Surface texturing with laser micro cladding to improve tribological properties

In this work, laser microcadding with continuous wave laser is proposed as a productive, flexi-ble and simple method for surface modification of 3D metallic components, to generate microfea-tures which influence the surface interaction of tribological pairs and surfaces under lubricated con-tact conditions. In this paper, texturing additive process by means of laser micro-cladding [LμC] is presented. LμC texturing has been developed for generation of functional and tribological surfaces on metallic components. On one hand, cladding allows the engineering of surface properties, as a wide range of clad materials can be chosen for increasing properties and performance of the compo-nents. On the other hand, microtexturing adds the possibility of generating controlled geometrical features in the micron scale, which influence the interactions with the lubrication fluids and the wearing mechanisms. The proposed LμC technique combines these two advantages in a single step for a novel surface treatment.