A numerical simulation of movement powder flow and development of the carrier-gas powder feeder for laser repairing

Laser cladding technology has led to the development of a unique method for repairing, providing fast, near net shape reconstruction of components to blueprint dimensions. However, when the direction of the coaxial nozzle is out of the vertical with repairing surface, the powder feeder with carrying gas must be need. In this paper, the movement of gas particle two phase flow has been simulated with ANSYS software. The powder feed equipment with carrier-gas has been developed due to optimum design parameters. It mainly consists of two parts as follows: part one is alloy powder measurement unit, part two is convey powder unit with carrying gas. Lots of tests of powder transport with carrying gas with Ni02(45) aWC were performed. The result is shown that it can solve problems of the superfine powders type transport and powder feed stabilization, moreover, it makes the precise feeding of powders possible, the powder feed rate 5-80g/min, catch efficiency up to 20%.