Laser rapid manufacturing is a state-of-the-art technology, which is the combination of rapid prototyping and laser cladding. This technology introduces a substantially complicated manufacturing process in that too many factors linked together influence this procedure. Accordingly, the relative experiments and analyses need to be performed for ascertaining the influence law of these factors on the process, which is the key to optimize this forming process and improve the quality of as-deposited metal parts. Among these factors, the substrate preheating temperature is an important one that affects the evolution of microstructure by changing the temperature gradient. Consequently, it is necessary to...