A controlled thermal coefficient product manufacturing system and method is disclosed. The disclosed product relates to the manufacture of metallic material product (MMP) having a thermal expansion coefficient (TEC) in a predetermined range. The disclosed system and method provides for a first material deformation (FMD) of the MMP that comprises at least some of a first material phase (FMP) wherein the FMP comprises martensite randomly oriented and a first thermal expansion coefficient (FTC). In response to the FMD at least some of the FMP is oriented in at least one predetermined orientation. Subsequent to deformation, the MMP comprises a second thermal expansion coefficient (STC) that is within a predetermined range and wherein the thermal expansion of the MMP is in at least one predetermined direction. The MMP may be comprised of a second material phase (SMP) that may or may not transform to the FMP in response to the FMD.

The present disclosure generally relates to additive manufacturing systems and methods on a large-scale format. One aspect involves a build unit that can be moved around in three dimensions by a positioning system, building separate portions of a large object. The build unit has an energy directing device that directs, e.g., laser or e-beam irradiation onto a powder layer. In the case of laser irradiation, the build volume may have a gasflow device that provides laminar gas flow to a laminar flow zone above the layer of powder. This allows for efficient removal of the smoke, condensates, and other impurities produced by irradiating the powder (the gas plume) without excessively disturbing the powder layer. The build unit may also have a recoater that allows it to selectively deposit particular quantities of powder in specific locations over a work surface to build large, high quality, high precision objects.

A laser machining head has a function of rectifying an assist gas and includes a protection window, a nozzle configured to blow the assist gas over a workpiece, a chamber defining a space between the protection window and the nozzle, an inflow port disposed in a chamber and configured to allow the assist gas to flow in, and a flow dividing projection disposed at a position opposing to the inflow port and configured to divide the assist gas from the inflow port into a first flow and a second flow flowing along a circumferential direction around an optical axis of a laser beam.

A solder ball bonding (SBB) tool includes a rotatable feed plate for transporting solder balls from a translatable solder ball reservoir to a nozzle unit, which is a position at which a laser light source can irradiate and thus melt the solder balls. The SBB tool includes a gap between the reservoir and the feed plate positioned over the reservoir, and a feed mechanism coupled with the reservoir, where the feed mechanism is driven by a pressurized gas to translate the reservoir upward across at least a portion of the gap in preparation for movement of a solder ball to the feed plate and downward in preparation for rotation of the feed plate after a solder ball is moved to the feed plate. The gap may have a maximum size that exceeds a nominal size of the solder balls contained in the reservoir.

Using hydrogen in the shielding gas during laser welding is counter-intuitive to standard formulation design practices which often strive to limit or eliminate hydrogen from the shielding gas for laser welding (or from the welding arc and weld pool for other welding methods). The present disclosure is directed to a laser welding technique that utilizes hydrogen in the shielding gas to limit the production of slag, oxides, or silicates during welding or additive manufacturing.

Systems and methods for additive manufacturing, and, in particular, such methods and apparatus as employ pulsed lasers or other heating arrangements to create metal droplets from donor metal micro wires, which droplets, when solidified in the aggregate, form 3D structures. A supply of metal micro wire is arranged so as to be fed towards a nozzle area by a piezo translator. Near the nozzle, an end portion of the metal micro wire is heated (e.g., by a laser pulse or an electric heater element), thereby causing the end portion of the metal micro wire near the nozzle area to form a droplet of metal. A receiving substrate is positioned to receive the droplet of metal jetted from the nozzle area.

A laser welding device includes: a laser scanner body configured to emit a laser beam to a workpiece; a jet nozzle configured to jet gas so as to cause the gas to cross an optical path of the laser beam emitted from the laser scanner body; and a guide plate disposed on the downstream side in the flow direction of the gas, from the optical path of the laser beam emitted from the laser scanner body. The guide plate is configured to change the flow direction of the gas that has crossed the optical path of the laser beam into a direction away from a laser irradiation position on the workpiece toward the downstream side in the flow direction of the gas.

The invention concerns an apparatus and its use for laser welding. A laser welding apparatus comprise at least one first laser device, each providing at least one first optical feed fiber with a first laser beam; at least one second laser device, each providing at least one second optical feed fiber with a second laser beam; means for generating a composite laser beam comprising a first output laser beam and a second output laser beam for welding a workpiece; wherein the first output laser beam has a circular cross-section and the second output laser beam has an annular shape concentric to the first output laser beam. The second laser device is a fiber laser device or a fiber-coupled laser device. The apparatus is configured to form the second output laser beam at least on the basis of the second laser beam, and the second output laser beam comprises a first wavelength and a second wavelength having difference of at least 10 nanometers, or the second output laser beam has spectrum width of least 10 nanometers.

A wear-resistant member production method includes: forming a clad layer by moving, relative to a substrate while feeding cladding powder onto the substrate and melting it using a local heating device; and cutting the clad layer. The cladding powder includes matrix powder containing a copper-based alloy, and hard powder including, as a hard phase, a silicide containing one or more elements selected from Cr, Fe, Co, Ni, and Cu, and one or more elements selected from Mo, W, and Nb. The hard powder includes first hard powder and second hard powder. The second hard powder is fed, separately from the first hard powder, to a melt pool formed by melting the first hard powder and the matrix powder, such that at least part of the second hard powder remains unmelted within the clad layer.

A head attachment is attached to a welding head of a laser welding machine. The head attachment includes an opening through which a laser beam emitted from the welding head for irradiation to a weld position passes. A gas blow nozzle is attached to the side of the head attachment and blows shielding gas to the weld position. The gas blow nozzle includes a main nozzle that is disposed closer to the head attachment and is supplied with the shielding gas by a first gas pipe, and a sub-nozzle that is disposed so as to be adjacent to the main nozzle and farther away from the head attachment than the main nozzle and is supplied with the shielding gas by a second gas pipe. The sub-nozzle is removable from the main nozzle.