Welding consumables for wear protection, repair and demanding material joints.
Development and production of electrodes to meet specific material and application requirements.
Technical selection aids and calculation tools for safe material decisions.
When data is missing or components fail, we create the foundation for reproduction and optimisation.
Analysis of materials, wear patterns and causes of damage. The goal is to derive appropriate measures for long-lasting solutions.
Our in-house laboratory for material and component analysis. Reliable results without long waiting times.
Hands-on training and presentations on welding consumables, wear protection and material selection – on site at your company.
Targeted build-up and optimisation of components using laser technology. For applications that cannot be realised using conventional methods.
Optimised components for heavily stressed applications. For reduced wear and minimised downtime.
Typical applications and solutions from industrial practice. From wear protection to component optimisation.
Application examples for joint and hardfacing welding. From manual applications to automated processes.
Application examples for soft and hard brazing. From delicate joints to industrial series processes.
Application examples for functional and protective surface coatings. From wear protection to finishing of complex components.
Repair welding returns damaged components to an operational state. Instead of replacing a component, the damaged area is restored by hardfacing. Cracks, fractures and spalling are closed by welding, so that the component resumes its original function.
capilla has been restoring components by welding for many years, increasingly with the support of sensor technology and 3D scanning. This combination of welding technology and digital component analysis is state of the art in predictive maintenance. For operators of existing machinery, repair welding is an economical alternative to new procurement: components remain in service longer, and repairs can be planned and scheduled within revision periods.
Whether repair welding is worthwhile compared to new procurement depends on several factors simultaneously: costs, predictability and the quality of the applied layer. capilla carries out the process largely automated and process-controlled. This results in the following six advantages.
Repair welding typically costs 20 to 60 percent of what a comparable new part would cost. The reason is that the base body of the component is retained and only the worn functional surfaces receive new material. Material, manufacturing and machining are therefore only incurred for the actually worn area, not for the entire component.
Repair welding is not an emergency measure but can be planned ahead. Since the wear of a component is measurable, restoration can be scheduled during already planned revision periods. Machine downtime thus becomes calculable and unplanned failures occur less frequently.
Automated and process-controlled layer deposition delivers consistent results from component to component. This reproducibility increases the reliability of restoration and simultaneously shortens processing times, since the process runs without manual readjustment. This generally results in shorter delivery times than for new procurement.
Automated and process-controlled depositions by laser welding, PTA and TIG welding with cold and hot wire are characterised by low dilution with the base material. It is typically below five percent and thus significantly lower than with conventional solid wire, strip or flux-cored wire coatings. Low dilution means that the applied layer retains its intended properties rather than being diluted by the base material. The required properties and hardness are often achieved in the first pass.
Through the available techniques and optics, high contour accuracy can be achieved. Functional layers can already be deposited very close to the final contour when required, so that costly post-processing by turning, grinding or diamond grinding is often eliminated or reduced. This further shortens the restoration lead time.
Welding consumables and carbide content can be mixed, reduced or increased as required and adapted to the specific load of the component. Components such as screw shafts or screw presses, which are loaded to different degrees in the process, are thus protected or upgraded precisely where abrasion, adhesion, surface fatigue or corrosion is most severe.
Cracks and fractures on cast housings often lead to the replacement of complete components. With the laser wire process, damaged areas can be repaired precisely and with low heat input. This reduces downtime, saves spare-part costs and extends the service life of high-quality components.
Before
The cast housing was damaged by a crack. Replacing the entire component would have caused high costs and long delivery times.
After
The crack was prepared and precisely welded using laser wire. Thanks to the low heat input, distortion and microstructural changes are kept to a minimum.
Result
The component could be repaired economically and put back into service. High spare-part costs, long downtimes and the replacement of the cast housing were avoided.
At capilla, repair welding follows a fixed sequence that combines component analysis, the actual layer deposition and final documentation. The digital capture at the beginning ensures that material is applied only where it is actually needed.
First we inspect the worn component. This includes the material composition of the base body and coating, determined via material certificate or spectral analysis, as well as checking dimensions such as bores, fits and contours by 3D scan.
The 3D scan is compared with the target geometry, either using an existing STP model or an earlier scan of the same component. Software overlays both data sets and evaluates them. The result is a false-colour image that visualises the wear rate.
Based on the evaluation, the functional surfaces to be coated or the particularly stressed wear areas are defined. This ensures that work is carried out only where wear actually occurs.
The component is then reconditioned. By hardfacing we replace removed material with a new functional layer. Whether deposition is manual or fully automated via path programming depends on the respective component.
Which welding process is used in repair welding depends on the component, the material and the required functional layer. We use several processes and select the appropriate one for each restoration. The following groups show how they differ.
In laser welding, a focused laser beam serves as the energy source that melts the welding consumable and a thin layer of the base material. The consumable is fed either as powder or wire depending on the process. The narrowly confined energy input results in low dilution with the base material and a narrow heat-affected zone, making the process suitable for near-net-shape functional layers and delicate areas.
In plasma hardfacing, including plasma powder hardfacing (PTA), a constricted arc generates a plasma with high energy density. The powdered welding consumable is melted in this plasma and deposited as a layer. The process combines low dilution with stable, well-controllable layer formation and is frequently used for wear-resistant hardfacing.
In TIG welding, an arc burns between a non-consumable tungsten electrode and the component; an inert shielding gas shields the weld pool. The welding consumable is fed as wire, either cold or as a preheated hot wire, which increases deposition rate. TIG welding allows precise, well-controllable layer deposition and is suitable for components where a clean, controlled weld pool is required.
In MIG and MAG welding, a continuously fed wire is used as a consumable electrode; a shielding gas covers the weld pool. Both processes enable high deposition rates and are suitable where larger areas or larger volumes of material are to be deposited economically. In addition to hardfacing, capilla can also use 3D printing for complex geometries or urgently needed components to manufacture critical parts in a like-for-like manner at short notice when an original part cannot be procured in time.
We support you in selecting the right repair process for your damaged component.
In repair welding the choice of welding consumable is critical. It must be matched to the base material and ensure the required load capacity of the repaired area.
capilla offers welding consumables for a wide range of repair applications – from standard steels and cast materials to high-alloy special materials.
In the Laser Competence Centre capilla bundles modern technologies for coating and component manufacturing.
Repair and restoration solutions are created here that go beyond conventional welding processes. Components are targeted tempered, reinforced or completely rebuilt.
This enables components that in this form are not achievable with conventional approaches.
Repair welding is economical as soon as the base body of a component is intact and only individual functional surfaces are worn. As a rule, costs are 20 to 60 percent of comparable new procurement, since only the worn area receives new material. Additionally, restoration can be scheduled within planned revision periods.
capilla checks on the basis of component analysis whether repair welding is the more sensible solution in the specific case.
Suitable are wear-stressed components from conveying, comminution, recycling, separation, bulk material and pump technology, such as screw shafts, screw conveyors, screw presses and screw pumps. What matters is not the component size, but that the wear is limited to definable functional surfaces.
capilla applies repair welding across industries to such components.
The component is captured by 3D scan and its actual geometry is compared with the target geometry, either against a design model or an earlier scan in the as-new condition. The comparison produces a false-colour image that makes the wear rate visible across the surface.
capilla uses this analysis as the basis to limit material deposition precisely to the worn areas.
This depends on the component, material and required functional layer. Available processes include laser welding with powder or wire, plasma and PTA hardfacing, TIG welding with cold and hot wire, and MIG and MAG welding. Each process has components where it performs best, such as low dilution or high deposition rate.
Whenever a component performs a safety-relevant function – such as load-bearing parts, pressure vessels or components in rail vehicle construction – repair welding is subject to strict regulatory requirements. Such work may generally only be carried out by certified workshops with appropriate welding certification and qualified welding personnel. The relevant standards include DIN EN ISO 3834 on quality requirements for fusion welding and DIN EN 15085 for welding of railway vehicles. Caution is also required in the vehicle sector: improper welding on load-bearing parts can jeopardise the operating licence and insurance cover.
capilla classifies which requirements apply to the respective component before every restoration and aligns the repair welding accordingly.
An applied functional layer can achieve the properties of the original and even exceed them at highly stressed points, because the welding consumable can be tailored specifically to the load. Through carbide content and the composition of the welding consumable, the layer is matched to abrasion, adhesion or corrosion.
Yes. Since wear recurs in operation, a component can be reconditioned multiple times – generally in the cycle of planned revisions and after a previously agreed wear rate. A 3D scan taken after restoration serves as the reference for the next, automated reconditioning.
