Dual beam method for laser welding of galvanized steel: Experimentation and prospects

Laser welding of zinc-coated steel sheets in lap configuration poses a challenging problem, because of the zinc vapours spoiling the quality of the weld. In continuation to the earlier work, the novel solution of dual laser beam method for lap welding of galvanized steel sheets is discussed here in view of the recently obtained observations and ensuing concerns. In this method the precursor beam cuts a slot, thus making an exit path for the zinc vapours, while the second beam performs the needed welding. The metallurgical analysis of the welds is encouraging showing absence of zinc in the welded area. In the current work on this technique, new experimental results have been obtained verifying the earlier observations. Along with this, the possibility of using a transversely split-up beam for the welding purposes with this approach is discussed and analyzed in this paper. This new technique is expected to be very useful in prospective industrial applications requiring higher welding throughput along with the needed quality.     

Pulsed Nd:YAG laser welding of AISI 304 to AISI 420 stainless steels

The technique to weld AISI 304 stainless steel to AISI 420 stainless steel with a pulsed Nd:YAG laser has been investigated. The main objective of this study was to determine the influence of the laser beam position, with respect to the joint, on weld characteristics. Specimens were welded with the laser beam incident on the joint and moved 0.1 and 0.2 mm on either side of the joint. The joints were examined in an optical microscope for cracks, pores and to determine the weld geometry. The microstructure of the weld and the heat affected zones were observed in a scanning electron microscope. An energy dispersive spectrometer, coupled to the scanning electron microscope, was used to determine variations in (weight %) the main chemical elements across the fillet weld. Vickers microhardness testing and tensile testing were carried out to determine the mechanical properties of the weld. The results of the various tests and examinations enabled definition of the best position for the incident laser beam with respect to the joint, for welding together the two stainless steels.     

Concurrent laser welding and annealing exploiting robotically manipulated optical fibers

Present investigation reports on the effects of incorporating pre- and post-heating on the mechanical properties of laser-welded joints, in normal air condition. Two common types of steels, i.e. mild steel, and stainless steel were welded with Lumonic's MS 830 Nd³⁺:YAG laser machine, with an output capacity of 400 W. Due to the low integrated energy input required for laser welded joints, the welded region are often cooled too rapidly via conduction to the surrounding material and atmosphere, which leads to hardness discontinuities in the fusion and heat affected zone. The effects of in-process laser annealing on the mechanical properties and microstructure of laser-welded joints are important in any manufacturing operation. To improve the poor weld characteristics, this work investigates the use of automated dual-beam delivery system to implement a pre- or post-heating technique, simultaneously with the welding process. The results show that proper selection of the control parameters for the pre- or post-heating can reduce the hardness of the weld significantly and improve the welded joints mechanical properties, such as higher tensile strength and better durability.     

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.     

Fibre laser welding for packaging of disposable polymeric microfluidic-biochips

An essential step in the development of microfluidic-biochips is represented by the assembly process. Among the thermal bonding processes used for the assembly of such devices the laser transmission welding of polymers offers several advantages, especially when it comes about local deposition of energy and minimum thermal distortion in the joining components.The research presented in this paper proposes a new approach for the laser transmission welding developed for the packaging of disposable polymeric microfluidic-biochips. The new approach based on the use of a fibre laser and a tailored method for the laser energy deposition was tested on the sealing of polymeric biochips made from plexiglas and polypropylene with a covering foil. This method combines the characteristics of the polymer contour welding and quasi-simultaneous welding and allows the achievement of contamination-free, high quality weld seams as narrow as 100 μm with a high dynamic making it suitable for the high volume production also.     

Research on laser welding of high-strength galvanized automobile steel sheets

The paper presented some useful results of deep-penetration laser welding of high-strength galvanized steel sheets, which had been carried out by a self-made CO₂ laser unit with maximum power output of 1.5 kW. The workpieces of high-strength galvanized automobile steels with thickness of 1.5 mm were butt-welded with argon as the shielding gas. The effects of such factors as laser power, welding speed, focal position, shielding gas and zinc vaporization on the quality of welds are investigated. With the processing parameters optimized and the proper shielding gas used in both coaxial and side-blow direction, most of the defects, such as pores, cracks and softening in HAZ, can be avoided in laser welding joints. The microstructure, the hardness distribution and the elemental distribution in the welding joints can be changed due to laser heating and recrystallization. In order to determine the mechanical properties of the welding joints, the static tensile strength was tested. Experimental results indicated that both the strength and microhardness of welding joints were higher than those of the base metal. Consequently, the welding quality is reliable for manufacturing of automobile bodies.     

A conduction model for deep penetration laser welding based on an actual keyhole

Using a specially designed experimental setup and properly choosing the sample material and the process parameters, we obtained a clear stable keyhole with a high-speed camera. On the basis of the actual keyhole profile, a conduction model with a cylindrical surface heat source has been developed under the assumption of the keyhole per thin layer being cylindrical. The model is numerically solved by the finite-difference method, the temperature field around the keyhole and the heat flux lost on the keyhole wall can be obtained. The effects of such factors as the shape and the size of the keyhole, the welding speed on the shape of the melt pool are studied. By comparing the laser intensity absorbed on the keyhole walls with the heat flux lost there, the mechanism of energy balance on the keyhole walls was investigated.     

A study on shielding gas contamination in laser welding of non-ferrous alloys

Laser welding of non-ferrous alloys is a high-productivity and cost-effective joining technology, which gained an undoubted interest especially in aerospace, chemical and medical industry, where high strength and corrosion resistant mechanical parts are required. Unfortunately some of the most used non-ferrous alloys are highly reactive with respect to the components of the environmental atmosphere: oxygen, nitrogen, hydrogen and humidity. This reactivity leads to the formation of porosities and to oxides and nitrides inclusion, which are responsible for a decrease of ductility and strength in welded joints.According to this a good shielding technique of the weld pool is of primary importance in order to obtain sound beads and reliable manufacturings. This paper deals with the opportunity of simulating the shielding gas behavior by means of Computational Fluid Dynamics software in order to understand the relationship among the outlet position, the shielding gas type and its flow rate.A simulation activity was carried out in order to evaluate the behavior of shielding gas concentration surrounding the weld pool. The simulated welding environment was simplified without considering the presence and the effect of the plasma plume. The main results concern the shielding gas contamination prediction with respect to the distance from the beam-material interaction zone.     

Gas protection optimization during Nd:YAG laser welding

Many laser processes, such as welding or surface treatments are associated with an undesired phenomenon, which is oxidation. The solution commonly employed to solve this problem approaches the shielding gas and/or the shielding gas device. What we propose in this paper is a methodology with the goal to optimize the protection gas device design as well as the gas flow in the case of laser welding and surface treatments. The pressure created by the gas flow on the sample surface is recorded and analysed together with the operating parameters influence in order to reach the objectives. The nozzle system designed and presented below assures the protection against material oxidation using minimal gas flow rates and increases the welding penetration in the case of high-power Nd:YAG laser welding.     

Spectroscopic, energetic and metallographic investigations of the laser lap welding of AISI 304 using the response surface methodology

Spectroscopic signals originated by the laser-induced plasma optical emission have been simultaneously investigated together with energetic and metallographic analyses of CO₂ laser welded stainless steel lap joint, using the Response Surface Methodology. This statistical approach allowed us to study the influence of the laser beam power and the laser welding speed on the following response parameters: plasma plume electron temperature, joint penetration depth and melted area. A clear correlation has been found between all the investigated response parameters. The results have been shown to be consistent with quantitative considerations on the energy supplied to the workpiece as far as the laser power and travel speed were varied. The regression model obtained in this way could be a valuable starting point to develop a closed loop control of the weld penetration depth and the melted area in the investigated process window.     

Polyethylene welding by pulsed visible laser irradiation

Laser welding of plastics is a relatively new process that induces locally a fast polymer heating. For most applications, the process involves directing a pulsed beam of visible light at the weld joint by going through one of the two parts. This is commonly referred to as “through transmission visible laser welding”. In this technique, the monochromatic visible light source uses a power ns pulsed laser in order to irradiate the joint through one part and the light is absorbed in the vicinity of the other part.In order to evaluate the mechanical resistance of the welded joint, mass quadrupole spectrometry, surface profilometry, microscopy techniques and mechanical shear tests were employed. The welding effect was investigated as a function of the laser irradiation time, nature of the polyethylene materials and temperature.     

High-speed laser welding of plastic films

Laser welding of plastic materials has a large field of applications in the packaging industry provided that it can compete, in quality and productivity, with currently used industrial methods. Welding of white and transparent thin films of polypropylene and polyethylene of low and high density at high speeds of 20 m s⁻¹ using a CO₂ laser has been studied experimentally.‘ The weld process has been characterised by the specific energy required for each thickness, kind of plastic and the resistance of the weld seam. The influence of the dimensions of the laser beam spot on weld strength has also been analysed.     

The influence of shielding gas in hybrid LASER-MIG welding

Hybrid LASER-GMAW welding technique has been recently studied and developed in order to meet the needs of modern welding industries. The two sources involved in this process play, in fact, a complementary role: fast welding speed, deep bead penetration and high energy concentration can be achieved through the LASER beam, while gap bridgeability and cost-effectiveness are typical of the GMAW process.Particularly interesting, in this context, is the CO₂ LASER-MIG welding which differs from the Nd:YAG LASER-MIG technique for the high powers that can be exploited and for the good power/cost ratio of the process.This paper is a part of a wide study on the hybrid CO₂ LASER-MIG welding and investigates the influence of the shielding gas both on the stability of the process and on the dimensional characteristics of the weld bead. Two different parameters have been taken into consideration in order to develop this analysis: the shielding gas composition and the shielding gas flow.The experiment, performed on AISI 304 stainless steel plates, has been planned exploiting design of experiment techniques. The results have been analyzed through a statistical approach in order to determine the real influence of each parameter on the overall process.     

Modelling of CO2 laser welding of magnesium alloys

Laser welding is an important joining process for magnesium alloys. These materials are being increasingly used in different applications such as in aerospace, aircraft, automotive, electronics, etc. To date, carbon dioxide (CO₂) neodymium-doped yttrium aluminum garnet (Nd:YAG) and the high power diode laser have been extensively used to investigate the weldability of magnesium alloys. The present work describes an analytical thermal model for the weldability of magnesium alloys (WE43) using an industrial (CO₂) laser source. The main target of the project is to present to the industrial community a simple and rapid tool for the determination of the penetration depth and the bead width as a function of both the incident laser power and welding speed. The proposed model is based on the Davis thermal approach, largely considered for the characterization of the average radius of the liquid zone, aiming at predicting the joint shape. Moreover, since during the welding process considered in this study, a protecting gas is used to avoid joint oxidation, both thermal convection and radiation phenomena in the welding area have been estimated and introduced in our model for a better characterization of the welding process. 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.     

Optical focus control system for laser welding and direct casting

A non-intrusive optical sensor system has been developed for focus control of laser welding. This detects the light generated by the process through the laser delivery optics, and exploits the chromatic aberrations of these optics to detect any laser focal error at the workpiece. This system works for a wide range of materials and welding parameters, and example results are presented. The sensor has also been applied to laser ‘direct casting’, a process in which 3-D structures are built by flowing metal powder into a focused laser beam. In this case, melt pool temperature is also important, and so additional optics are incorporated into the sensor to provide a pyrometric temperature measurement which is used to control the laser power.     

Utilization of light scattering in transmission laser welding of medical devices

This paper reports on optimization of material parameters in transmission laser welding of polymers including light absorption, light scattering and the thermal properties of the polymers. A criterion for making an optimized transmission laser weld between a transparent polymer part and an absorbing and scattering polymer part is formulated as a required thickness of the melt-zone in the transparent part with a corresponding minimum-line-energy-for-welding (MLEW). Experimental data of MLEW are presented for a medical device application involving joining polyethylene-octene parts for various concentrations of near-infrared absorber and titanium dioxide light scattering particles. Numerical and analytical models yield good agreement to the experimental data and enable optimization of the transmission laser welding process. By utilization of light scattering, the laser line-energy required for joining two polymer parts can be reduced by a factor up to three, enabling a corresponding reduction of the cycle time in the manufacturing process.     

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.     

Challenges to the interpretation of the electromagnetic feedback from laser welding

This paper considers the point that it is not possible to interpret individual weld perturbations from the raw electromagnetic feedback collected from laser weld zones. The presentation of electromagnetic data as a 3D cloud is presented as a new, useful tool in the analysis of this feedback. It is shown that there is a very low correlation between the plasma or thermal signals and the reflected light signal from the weld zone, and that a strong correlation exists between the plasma and thermal signals. It is also demonstrated that data points from a weld perturbation form a different 3D cluster to those from the stable welding process. A strategy for future real time data analysis is presented utilising a suitably shaped data cloud envelope. The rates of data fit to the various segments of such an envelope could be correlated with specific weld anomalies.     

An experimental study on the keyhole shapes in laser deep penetration welding

In this paper, the laser spot diameter and its intensity distribution are measured with a scanning pinhole, and the keyhole shapes are observed using a specially designed setup in laser deep penetration welding of glass GG17. Based on the above experimental results, the effects of the following factors on the keyhole shapes are studied: the laser spot diameter and its intensity distribution, defocus, welding speed and inverse Bremsstrahlung absorption of the plasma.     

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.