A laser processing system that can effectively blow out a material of a workpiece melted by a laser beam by effectively utilizing an assist gas emitted from a nozzle. The laser processing system comprises a nozzle including an emission opening configured to emit a jet of an assist gas along an optical axis of a laser beam, the nozzle being configured to forming a maximum point of velocity of the jet at a position away from the emission opening; a measuring instrument configured to measure the velocity of the jet; and a position acquisition section configured to acquire information representing a position of the maximum point based on output data of the measuring instrument.

A laser machine able to effectively satisfy cutting quality required on one side of a cutting spot of a workpiece. The laser machine comprising a machining head configured to emit a laser beam and an assist gas coaxially and non-coaxially; and a data table in which data of a machining condition for cutting a workpiece using the machining head, and a shift amount, by which a center axis of the assist gas is to be shifted from an optical axis of the laser beam in order to make cutting quality on both sides of a cutting line to be different during cutting the workpiece, are stored in associated with each other.

Selective laser solidification apparatus is described that includes a powder bed onto which a powder layer can be deposited and a gas flow unit for passing a flow of gas over the powder bed along a predefined gas flow direction. A laser scanning unit is provided for scanning a laser beam over the powder layer to selectively solidify at least part of the powder layer to form a required pattern. The required pattern is formed from a plurality of stripes or stripe segments that are formed by advancing the laser beam along the stripe or stripe segment in a stripe formation direction. The stripe formation direction is arranged so that it always at least partially opposes the predefined gas flow direction. A corresponding method is also described.

A laser machining method able to effectively satisfy cutting quality required on one side of a cutting spot of a workpiece. A laser machining method for cutting a workpiece W by using a machining head able to emit a laser beam and an assist gas coaxially and non-coaxially includes: preparing a machining program specifying, for the workpiece W, a cutting line, and a first region and a second region on both sides of the cutting line where cutting quality requirements are different; and maintaining a state in which a center axis of the assist gas is shifted from an optical axis of the laser beam toward the first region in response to the difference in the cutting quality requirements during the cutting between the first region and the second region along the cutting line in accordance with the machining program.

The invention provides a surface treatment method for a magnesium alloy hub. The process includes: cleaning a to-be-treated surface of the magnesium alloy hub; blackening the cleaned to-be-treated surface; and laser cladding the blackened to-be-treated surface, wherein a laser cladding mode is a synchronous powder feeding mode, and a coating material is chromium. According to the surface treatment method for the magnesium alloy hub, air holes can be avoided.

The invention discloses a method for preparing an anticorrosive surface layer of a metal material in a marine environment by laser, which belongs to the technical field of laser processing. First, the laser cladding method is used to prepare a cladding surface layer on the surface of the metal material that is not easy to undergo chemical substitution reaction with the chlorides (NaCl, MgCl.sub.2 , CaCl.sub.2 etc.) in the seawater. Then, on the surface of the cladding surface layer, ultrafast laser processing is used to form a surface layer with a wetting angle (and water) greater than 90 degrees and with hydrophobic characteristics. The anti-corrosion surface layer obtained by the invention has hydrophobic properties, the high humidity and high salt water vapor and marine organisms in the marine environment are not easy to adhere, and the anti-corrosion surface layer is stable in salt water resistance, and is not easy to undergo chemical substitution reaction with chlorides in seawater (NaCl, MgCl.sub.2 , CaCl.sub.2 etc.), which can achieve high-efficiency anti-corrosion of metal materials in the marine environment.

A powder flow monitoring system may include a computing device configured to receive image data representing illuminated powder of a powder stream between a powder delivery device and a build surface of a component, generate a representation of the powder stream based on the image data, and output the representation of the powder stream for display at a display device.

An additive manufacturing system may include a powder delivery device configured to direct a powder stream toward a build surface of a component, and a powder flow monitoring system. The powder delivery device defines a longitudinal axis oriented toward the build surface. The powder flow monitoring system includes an illumination device configured to illuminate at least some powder the powder stream between the powder delivery device and the build surface; and an imaging device configured to image the illuminated powder at an image plane that intersects the longitudinal axis. The illumination device and the imaging device may be registered to the powder delivery device in a plane substantially orthogonal to the longitudinal axis.

A laser processing system capable of reliably determining an abnormality in a jet during laser process. The laser processing system comprises a nozzle including an emission opening configured to emit a jet of an assist gas along an optical axis of a laser beam, the nozzle being configured to form a maximum point of velocity of the jet at a position away from the emission opening; a measuring instrument configured to measure any of the velocity of the jet and a sound generated by the jet impinging on a workpiece; and an abnormality determination section configured to determine whether or not output data of the measuring instrument is different from reference data.

Selective laser solidification apparatus is described that includes a powder bed onto which a powder layer can be deposited and a gas flow unit for passing a flow of gas over the powder bed along a predefined gas flow direction. A laser scanning unit is provided for scanning a laser beam over the powder layer to selectively solidify at least part of the powder layer to form a required pattern. The required pattern is formed from a plurality of stripes or stripe segments that are formed by advancing the laser beam along the stripe or stripe segment in a stripe formation direction. The stripe formation direction is arranged so that it always at least partially opposes the predefined gas flow direction. A corresponding method is also described.