Through-transmission laser welding of polymers – temperature field modeling and infrared investigation

The purpose of the present study is to estimate the weldability of a polymeric material couple according to their thermal and optical properties. A first model based on Mie theory and Monte Carlo method describes the laser beam behavior in semi-transparent media and makes it possible to approximate the laser power distribution at the interface of the two materials. A second model based on finite element method permits the temperature field estimation into both parts to be welded. The results are validated by infrared thermography.     

Experimental study of temperature and clamping force during Nd:YAG laser butt welding

During welding, a high quality clamping device not only holds workpieces firmly together, but should also take the thermal strain of the welding heat without undermining the strength of the weld joint, inducing any excessive distortions, misalignment of workpieces or reducing the weld joint strength. This paper studies the clamping force during laser butt welding of steel workpieces. The clamping force and welding temperature for a butt welded joint during laser welding are measured simultaneously. The preset clamping force is varied during welding for different thicknesses of workpieces and weld joint strengths. The thermal expansion, cooling contraction, and workpiece width reduction during welding induce variations in the preset clamping force and consequently change the weld joint strength. Our study also reveals that there is an optimal preset clamping force that improves the weld joint strength significantly and the welding temperature during steady welding process remains unchanged for any preset clamping force.     

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.     

Numerical simulation of transient temperature field during laser keyhole welding of 304 stainless steel sheet

A three-dimensional transient numerical model was developed to study the temperature field and molten pool shape during continuous laser keyhole welding. The volume-of-fluid (VOF) method was employed to track free surfaces. Melting and evaporation enthalpy, recoil pressure, surface tension, and energy loss due to evaporating materials were considered in this model. The enthalpy-porosity technique was employed to account for the latent heat during melting and solidification. Temperature fields and weld pool shape were calculated using FLUENT software. The calculated weld dimensions agreed reasonable well with the experimental results. The effectiveness of the developed computational procedure had been confirmed.     

Effect of electric field on plasma control during CO2 laser welding

Experimental results showed that an applied electric field can affect the shielding behavior of the laser-produced plasma during laser welding. It was found that at optimum field strength, the penetration depth can be increased by about 8% and the width of bead can also be reduced. In other words, the electric field can be used for enhancing the efficiency of the laser energy coupling to the workpiece. In addition, the influences of the electric field strength, field direction and laser power on the penetration depth and the bead width are reported.     

Effect of magnetic field on plasma control during CO2 laser welding

During high power CO₂ laser beam welding, the plasma above the keyhole has a shielding effect that it not only absorbs part of the laser energy but also defocuses the laser beam. As a result, the welding efficiency and the aspect ratio of the welds are influenced. In order to reduce the effect of plasma, helium as a plasma control gas has been used successfully and effectively. However, the cost of helium in Southeast Asia is extremely high and therefore the production cost is significantly increased when helium is used as a continuous bleeding plasma control gas. To search for an alternative plasma control technique, feasibility in using magnetic effect as a control tool is explored in this paper. The influences of the magnetic field strength, laser power, welding speed, field direction and shielding gas (e.g. helium and argon) on the penetration depth and the width of bead were also investigated. Experimental results indicated that the magnetic field can influence the shielding effect of the plasma without using plasma control gas. It was found that at a suitable magnetic field strength the penetration depth was increased by about 7%, but no significant difference on the width of bead was found. Moreover, it was shown that the plasma control effect can be achieved at low magnetic field strength and the penetration depth can be increased significantly under argon atmosphere.     

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.     

Modeling and analysis of simultaneous laser transmission welding of polycarbonates using an FEM and RSM combined approach

In this paper, simultaneous laser transmission welding process is systematically investigated via process modeling, using an FEM and RSM combined approach. The objective of the present research is to study the effects of process parameters on the temperature field and weld bead dimensions. The thermal field is simulated by solving a three dimensional transient heat diffusion equation with temperature dependent material properties using the ANSYS^® multi-physics. Response surface methodology is then applied for developing mathematical models based on simulation results. The second order equations developed by RSM can predict the values of the responses with significant accuracy. The effect of parameters and their interactions on the responses are studied using the developed response surface models. The mathematical models are further used in search of the optimal process window for obtaining an acceptable weld. The graphical optimization results into a couple of overlay contours plots, which allow quick visual inspection of the area of feasible response values in the factor space to choose the favorable welding parameter combination.     

Comparative study on interactions between laser and arc plasma during laser-GTA welding and laser-GMA welding

This paper describes an investigation on differences in interactions between laser and arc plasma during laser-gas tungsten arc (LT) welding and laser-gas metal arc (LM) welding. The characteristics of LT heat source and LM heat source, such as plasma behavior, heat penetration ability and spectral information were comparably studied. Based on the plasma discharge theory, the interactions during plasma discharge were modeled and analyzed. Results show that in both LT and LM welding, coupling discharge between the laser keyhole plasma and arc happens, which strongly enhance the arc. But, the enhancing effect in LT welding is much more sensitive than that in LM welding when parameters are adjusted.     

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.     

利用场发射显微镜研究O2对单壁碳纳米管场发射的影响

利用场发射显微镜和四极质谱计研究了充入高纯O2的四极质谱和O2对单壁碳纳米管场发射的影响.单壁碳纳米管经过约1000℃的热处理得到清洁态场发射像后，充入O2，分别测量了O2吸附和脱附后场发射的I V特性.实验观测到在单壁碳纳米管上O2的吸附使场发射电流减小，说明逸出功增加.在10-4Pa的O2压强下对单壁碳纳米管进行约1000℃的热处理，可以产生氧化刻蚀作用，观测到场发射像的变化，并测量了氧化刻蚀产生的I V特性变化. 关键词： 单壁碳纳米管 场发射显微镜 场发射 四极质谱     

Effect of carbon nanotube amount on polyethylene welding process induced by laser source

This paper reports a study of the laser welding of polymeric joints composed by two polyethylene sheets, one pristine and the other filled by carbon nanotubes. In order to know the material modifications occurring during the laser exposure and the phenomena that seal the polymeric sheets, the physical, chemical and mechanical features of the welded area were analysed. The mechanical resistance of the welded joint and the structural changes of the polymer were checked by mechanical shear tests, absorption coefficient measurements, calorimetric analyses, mass quadrupole spectrometry and electron microscopy. The welding effectiveness was investigated as a function of the filler concentration.     

Relationship between weld quality and optical emissions in underwater Nd: YAG laser welding

In underwater laser welding (LBW), the weld quality is very dependent on the shielding conditions of the local dry cavity when other welding parameters are fixed. Thus, diagnosing the stability of the local dry cavity is the key to monitoring of underwater LBW. In this work, a sensing system containing two optical sensors was set up to detect the infrared and ultraviolet waveband of the optical emissions induced in the welding. The effect of water on the laser welding was studied first by conducting direct underwater welding, which was performed without any method to exclude the water from the welding zone. A kind of plasma that has strong ultraviolet emission formed if the water depth was more than several millimeters, which considerably reduced the penetration depth. Then a gas-shielding nozzle was used to form a local dry cavity for underwater LBW. The relationship between the optical signals and the weld quality with various shielding conditions were investigated. The results show that the detected signal well reflects the shielding condition variations of the local dry cavity. The optimal shielding condition could be determined by signal stability.     

Effect of temperature on the electron field emission from aligned carbon nanofibers and multiwalled carbon nanotubes

Effect of temperature and aspect ratio on the field emission properties of vertically aligned carbon nanofiber and multiwalled carbon nanotube thin films were studied in detail. Carbon nanofibers and multiwalled carbon nanotube have been synthesized on Si substrates via direct current plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition technique. Surface morphologies of the films have been studied by a scanning electron microscope, transmission electron microscope and an atomic force microscope. It is found that the threshold field and the emission current density are dependent on the ambient temperature as well as on the aspect ratio of the carbon nanostructure. The threshold field for carbon nanofibers was found to decrease from 5.1 to 2.6 V/μm when the temperature was raised from 300 to 650 K, whereas for MWCNTs it was found to decrease from 4.0 to 1.4 V/μm. This dependence was due to the change in work function of the nanofibers and nanotubes with temperature. The field enhancement factor, current density and the dependence of the effective work function with temperature and with aspect ratio were calculated and we have tried to explain the emission mechanism.     

Effects of relative positioning of energy sources on weld integrity for hybrid laser arc welding

This study is concerned with the effects of laser and arc arrangement on weld integrity for the hybrid laser arc welding processes. Experiments were conducted for a high-strength steel using a 4 kW Nd: YAG laser and a metal active gas (MAG) welding facility under two configurations of arc–laser hybrid welding (ALHW) and laser–arc hybrid welding (LAHW). Metallographic analysis and mechanical testing were performed to evaluate the weld integrity in terms of weld bead geometry, microstructure and mechanical properties. The morphology of the weld bead cross-section was studied and the typical macrostructure of the weld beads appeared to be cone-shaped and cocktail cup-shaped under ALHW and LAHW configurations, respectively. The weld integrity attributes of microstructure, phase constituents and microhardness were analyzed for different weld regions. The tensile and impact tests were performed and fracture surface morphology was analyzed by scanning electron microscope. The study showed that ALHW produced joints with a better weld shape and a more uniform microstructure of lath martensite, while LAHW weld had a heterogeneous structure of lath martensite and austenite.     

Modeling of laser transmission contour welding process using FEA and DoE

In this research, a systematic investigation on laser transmission contour welding process is carried out using finite element analysis (FEA) and design of experiments (DoE) techniques. First of all, a three-dimensional thermal model is developed to simulate the laser transmission contour welding process with a moving heat source. The commercial finite element code ANSYS^® multi-physics is used to obtain the numerical results by implementing a volumetric Gaussian heat source, and combined convection–radiation boundary conditions. Design of experiments together with regression analysis is then employed to plan the experiments and to develop mathematical models based on simulation results. Four key process parameters, namely power, welding speed, beam diameter, and carbon black content in absorbing polymer, are considered as independent variables, while maximum temperature at weld interface, weld width, and weld depths in transparent and absorbing polymers are considered as dependent variables. Sensitivity analysis is performed to determine how different values of an independent variable affect a particular dependent variable.     

A positron annihilation study of carbon black and carbon-black-filled polybutadiene

Studies have been made on positron lifetimes in carbon blacks and carbon black filled polybutadiene. The results for the carbon blacks can be interpreted with the aid of the theoretical results of Brandt and Paulin: Phys. Rev. B5, 2430 (1972) and show that while positron annihilation occurs principally from a bound state, diffusion in the carbon black is extremely small. A numerical upper limit on the diffusion coefficient has been obtained. The data from the rubber is discussed with the aid of a specially developed extension of the previous theory. Here one finds that whereas the variations in the long-component intensity with carbon black loading can be very satisfactorily explained, there is again no evidence for any diffusion effects in the rubber, and an upper limit can be placed on the diffusion coefficient here also. Indeed the variation in the long-component intensity with particle size goes the opposite way to what one would expect if diffusion were dominant. This effect is attributed to the increase in the amount of bound rubber as the particle size is reduced, and the consequent increase in the number of annihilation sites.     

LDC-CNTFET: A carbon nanotube field effect transistor with linear doping profile channel

In this paper, a novel carbon nanotube field effect transistor with linear doping profile channel (LDC-CNTFET) is presented. The channel impurity concentration of the proposed structure is at maximum level at source side and linearly decreases toward zero at drain side. The simulation results show that the leakage current, on-off current ratio, subthreshold swing, drain induced barrier lowering, and voltage gain of the proposed structure improve in comparison with conventional CNTFET. Also, due to spreading the impurity throughout the channel region, the proposed structure has superior performance compared with a single halo CNTFET structure with equal saturation current. Design considerations show that the proposed structure enhances the device performance all over a wide range of channel lengths.     

A study of hydrodynamic turbulence using laser transmission

Using laser transmission, the characteristics of hydrodynamic turbulence is studied following one of the recently developed technique in nonlinear dynamics. The existence of deterministic chaos in turbulence is proved by evaluating two invariants viz. dimension of attractor and Kolmogorov entropy. The behaviour of these invariants indicates that above a certain strength of turbulence the system tends to more ordered states.