The Impact of Laser Cladding Technology on the Production of Cutters

The Impact of Laser Cladding Technology on the Production of Cutters

Cutters are cutting tools used in coal mining machines and tunnel excavation machinery. The quality of cutters directly affects the efficiency of the mining machine and the production costs of the enterprise. As a material for coal mining machine cutters, they are required to have high strength, hardness, and wear resistance, as well as high bending strength and corrosion resistance, to prevent breakage, bending, deformation, and premature wear during use.

The currently promoted laser cladding process for cutters can use a laser as a heat source to melt powder onto the surface of the workpiece, creating a metallurgical bond with high bonding strength and low dilution. Laser cladding is a new surface modification technology. Its principle is to use a high-density laser beam to rapidly melt alloys with different compositions and properties on the surface of a substrate, forming a rapidly solidified alloy layer on the substrate surface with completely different composition and properties from the substrate. Compared with traditional methods such as welding, spraying, and electroplating, it has characteristics such as low dilution, dense microstructure, good coating-to-substrate bonding, suitability for a wide range of cladding materials, and variability in particle size and content.

Laser-clad cutters have characteristics such as wear resistance, long service life, resistance to breaking, and no sparks. They not only reduce coal production costs and decrease workers' labor intensity but also effectively address the long-standing problem of sparks generated during cutter use, which threatened coal production safety. The application of laser cladding materials allows the performance indicators and shapes of the cutter cladding layer to be versatile and controllable. The use of laser cladding materials and processes completely resolves the problem of annealing softening of the cutter head caused by the brazing process.