In practical engineering, overlaying on curved surfaces with constantly changing gravity components usually leads to various defects. In this study, Inconel 625 was downward overlaid on curved surface by cold metal transfer (CMT) process with varied heat input, and the dynamic behavior of the molten pool was observed by high speed camera. At high heat input (0.422 kJ/mm and 0.372 kJ/mm), the volume of the molten pool continued to expand due to the downward flow of the liquid, ultimately leading to overflow or instability defects. In contrast, low heat input (0.230 kJ/mm) will make the molten pool shrink during overlaying, which was attributed to the continuously weakened gravity, the relative position between the heat source and the molten pool was then changed. A well-formed and defect-free weld overlay was obtained at optimized heat input 0.230–0.280 kJ/mm. Compared with gas tungsten arc welding (GTAW) process, the weld overlay obtained employing CMT process has the largest thickness and the most uniform fusion line, while the content of Fe element was less than 0.5%. It was confirmed that CMT technology has great potential for overlaying on curved surface.
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