The overlay welding is a type of operation used in the treatment of various surfaces; we can identify two different variant, the manual or automated laser overlay welding. In the first case, it is the welder who “overlays” by hand the material on the surface to be worked; it is generally used a wire with a diameter of about 0.15 mm, which is melted by the laser, allowing the molten wire to bind to the surface to be welded, then solidifying. By grinding, turning, or milling, the workpiece will return to its original shape.
The automated overlay welding, as the name suggests, does not require any operator, as the deposition of the material on the surface takes place automatically. Here, unlike the previous method, a metal powder, no longer a wire, is used; this, as in the previous case, is melted on the surface of the component, then cooling in a highly resistant coupling. The new laminated surface can be reworked later. This technique allows an identical and precise overlay along the entire surface.
