Abstract
Modern industrial applications require materials with special surface properties such as
high hardness, wear and corrosion resistance. The performance of material surface under
wear and corrosion environments cannot be fulfilled by the conventional surface modifications
and coatings. Therefore, different industrial sectors need an alternative technique for
enhanced surface properties. The purpose of this is to change or enhance inherent properties
of the materials to create new products or improve on existing ones. The most effective
and economical engineering solution to prevent or minimize such surface region of a
component is done by fiber lasers. Additive manufacturing (AM) is a breaking edge fabrication
technique with the possibility of changing the perception of design and manufacturing
as a whole. It is well suitable for the building and repairing applications in the aerospace
industry which usually requires high level of accuracy and customization of parts which
usually employ materials known to pose difficulties in fabrication such as titanium alloys.
The current development focus of AM is to produce complex shaped functional metallic
components, including metals, alloys and metal matrix composites (MMCs), to meet
demanding requirements from aerospace, defense, and automotive industries.