation of porosity is a pro-
blem with a slot of either shape. The vertical side walls
of a square slot are a problem, as they shield powder
and do not have direct laser irradiation to aid the for-
mation of a fusion bond with incoming powder, and
sharp angles within a slot, such as the lowest point of
a V-slot, are also prone to porosity. Porosity tends to
increase with laser power and powder flow for both
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types of slot and has a detrimental effect on the
strength of the repaired area.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors are grateful to technical staff at the Uni-
versity of Manchester for their assistance, particularly
Arthur Sumner and Dave Mortimer for machining/
grinding and tensile testing of samples respectively.
Thanks also to Dr Lee Mein Wee for early help with
statistical analysis methods. This work is partially
funded by The UK Engineering and Physical Sciences
Research Council (EPSRC) via grant EP/C00194X/1.
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APPENDIX
Notation
Csquare porosity in a square slot (vol %)
CV porosity in a V-slot (vol %)
F powder mass flowrate (g/s)
HAZsquare size of the heat-affected zone around a
square slot (mm)
HAZV size of the heat-affected zone around a
V-slot (mm)
Nsquare number of tracks to fill a square slot
NV number of tracks to fill a V-slot
P laser power (kW)
V traverse speed (mm/s)
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