Effect of carbon black on temperature field and weld profile during laser transmission welding of polymers: A FEM study

The influence of the carbon black on temperature distribution and weld profile, during laser transmission welding of polymers, is investigated in the present research work. A transient numerical model, based on conduction mode heat transfer, is developed to analyze the process. The heat input to the model is considered to be the volumetric Gaussian heat source. The computation of temperature field during welding is carried out for polycarbonates having different proportion of carbon black in polymer matrix. The temperature dependent material properties of polycarbonate are taken into account for modeling. The finite element code ANSYS^® is employed to obtain the numerical results. The numerically computed results of weld pool dimensions are compared with the experimental results. The comparison shows a fair agreement between them, which gives confidence to use the developed model for intended investigation with acceptable accuracy. The results obtained have revealed that the carbon black has considerable influence on the temperature field distribution and the formation of the weld pool geometry.     

Numerical analysis of plasma arc physical characteristics under additional constraint of keyhole

The physical characteristics of a plasma arc affect the stability of the keyhole and weld pool directly during keyhole plasma arc welding(KPAW). There will be significant change for these characteristics because of the interaction between the keyhole weld pool and plasma arc after penetration. Therefore, in order to obtain the temperature field, flow field, and arc pressure of a plasma arc under the reaction of the keyhole, the physical model of a plasma arc with a pre-set keyhole was established. In addition, the tungsten and base metal were established into the calculated domain, which can reflect the effect of plasma arc to weld pool further. Based on magneto hydrodynamics and Maxwell equations, a two-dimensional steady state mathematical model was established. Considering the heat production of anode and cathode, the distribution of temperature field, flow field, welding current density, and plasma arc pressure were solved out by the finite difference method. From the calculated results, it is found that the plasma arc was compressed a second time by the keyhole. This additional constraint results in an obvious rise of the plasma arc pressure and flow velocity at the minimum diameter place of the keyhole, while the temperature field is impacted slightly. Finally, the observational and metallographic experiments are conducted, and the shapes of plasma arc and fusion line agree with the simulated results generally.     

A keyhole volumetric model for weld pool analysis in Nd:YAG pulsed laser welding

This study presents a new model for analyzing the temperature distribution and weld pool shape in Nd:YAG pulsed laser welding. In the proposed approach, a surface flux heat transfer model is applied in the low laser energy intensity region of the weld, while a keyhole heat transfer model based on a volumetric heat source is applied in the high laser energy intensity region of the weld. The correlation between the intensity of the laser input energy and the geometric parameters of the volumetric heat source is derived experimentally. A series of MARC finite element simulations based on the proposed single pulse model are performed to investigate the shape and size of the weld pool given different laser energy intensities. A good agreement is observed between the simulation results and the experimental results obtained under equivalent single pulse welding conditions. Thus, the basic validity of the proposed model is confirmed.     

由单幅图像恢复物体三维形状的应用研究

由阴影恢复物体表面形状的方法是计算机三维视觉领域中的一个重要分支。首先给出了利用多幅图像由阴影恢复物体表面三维形状算法的计算结果 ,并进行了详细分析 ,进而提出了针对单幅图像的改进算法 ,包括引入表面光滑约束、边界条件和误差的灰度加权调整等。利用合成图像验证了这种算法的准确性。最后结合实际焊接过程熔池成像特点 ,应用这种算法利用单幅焊接熔池图像成功地获取了焊接熔池表面三维形状     

考虑金属蒸汽的钨极惰性气体保护焊电弧与熔池交互作用三维数值分析

基于局域热平衡状态假设并考虑金属蒸汽的作用, 建立了钨极惰性气体保护焊电弧与熔池交互作用的三维数学模型. 电弧等离子体的热力学参数和输运系数由温度和金属蒸汽浓度共同决定, 并使用第二黏度近似简化处理金属蒸汽在氩等离子中的输运过程. 在考虑熔池流动时, 主要考虑了浮力、电磁力、表面张力和等离子流拉力的作用. 通过对麦克斯韦方程组、连续性方程、动量守恒方程、能量守恒方程和组分输运方程的耦合求解, 得到了金属蒸汽在电弧中的空间分布、电弧和熔池的温度场、速度场和电流密度分布等重要结果. 通过与未考虑金属蒸汽的结果对比, 研究了熔池上表面产生的金属蒸汽对电弧等离子体行为的影响, 以及电弧等离子对熔池行为的影响. 结果表明, 金属蒸汽主要富集在熔池上表面附近; 金属蒸汽对电弧等离子体有明显的收缩作用, 而对等离子速度和电势影响较小; 金属蒸汽的出现对熔池上表面速度分布和剪切力分布以及熔池形貌并无明显影响. 求解结果与已有的实验结果和计算结果符合良好.     

Analysis of a fibre laser welding case study, utilising a matrix flow chart

For fibre laser welding of an eccentric corner joint, the quality of the resulting weld cross section was studied with respect to the dependence on process parameters like lateral laser beam alignment, beam inclination, focal plane position or welding speed. The complex load situation of the support beamer was simplified to bending of one corner. Due to fatigue load, the weld properties causing the peak stress are essential, in particular the top and root shape of the weld cross section. For the parameters varied, the resulting shapes were categorized into different top and root classes, determined by certain key dimensions, considering also welding defects like undercuts. The shapes are boundary conditions for Finite Element Analysis of the joint under load for quantitative comparative analysis of the maximum stress. As two high strength steel grades were joined, the hardness transition across the weld was of interest, too. High speed imaging of the weld pool surface shape provided additional information on the relation between the parameter input and quality output. The different trends identified were discussed and guidelines were derived. As the systematic documentation of results is unsatisfactory in welding, a new method was developed and applied for the first time, called the Matrix Flow Chart. It enables an illustrative view on the resulting welding trends in a combined manner and is extendable by other researchers.     

Vision-based weld pool boundary extraction and width measurement during keyhole fiber laser welding

In keyhole fiber laser welding processes, the weld pool behavior is essential to determining welding quality. To better observe and control the welding process, the accurate extraction of the weld pool boundary as well as the width is required. This work presents a weld pool edge detection technique based on an off axial green illumination laser and a coaxial image capturing system that consists of a CMOS camera and optic filters. According to the difference of image quality, a complete developed edge detection algorithm is proposed based on the local maximum gradient of greyness searching approach and linear interpolation. The extracted weld pool geometry and the width are validated by the actual welding width measurement and predictions by a numerical multi-phase model.     

Optimization of hybrid laser – TIG welding of 316LN steel using response surface methodology (RSM)

In the present study, the hybrid laser – TIG welding parameters for welding of 316LN austenitic stainless steel have been investigated by combining a pulsed laser beam with a TIG welding heat source at the weld pool. Laser power, pulse frequency, pulse duration, TIG current were presumed as the welding process parameters whereas weld bead width, weld cross-sectional area and depth of penetration (DOP) were considered as the process responses. Central composite design was used to complete the design matrix and welding experiments were conducted based on the design matrix. Weld bead measurements were then carried out to generate the dataset. Multiple regression models correlating the process parameters with the responses have been developed. The accuracy of the models were found to be good. Then, the desirability approach optimization technique was employed for determining the optimum process parameters to obtain the desired weld bead profile. Validation experiments were then carried out from the determined optimum process parameters. There was good agreement between the predicted and measured values.     

电弧特性及其对熔池形貌影响的数值模拟

通过电弧模型与熔池模型耦合数值模拟,研究了氩弧和氦弧特性及其对SUS304不锈钢钨极惰性气体保护（TIG）焊熔池形貌的影响.通过比较氩弧和氦弧的温度轮廓线以及阳极表面电流密度和热流密度分布发现,氦弧的径向距离比氩弧收缩明显,导致更多热量传递给阳极.模拟了氩弧和氦弧下浮力、电磁力、表面张力和气体剪切力分别对熔池形貌的影响.结果表明：不论是在氩弧还是在氦弧下熔池中表面张力是影响熔池形貌的最主要驱动力.在氩弧下,影响熔池形貌的另一个重要的驱动力是气体剪切力,而氦弧下则是电磁力.由于电磁力引起的内对流运动增加了熔深,从而导致相同氧含量时氦弧下的熔深和焊缝深宽比要高于氩弧下的熔深和焊缝深宽比.随着氧含量的增加,氩弧和氦弧下的焊缝深宽比均先增加而后保持不变.焊缝深宽比的模拟结果与实验结果符合较好. 关键词： 氩弧 氦弧 电弧特性 熔池形貌     

Effects of temperature-dependent material properties and shielding gas on molten pool formation during continuous laser welding of AZ91 magnesium alloy

Laser welding processes are widely used for fabrications in many engineering applications such as aerospace and automotives. In this paper, a moving distributed heat source model based on Goldak's method [1] has been implemented into finite volume thermal simulations in order to predict temperature distributions during the welding process of a magnesium alloy and to study the effects of variations in thermal properties, absorption coefficient and gas shielding on the computed temperature distributions and weld pool dimensions. The main conclusion is the significant effects of varying the thermal conductivity and absorption coefficient of magnesium. Also, it has been seen that the shielding gas, besides its main role of protection against oxidation, has a significant effect on the width of the weld pool. Finally, the obtained results have been compared to the experimental ones and a satisfactory correlation has been observed, indicating the reliability of the model developed in this study.     

等离子弧焊接熔池演变过程的模拟和验证

本文建立了描述等离子弧焊接熔池相变传热与流动的三维数理模型,考虑表面张力、电磁力和浮升力的作用,并针对等离子弧焊接特点,改进组合式体积热源模型,上部采用双椭球热源,下部采用圆锥体热源。重点分析了焊接熔池形状和温度场的演变过程,熔合线的模拟形状与实验焊缝吻合,较好地呈现了焊缝的凸起和熔池宽度,验证了数学模型和热源模型的正确性。本文还进一步开展了焊接功率和焊接速度的影响分析。研究结果表明,流动对焊缝形状的影响不容忽略,而表面张力在三个流动驱动力中占主导地位;焊接功率越大,焊接速度越小,越有利于焊件焊透,数值模拟得到优化的焊接功率和速度有益于实际焊接生产质量及效率。     

Grain fragmentation in ultrasonic-assisted TIG weld of pure aluminum

Under the action of acoustic waves during an ultrasonic-assisted tungsten inert gas (TIG) welding process, a grain of a TIG weld of aluminum alloy is refined by nucleation and grain fragmentation. Herein, effects of ultrasound on grain fragmentation in the TIG weld of aluminum alloy are investigated via systematic welding experiments of pure aluminum. First, experiments involving continuous and fixed-position welding are performed, which demonstrate that ultrasound can break the grain of the TIG weld of pure aluminum. The microstructural characteristics of an ultrasonic-assisted TIG weld fabricated by fixed-position welding are analyzed. The microstructure is found to transform from plane crystal, columnar crystal, and uniform equiaxed crystal into plane crystal, deformed columnar crystal, and nonuniform equiaxed crystal after application of ultrasound. Second, factors influencing ultrasonic grain fragmentation are investigated. The ultrasonic amplitude and welding current are found to have a considerable effect on grain fragmentation. The degree of fragmentation first increases and then decreases with an increase in ultrasonic amplitude, and it increases with an increase in welding current. Measurement results of the vibration of the weld pool show that the degree of grain fragmentation is related to the intensity of acoustic nonlinearity in the weld pool. The greater the intensity of acoustic nonlinearity, the greater is the degree of grain fragmentation. Finally, the mechanism of ultrasonic grain fragmentation in the TIG weld of pure aluminum is discussed. A finite element simulation is used to simulate the acoustic pressure and flow in the weld pool. The acoustic pressure in the weld pool exceeds the cavitation threshold, and cavitation bubbles are generated. The flow velocity in the weld pool does not change noticeably after application of ultrasound. It is concluded that the high-pressure conditions induced during the occurrence of cavitation, lead to grain fragmentation in a pure aluminum TIG weld during an ultrasonic-assisted TIG welding process.     

Axisymmetric laser welding of ceramics: comparison of experimental and finite element results

In this paper, we compare experimental data for a laser spot weld on a ceramic to the solution from an adaptive finite element model of the system. Our focus is on validating the finite element model, which necessarily includes numerous simplifications. We assume an axisymmetric geometry and flow profile, with a flat free surface. Buoyancy and surface tension drive the liquid motion in the molten ceramic pool beneath the laser, which is calculated using the axisymmetric forms of the continuity, momentum and energy equations. Latent heat, temperature-dependent material properties and radiation effects are all included in the formulation. These equations are solved with standard finite element techniques utilizing mesh relocation with a movement indicator based on solution gradients. Comparision with experimental data indicates that the numerical techniques used successfully predicted the depth and diameter of the actual ceramic weld pool.     

Microstructure characteristics of laser-MIG hybrid welded mild steel

To deepen the understanding of laser-arc hybrid welding, the weld shape and microstructure characteristics of laser-metal inert gas hybrid welded mild steel were analyzed. The results showed typical hybrid weld could be classified as two parts: the wide upper zone and the narrow nether zone, which were defined as arc zone and laser zone, respectively. In the hybrid weld, the microstructure, alloy element distribution and microhardness all have evident difference between laser zone and arc zone. The microstructure of arc zone consists of coarse columnar dendrite and fine acicular dendrite between the columnar dendrites, but that of laser zone is composed of fine equiaxed dendrite in weld center and columnar dendrite around the equiaxed dendrite. Compared to arc zone, laser zone has finer grain size, higher microhardness, smaller alloy element content in the fusion zone and narrower heat affected zone. The discussions demonstrated that the observed difference was caused by the difference of temperature gradient, crystallizing and the effects of arc pressure on the molten pool between laser zone and arc zone.     

基于CCD的金属直接成型过程监控系统

采用等离子弧三维焊接直接制造金属零件的快速成型方法是一种新型的制造工艺,为了实现成型过程中的精度控制,采用了CCD视觉监控系统,为了避免弧光干扰,分析了等离子弧光的光谱特性,设计了光学滤光系统.通过对熔池图像进行二值化处理,并采用模糊PID的控制策略对焊接熔池进行控制,试验结果证明可以改善成型质量.     

3D transient multiphase model for keyhole,vapor plume,and weld pool dynamics in laser welding including the ambient pressure effect

The physical process of deep penetration laser welding involves complex, self-consistent multiphase keyhole, metallic vapor plume, and weld pool dynamics. Currently, efforts are still needed to understand these multiphase dynamics. In this paper, a novel 3D transient multiphase model capable of describing a self-consistent keyhole, metallic vapor plume in the keyhole, and weld pool dynamics in deep penetration fiber laser welding is proposed. Major physical factors of the welding process, such as recoil pressure, surface tension, Marangoni shear stress, Fresnel absorptions mechanisms, heat transfer, and fluid flow in weld pool, keyhole free surface evolutions and solid–liquid–vapor three phase transformations are coupling considered. The effect of ambient pressure in laser welding is rigorously treated using an improved recoil pressure model. The predicated weld bead dimensions, transient keyhole instability, weld pool dynamics, and vapor plume dynamics are compared with experimental and literature results, and good agreements are obtained. The predicted results are investigated by not considering the effects of the ambient pressure. It is found that by not considering the effects of ambient pressure, the average keyhole wall temperature is underestimated about 500 K; besides, the average speed of metallic vapor will be significantly overestimated. The ambient pressure is an essential physical factor for a comprehensive understanding the dynamics of deep penetration laser welding.     

Numerical and experimental studies of molten pool formation during an interaction of a pulse laser (Nd:YAG) with a magnesium alloy

A pulse laser (Nd:YAG) interaction with an AZ91 magnesium alloy has been experimentally and numerically studied. A two-dimensional (2D) axisymmetric model of a molten pool created by a laser heat source has been developed. The elaborated model solves the coupled equations of a laminar fluid flow and heat transfer to demonstrate the flow behavior in the pool. This model takes into account the coupled effects of buoyancy and Marangoni forces, the thermophysic variation properties with temperature, and the radiation and convection heat losses. Concerning numerical results, the molten temperature distribution, velocity field and molten shape were discussed. It was noted that the Marangoni flow significantly alters the characteristics of the thawing and solidifying processes, and makes the molten pool wider and shallower. On the other hand, the experimental results showed that the material thermal properties have significant effects on the transport phenomena which takes place in the molten pool, and consequently on the formation as well as the shape of the pool. Finally, a comparison between the numerical and experimental results exhibited a good agreement.     

A melt depth prediction model for quality control of laser surface glazing of inhomogeneous materials

This paper reports on an investigation into the development of an analytical model for the quality control of laser marking/engraving of clay tiles using a high-power diode laser (HPDL). An analytical model for the laser melting of inhomogeneous workpieces with parabolic melt pool geometry being assumed was developed. The theoretical results were compared with the experimental data. The predicted melt pool depth and the experimental values were in close correlation with the parameter for values less than 15 Wmm⁻¹ s^−1/2, in spite of simplifications introduced in the model. At the relatively large values of parameter the assumption of parabolic melt pool shape and one-dimensional heat transfer no longer holds true.     

Randomization-and-relaxation model revisited

Abstract

The interatomic potentials of Stillinger-Weber and Tersoff were incorporated into the randomization-and-relaxation model, which was originally developed for modelling amorphous silicon by using the Keating interatomic potential. The inclusion of more recent and more complicated interatomic potentials resulted in a more sophisticated set of bond switching rules which form the basis for the randomization-and-relaxation algorithm. This improved model was then used to model small isolated amorphous zones which are produced by individual heavy ions during ion implantation in silicon. The temperature evolution during zone creation was calculated by using idealized thermal spike model. The structure and stability of these amorphous zones was examined with respect to the energy of incoming ion and with respect to the interatomic potential employed. It was established that significantly lower spike energy is required to create a stable amorphous region than in the simulation where the Keating potential was employed.     

Prediction of weld strength and seam width for laser transmission welding of thermoplastic using response surface methodology

In the present work, a study is made to investigate the effects of process parameters, namely, laser power, welding speed, size of the laser beam and clamp pressure, on the lap-shear strength and weld-seam width for laser transmission welding of acrylic (polymethyl methacrylate), using a diode laser system. Response surface methodology (RSM) is employed to develop mathematical relationships between the welding process parameters and the output variables of the weld joint to determine the welding input parameters that lead to the desired weld quality. In addition, using response surface plots, the interaction effects of process parameters on the responses are analyzed and discussed. The statistical software Design-Expert v7 is used to establish the design matrix and to obtain the regression equations. The developed mathematical models are tested by analysis-of-variance (ANOVA) method to check their adequacy. Finally, a comparison is made between measured and calculated results, which are in good agreement. This indicates that the developed models can predict the responses adequately within the limits of welding parameters being used.