| Issue |
MATEC Web Conf.
Volume 417, 2025
2025 RAPDASA-RobMech-PRASA-AMI Conference: Bridging the Gap between Industry & Academia - The 26th Annual International RAPDASA Conference, joined by RobMech, PRASA and AMI, co-hosted by CSIR and Tshwane University of Technology, Pretoria
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| Article Number | 03007 | |
| Number of page(s) | 8 | |
| Section | Materials Engineering | |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1051/matecconf/202541703007 | |
| Published online | 25 November 2025 | |
Refurbishment of small diameter nitrided spindles with laser based direct energy deposition
1 Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, Future Production – Manufacturing Cluster, Photonics, Meiring Naudé Road, Pretoria, South Africa
2 Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd., Generation Research and Innovation Centre, Lower Germiston Road, Johannesburg, South Africa
3 Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd., Generation Engineering Department, Mpumalanga, South Africa
* Corresponding author: mtheron@csir.co.za
Laser based direct energy deposition is a process that is commonly used to refurbish worn components in the power generation sector. In this work the potential for refurbishment of nitrided spindles manufactured from AISI 420 SS, with a small diameter (20 mm), is evaluated. Firstly, the required material removal from the nitrided surface was established. Secondly, the distortion of the shaft was measured as a function of the length of the refurbished section, and the thickness of the added material. It was found that the shaft must be pre-machined to a depth of 0.4 mm to ensure a pore-free weld on AISI 420 SS subjected to a typical gas nitriding cycle. Furthermore, it was shown that the distortion of a 20 mm diameter shaft, with a length of 1000 mm, can be 0.12 mm, if a 200 mm long section of the shaft is repaired. Reasons for the distortion are discussed, and possible mitigation measures are proposed.
© The Authors, published by EDP Sciences, 2025
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
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