Effect of laser characteristics on the weld shape and properties of penetration laser weld of BT20 titanium alloy

The laser beam welding of BT20 titanium alloy was conducted to investigate the weld shape, microstructures and properties. The full penetration weld characteristics produced by CO2 laser and by YAG laser were compared. The results show that the full penetration weld of YAG laser welding closes to “X” shape, and weld of CO2 laser welding is “nail-head” shape.Those result from special heating mode of laser deep penetration welding. The tension strength of CO2 laser and YAG laser joints equal to that of the base metal, but the former has better ductility. All welds consist mainly of the acicular a phase and a few β phase in microstructure. The dendritic crystal of CO2 laser weld is a littlefiner than YAG laser weld. According theresearch CO2 laser is better than YAG laser for welding of BT20 titanium alloy.     

Welding mode transition and process stability in high power laser welding

For high-power CO_2 laser welding, besides two well known stable welding processes, i.e. stable deep penetration welding (DPW) and stable heat conduction welding (HCW), the authors have found the third welding process, i.e. unstable-mode welding (UMW) under the certain condition. UMW has its basic feature that the two welding modes (DPW and HCW) appear intermittently, with jumping of penetration depth and weld width between large and small levels. In this paper, effects of welding parameters (focal position, laser power and traveling speed) on laser welding mode and weld appearance have been comprehensively studied Double-U curves of laser welding mode transition have been obtained, which indicate the ranges of the three mentioned welding processes. This work affords science foundation for selecting the welding process parameters correctly and obtaining stable laser welding.     

Effect of Laser Welding Process Parameters on Microstructure and Mechanical Properties on Butt Joint of New Hot-Rolled Nano-scale Precipitation-Strengthened Steel

A 4 kW fiber laser was chosen to weld the new hot-rolled nano-scale precipitation-strengthened steel with a thickness of 4.5 mm. The effect of laser power, defocusing distance, and welding speed on the welded joint appearance was examined, and the microstructure and mechanical properties on the typical butt joints were investigated. Results showed that increasing laser welding power may cause faster downward flow of molten metal to produce greater root humping. With the welding speed increasing, the average welding seam （WS） width decreased, and the average WS and heat-affected zone （HAZ） hardness increased. The microstructures of WS, fusion line, and coarse grain heat-affected zone were lath martensite, but the growth direction of the original austenite grain boundaries was significantly different. The microstructures of fine grain heat-affected zone were ferrite and martensite, and the microstructure of mixed grain heat- affected zone contained ferrite, massive M/A island, and a small amount of martensite. The micro-hardness values of WS, HAZ, and base metal （BM） were 358, 302, and 265 HV, respectively. The butt joint fracture at the BM far from the WS and the welded joint tensile strength are observed to follow proportional relationship with hardness.     

THE INTERFACIAL BEHAVIORS OF ALUMINUM MATRIX COMPOSITE IN DIFFERENT WELDING METHODS

Non-interlayer liquid phase diffusion welding (China Patent) and laser welding methods for aluminum matrix composite are mainly described in this paper.In the noninterlayer liquid phase diffusion welding,the key processing parameters affecting the strength of joint is welding temperature.When temperature rises beyond solidus temperature, the bonded line vanishes. The strength of joint reaches the maximum and becomes constant when welding temperature is close to liquid phase temperature. Oxide film in the interface is no longer detected by SEM in the welded joint. With this kind of technique, particle reinforced aluminum matrix composite Al2O3p/6061Al is welded successfully, and the joint strength is about 80% of the strength of composite(as-casted).In the laser welding, results indicate that because of the huge specific surface area of the reinforcement, the interracial reaction between the matrix and the reinforcement is restrained intensively at certain laser power and pulsed laser beam.The laser pulse frequency directly affects the reinforcement segregation and the reinforcement distribution in the weld, so that the weldability of the composite could be improved by increasing the laser pulse frequency. The maximum strength of the weld can reach 70% of the strength of the parent.     

Effect of filler wire on the joint properties of AZ31 magnesium alloys using CO2 laser welding

Laser welding with filler wire of AZ31 magnesium alloys is investigated using a CO2 laser experimental system. The effect of three different filler wires on the joint properties is researched. The results show that the weld appearance can be effectively improved when using laser welding with filler wire. The microhardness and tensile strength of joints are almost the same us those of the base metal when ER AZ31 or ER AZ61 wire is adopted. However, when the filler wire of ER 5356 aluminum alloy is used, the mechanical properties of flints become worse. For ER AZ31 and ER AZ61 filler wires, the microstructure of weld zone slws small dendrite grains. In comparison, for ER 5356 filler wire, the weld shows a structure of snowy dendrites and many intermetallic compounds and eutectic phases distribute in the dendrites. These intermetallic constituents with low melting point increase the tendency of hot crack and result in fiagile joint properties. Therefore, ER AZ31 and ER AZ61 wire are more suitable filler material than ER 5356 for CO2 laser welding of AZ31 magnesium alloys.     

Temperature field simulation of laser-TIG hybrid welding

The three-dimensional transient temperature distribution of laser-TlG hybrid welding was analyzed and simulated numerically. Calculations were based on a finite element model, in which the physical process of hybrid welding was studied and the coupling effect of the laser and arc in the hybrid process was fully considered. The temperature fields and weld crosssections of the typical welding parameters are obtained using present model. The calculation results shou that the model can indicate the relationship of energy match between laser and arc to joints cross-sections objectively, and the simulation results are well agreed with the experimental results.     

Weldability evaluation and tensile strength estimation model for aluminum alloy lap joint welding using hybrid system with laser and scanner head

Aluminum welding using a hybrid system with a laser and scanner welding head was performed under various welding conditions to verify the feasibility of applying an aluminum alloy to a car body.The experimental material was 5J32 aluminum alloy,and the laser power,welding speed,and laser incidence angle were used as the control variables.The weld bead shape and the tensile shear strength were evaluated in order to understand the aluminum lap joint weld characteristics.Analysis of variance (ANOVA) was conducted to identify the effect of the process variables on the tensile shear strength.Tensile strength estimation models using three different regression models were also suggested.The input variables were the laser power,welding speed,and laser incidence angle,and the output was the tensile shear strength.Among the models,the second-order polynomial estimation model had the best estimation performance,and the average error rate of this model was 0.058.     

Influence of Welding Power to the Microstructure and Properties of 304 Stainless Steel Sheet Joints in CO2 La-ser Welding

The optical microscope,SEM,XRD,microhardness and tensile tests are used to analyze the microstructure,microhardness and tensile strength of the joints of 304 stainless steel sheet joint by CO2 laser welding with different welding powers.The results show that microstructure of laser welding seam is the ferrite phase and austenite phase.There has an epitaxial solidification phenomenon and fine grains in the fusion zone.When the welding power is 1.4kW,the microhardness reaches a maximum value of 205HV in welding seam center,which is the transition zone of two directional dendritical structures.The coarser equiaxed grains lay in the 1.8kW welding seam center,and microhardness reached a minimum value of 195HV in the welding seam center.When the welding power increases,the effective bearing area of lap welding seam builds up rapidly,and the maximum loads of the double welding seams joints also increase from 4500N to 6000N in tensile test.     

Twinning in weld HAZ of ZK21 commercial magnesium alloy

The microstructure and properties of Mg ZK21 laser beam weld without filler were researched using optical microscopy (OM),electron microscopy and mechanical test.The results show that the fracture strain of the joints after laser beam welding reduces by about 10.7%at room temperature.By means of laser beam welding,the fusion zones contain tensile RS,while the base material far away from the fusion line is under balancing compressive RS.The microstructures of the weld were characterized by a narrow heat a...     

CO_2 laser-micro plasma arc hybrid welding for galvanized steel sheets

A laser lap welding process for zinc-coated steel has a well-known unsolved problem-porosity formation. The boiling temperature of coated zinc is lower than the melting temperature of the base metal, which is steel. In the autogenous laser welding, the zinc vapor generates from the lapped surfaces expels the molten pool and the expulsion causes numerous weld defects, such as spatters and blow holes on the weld surface and porosity inside the welds. The laser-arc hybrid welding was suggested as an alternative method for the laser lap welding because the arc can preheat or post-heat the weldment according to the arrangement of the laser beam and the arc. CO2 laser-micro plasma hybrid welding was applied to the lap welding of zinc-coated steel with zero-gap. The relationships among the weld quality and process parameters of the laser-arc arrangement, and the laser-arc interspacing distance and arc current were investigated using a full-factorial experimental design. The effect of laser-arc arrangement is dominant because the leading plasma arc partially melts the upper steel sheets and vaporizes or oxidizes the coated zinc on the lapped surfaces. Compared with the result from the laser-TIG hybrid welding, the heat input from arc can be reduced by 40%.     

Study of the Laser-MIG Hybrid Welded Al-Mg Alloy

The technology of laser-MIG hybrid welding is hotspot in welding researched field at present.It can improve the velocity of the welding,reduce the distortion of the welding,optimize the structure of the welding joint and etc..The 5052 aluminum alloy of the 10mm thick was welded by the laser-MIG hybrid welding.The structure,the alloy elements profile and the mechanical property of the welded joint are researched by the optical microscope,SEM,sclerometer and etc..The results showed:The medium thick Al alloy was welded in high speed by the laser-MIG hybrid welding.The appearance of the welding joint is well.The weld joint and the weld interface are fine.The intenerate region in the welding joint is small.The tensile strength in welding joint has achieved 94.4% of that in base metal.     

Study on heat efficiency of laser-TIG double-side welding

A series of laser-TIG double-side welding experiments for aluminum alloys were carried out to investigate the heat efficiency of the process. The melting efficiency was introduced to evaluate quantitatively the degree of the mutual effect of the laser and the arc. The results showed that the melting efficiency of laser-TIG double-side welding exceeded the sum of the laser and the arc taken separately. With the increase of heat input, the weld depth and melting efficiency of the laser and the arc were increased signifwantly. This, in fact, implies the strong mutual effect of the laser and the arc as heat sources joined simultaneously in the process. Comparatively, the higher efficiency of the laser constituent of heat sources plays the main role in the increase of the process efficiency. The phenomena of arc column convergence, increased laser absorptivity and the formation of heat accumulation region are the causes of the improvement of heat efficiency.     

Characteristics of 5A90 Aluminum-lithium Alloy by YAG-MIG Hybrid Welding

The characteristics of 5A90 Aluminum-Lithium alloy by YAG laser and MIG arc hybrid welding (Hybrid welding) were studied.Compared with the laser beam welding (LBW),the hybrid welding could not only improve the weld appearance significantly,but also have better engineering compatibility.The obvious microstructure characteristics of joint by the hybrid welding are fine-grained layer near fusion-line and the equiaxed grain in most area of welded seam.The subgrains of the equiaxed grains,located in the weld center,tend to coarse from bottom to top of weld joint.The microhardness of welded seam by the hybrid welding (83.57HV0.2) is lower than that by LBW (95.65HV0.2),but the uniformity of the former is better than that of the latter.The ultimate strength and the elongations after fracture of the joint by the hybrid welding are lower than that by LBW.The tensile fracture always occurs in HAZ or weld centerline,and the fractography presents mixture rupture.Therefore,if the combined mechanical properties of joint by the hybrid welding meet the operation requirements,it should be improved by reasonable artificial aging or heat treatment after welding,and it also should develop a better filler wire matched with the base metal.     

Microstructure and mechanical properties of laser welded joints of pure copper and 304 stainless steels

A continuous wave diode laser with an output power of 2.8 kW was used to join pure copper and 304 stainless steel with a thickness of 1 mm. The focused laser beam with a diameter of O. 8 mm was irradiated on the copper side of the butt joints. In process of laser welding, effects of processing primary parameters on tensile strength of the joints were investigated. The interfacial characterizations of the joints were investigated by metallographic microscope, scanning electron microscope （SEM） and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscope （EDS）. The results showed that the element diffusion and solution occur and metallurgical bonding was achieved between pure copper and 304 stainless steel. The maximum tensile strength of the joints was 209 MPa when the laser power of welding was 2. 4 kW and welding speed was 12 mm/s.     

Mechanism of laser beam welding for SiCp／6063Al composite

The laser beam welding technique was used to process SiC particles/6063A1 alloy matrix composite, the influence of laser power and welding speed on the properties of joint was studied. Decreasing the laser beam power with same welding speed can make the quantity and size of A14C3 decreased, and the interactive mechanism of the reinforcing particles and the matrix in the joint and the causes for joint strength reduction were analyzed.Increasing welding speed properly can improve the distribution of energy and restrain the interfacial reaction in the molten pool, and measures for improving were proposed.     

Joint performance of CO2 laser beam welding 5083,H321 aluminum alloy

Laser beam welding of aluminum alloys is expected to offer good mechanical properties of welded joints. In this experimental work reported, CO2 laser beam autogenoas welding and wire feed welding are conducted on 4 mm thick 5083- H321 aluminum alloy sheets at different welding variables. The mechanical properties and microstructure characteristics of the welds are evaluated through tensile tests, micro-hardness tests, optical microscopy and scanning electron microscopy （SEM）. Experimental results indicate that both the tensile strength and hardness of laser beam welds are affected by the constitution of filler material, except the yield strength. The soften region of laser beam welds is not in the heat-affected zone （ HAZ ）. The tensile fracture of laser beam welded specimens takes place in the weld zone and close to the weld boundary because of different filler materials. Some pores are found on the fracture face, including hydrogen porosities and blow holes, but these pores have no influence on the tensile strength of laser beam welds. Tensile strength values of laser beam welds with filler wire are up to 345.57 MPa, 93% of base material values, and yield strengths of laser beam welds are equivalent to those of base metal （264. 50 MPa）.     

Hump formation mechanism in gas-jet-assisted keyhole laser welding of HR-2 stainless steel

Gas-jet-assisted keyhole laser welding offers the possibility of a breakthrough in the limitations of penetration depth in laser welding,which currently suffers from equipment restrictions.A gas jet of sufficient intensity to assist the keyhole should be used to obtain suppressed plasma,a deepened keyhole,and increased penetration depth.However,an excessively strong gas jet gives rise to humps.The incident angle of the keyhole-assisted gas jet is 60°,with a nozzle ahead of the laser beam.A series of experiments were carried out with different welding velocities and gas parameters by using HR-2 hydrogen-resistant stainless steel and a slab CO_2 continuous-wave laser welding machine.The weld profiles can be categorized into four types,welds of traditional laser welding,welds of enhanced laser welding,undercut welds,and humping welds with increased gas pressure.A high-speed camera was employed in the experiments to monitor the formation of humps under an excessively strong gas jet.The results of analysis show that hump formation can be divided into six stages.Its main driving force is the intense turbulence of gas jet.There are two main reasons for hump formation:premature solidification of the molten pool caused by the large temperature gradient between the front and rear parts of the molten pool,and the emergence of a thin layer liquid bridge with one-directional flow under the enhanced cooling effect of excessively strong gas.     

Numerical analysis of temperature profile and weld dimensions in laser ＋ GMAW hybrid welding of aluminum alloy T-joint

The temperature fields in the transient state and weld dimensions in laser ＋ gas metal arc welding （GMAW） hybrid welding of aluminum alloy T-joint for different welding conditions were calculated using the developed heat source model, and the effect of welding speed on them was analyzed. The results show that the temperature field for the first weld pass only shows the feature of GMAW and the one for the second weld pass has the characteristics of both laser welding and GMAW. Welding speed can affect greatly weld dimensions and temperature distribution. When welding speed reaches 3.5 m/min, the fusion zones of two weld passes are separated and the maximum peak temperature of thermal cycle on the workpiece surface decreases largely.     

Critical power of keyhole formation in CW Nd：YAG laser deep penetration welding

The energy model was founded to calculate the critical power of keyhole formation by using the limit principle in CW （ continuous wave ） Nd： YAG laser deep penetration welding process. The model was validated by experiments. The results show that ＇.there are two errors between the calculated critical power of keyhole formation and that of experiments ： one is that the calculated results is less than those of experiments, which is caused by not considering the energy loss by heat conduction in the model of keyhole formation. The other is that there is 0. 9 mm error between the axis of the calculated curve of critical power with location of laser focus and that of experimental curve, which is induced by the excursion of laser focus in laser deep penetration welding. At last, the two errors were revised according to the analyses of the errors.     

Prediction of wire transfer behaviors in laser hot wire welding

With preheating wire by resistance heat, laser hot wire welding improves process stability and wire deposition efficiency, which gives broad potential applications in sugracing and narrow gap welding. It is a critical issue to control the temperature of preheated wire in this process. The temperature which is so high that the wire fuses outside molten pool or so low that the wire cannot melt timely in the molten pool, results in poor wire transfer stability and bad weld formation. This paper is purposed to calculate the wire temperature for the prediction of wire transfer behavior under various welding parameters. A heat conduction model is set up. Heat sources of the wire include resistance heat and reflected laser, and the heat source of molten pool is laser. The calculated temperature of wire part outside the molten pool is verified by infrared ratio temperature measurement. The calculated temperature of wire part in the molten pool is verified by measurement of the molten pool size. Analyzing the wire temperature and welding process observed by the high speed video imaging, the temperature criteria of wire transfer behaviors are obtained. Thus, numerical simulation of the wire temperature can be used to predict wire transfer behaviors in laser hot wire welding.