INVESTIGATION OF LASER BEAM WELDING PROCESS OF AZ61 MAGNESIUM-BASED ALLOY

Laser welling process of AZ61 magnesium alloys is investigated using a special CO2 laser experimental system. The effect of processing parameters including laser power, welling speed, and protection gas flow at the top and bottom is researched. The results show that an ideal well bead can be formed by choosing the processing parameters properly. An optimized parameter range is obtained by a large number of experiments. Among them, laser power and welling speed are the two main parameters that determine the well width and dimensions. The protect gas flow rate has a slight effect on the well width, but it directly effects the surface color of the well. The test results for typical welds indicate that the microhardness and tensile strength of the well zone are better than that of the base metal A fine-grained well region has been observed and no obvious heat-affected zone is found. The well zone mainly consists of small α-Mg phase, （α ＋ Al12Mg17）, and other eutectic phases. The small grains and the eutectic phases in the joint are believed to play an important role in the increase of the strength of wells for AZ61 magnesium alloys.

Effect of shielding gas and defocusing on porosity during laser beam welding of 7A52 alloy

Laser beam welding is used to fabricate the 7A52 aluminum alloy plates.Effects of shielding gas and defocusing on porosities are investigated.Porosities are divided into hydrogen porosities and keyhole-induced porosities.With the increasing flow rate of the front shielding gas,the porosity ratio firstly decreases,then increases.The porosity ratio is lowest under the flow rate of 25 L/min.When the flow rate is 30 L/min,the porosity ratio is higher because the large flow rate can affect the stability of the keyhole.The porosity ratio is also higher when the flow rate is less than 25 L/min because the protection is weakened.With the increase of the defocusing,the porosity ratio firstly decreases,then increases.When the defocusing is-2 mm,the porosity ratio is lowest.When the defocusing is more than 0 mm or less than-4 mm,the porosity ratio is higher due to the movement of the instable keyhole.

Effects of laser beam welding parameters on mechanical properties and microstructure of AZ31B magnesium alloy

The effects of laser beam welding process parameters such as laser power,welding speed and focal position on mechanical properties and microstructure of AZ31B magnesium alloy were studied.Nine joints were fabricated using different levels of laser power,welding speed and focal position.Tensile properties of the welded joints were evaluated and correlated with the weld zone microstructure and hardness.It is found that the joints fabricated using a laser power of 2 500 W,welding speed of 5.5 m/min and focal position of-1.5 mm yield superior tensile properties compared with the other joints.The formation of very fine grains in weld region,higher fusion zone hardness and uniformly distributed finer precipitates are the main reasons for superior tensile properties of these joints.

Effect of post-weld heat treatment on microstructure and properties of Ti-23Al-17Nb alloy laser beam welding joints

The mechanical properties of Ti-23Al-17Nb (mole fraction,%) laser beam welding alloy joint at room temperature are comparable to that of the base materials.However,the strength and ductility of the as-welded joint deteriorate seriously after high temperature circulation.The effect of post-welded heat treatment on the microstructure and mechanical properties of the joint was investigated.The heat treatment was taken at 980 ℃ for 1.5 h,then furnace cooling and air cooling were performed separately.The results indicate that proper post-welded heat treatment improves the ductility of the joint at high temperature.

Superplastic formability of Ti-6Al-4V butt-welded plate by laser beam welding

The superplasticity of Ti-6Al-4V butt-welded plates by laser beam welding(LBW)was studied in virtue of hot tensile tests and superplastic bulging tests.Furthermore,microstructural evolution of weld metal upon superplastic forming was systematically analyzed via metallographical tests and scanning electron microscope(SEM).The relation between the microstructure of weld metal and its superplastic ability was discussed.The experimental results show that Ti-6Al-4V butt-welded plates by LBW possess superplasticity.The maximum elongation is up to 154%and the maximum bulge height can be up to 1.81 times the internal radius of the female die.There is an optimum value of the bulge height for bulging gas pressure.

Mechanism of laser beam welding for SiC_P/6063Al composite

The laser beam welding technique was used to process SiCparticles/6063Al alloy matrix composite, the in- fluence of laserpower and welding speed on the properties of joint was studied.Decreasing the laser beam power with same welding speed can make thequantity and size of Al_4C_3 decreased, and the ineractive mechanismof the reinforcing particles and the matrix in the joint and thecauses for joint strength reduction were analyzed. Increasing weldingspeed properly can improve the distribution of energy and restrainthe interfacial reaction in the molten pool, an measures for impovingwere proposed.

Microstructure and mechanical properties of laser beam welding 6061 aluminum alloy with different states

With the diversification of manufacture methods, joining the same materials with different states becomes indispensable in practical application. In present work, 6061 aluminum alloys with different states were welded by laser beam welding （LBW）. The microstructures of welded joint, before and after heat treating, were investigated. The mechanical properties, such as the tensile properties and microhardness , were tested. And the fracture characteristic was observed by means of scanning electron microscope （SEM）. The results show that the 6061 aluminum alloys have superior weldability and the microstructures are different significantly in different states. Besides, the grain boundaries of the joint microstructures become unclear after the heat treating. The strength and the elongations of welded joints could reach to those of the base metal. The tensile fracture occurs in the fusion zone and near 6061-0 alloy. And the fracture presents ductile rupture. Therefore, the LBW is an effective method for 6061 aluminum alloy.

Comparative Study on Microstructures of Zincalume Steel(G550)Welded Joint Between Metal Inert Gas and Laser Beam Welding

Zincalume steel(G550)is commonly used in various construction fields because of its high corrosion resistance and good mechanical properties.In recent years,a number of steel companies have massively produced zincalume steel(G550)with large volumes of waste.For the reduction of massive industrial wastes,the zincalume steel(G550)was welded in the lap joint configuration using different welding parameters in the metal inert gas(MIG)welding and laser beam welding(LBW)process in this study.The MIG welding and LBW are more welcomed welding methods due to their high efficiency and low cost.However,they are different as the LBW offers welding speed three to five times faster than MIG welding,while LBW’s heat transfer to workpieces is much less than MIG welding,which can avoid some distortions.The microstructure of zincalume steel(G550)was investigated using scanning electron microscopy(SEM)and the microstructure characterizations of welded specimens were analyzed.The experiment found the columnar dendrites extended under the heat flow direction during the MIG welding and LBW process.Thus,the columnar grains were formed in between the equiaxed zone and fusion zone(FZ)at high heat input and slow cooling rate.Moreover,the grain size of FZ was comparatively smaller than heat affected zone(HAZ)and base metal(BM).

Fluid Flow Simulation of the Influence of a Steady Magnetic Field on the Weld Pool Dynamics in Deep Penetration Laser Beam Welding of Aluminum

A multi-physics numerical model was developed to investigate the influence of a steady magnetic field during partial penetration keyhole laser beam welding of an aluminum plate in fiat position.Three-dimensional heat transfer, fluid dynamics including phase transition and electromagnetic field partial differential equations were solved with the finite element differential equation solver COMSOL Multiphysics.The magnetic field was aligned perpendicularly to the welding direction.The main objective of these simulations was to estimate the critical value of the magnetic field needed to suppress convective flows in the weld pool during high-power(up to 20 kW)laser beam welding of aluminum alloys with up to 20 mm deep weld pool.It reveals that steady magnetic fields with corresponding Hartmann numbers Ha2-104 based on the half-width of the weld pool can effectively suppress convective flows in the weld pool.Moreover,the typically occurring wineglass-shape of the weld cross section caused by thermo-capillary flow is weakened.

Electromagnetic Control of the Weld Pool Dynamics in Partial Penetration Laser Beam Welding of Aluminium Alloys

The main characteristic feature of deep penetration laser beam welding is a large temperature difference between the plasma cavity(keyhole)in the weld pool centre and the melting/solidification front.Large temperature gradients in the weld pool result in very intensive thermocapillary(Marangoni)convection.The weld pool surface width becomes very large and unstable.However,an externally applied oscillating magnetic field can stabilize the surface of the melt.In the present work this technology was used to stabilize the weld pool surface in partial penetration 4.4 kW Nd:YAG laser beam welding of AW-5754 aluminium alloy in PA position.An AC magnet was mounted on the laser welding head.The oscillating magnetic field was oriented perpendicular to the welding direction.It was found that the AC magnetic field can drastically reduce the surface roughness of welds.X-ray image analysis shows a drastic reduction of welds porosity.This effect can be explained as a result of electromagnetic rectification of the melt.

Bending Properties and Fracture Behavior of Ti-23Al-17Nb Alloy Laser Beam Welding Joints

Ti-23Al-17Nb alloy is an important high temperature structural material used in the space and aerospace fields. Welding of this alloy is an indispensable processing method, so the microstructures and mechanical properties of these welded joints must be studied to improve the welds. Longitudinal three-point bending tests were conducted to measure the bending ductility of laser beam welded joints. The crack distribution and fracture surface were investigated to further analyze the fracture behavior. The results indicate that the bending ductility decreases as the heat input by the laser beam welding increases. The crack inducing strain reaches 4.24%, while the fracturing strain exceeds 5% when the heat input is below 316 J/cm. If the columnar crystal grain of the weld metal exhibits a uniform orientation, the bending ductility is worse. The fractography analysis shows that the cracking propagates transgranularly and the fracture surface has a cleavage mode.

Simulation of an Inductive Weld Pool Support for Deep Penetration Laser Beam Welding of Metal Parts

A three-dimensional laminar steady state numerical model was used to investigate the influence of an alternating current(ac)magnetic field during single pass high power laser beam keyhole welding of 20 mm thick aluminum.The three-dimensional heat transfer,fluid dynamics and electromagnetic field equations were solved with the commercial finite element package COMSOL Multiphysics.Dominant physical effects of the process were taken into account:Thermo-capillary(Marangoni)convection at the upper and lower weld pool surfaces,natural convection due to the gravity influence and the latent heat of solid-liquid phase transition.Simulations were conducted for several magnetic field strengths and it was found that the gravity drop-out associated with welding of thick plates due to the hydrostatic pressure can be prevented by the application of an ac magnetic field below the weld specimen of around 70 mT(rms)at an oscillation frequency of 450 Hz.The inductive support system allows for single-pass laser beam welding of thick aluminum plates.The flow pattern in the molten zone and the temperature distributions are significantly changed by the application of the electromagnetic forces in the weld pool.

Processing parameter optimization of fiber laser beam welding using an ensemble of metamodels and MOABC

In fiber laser beam welding(LBW),the selection of optimal processing parameters is challenging and plays a key role in improving the bead geometry and welding quality.This study proposes a multi-objective optimization framework by combining an ensemble of metamodels(EMs)with the multi-objective artificial bee colony algorithm(MOABC)to identify the optimal welding parameters.An inverse proportional weighting method that considers the leave-one-out prediction error is presented to construct EM,which incorporates the competitive strengths of three metamodels.EM constructs the correlation between processing parameters(laser power,welding speed,and distance defocus)and bead geometries(bead width,depth of penetration,neck width,and neck depth)with average errors of 10.95%,7.04%,7.63%,and 8.62%,respectively.On the basis of EM,MOABC is employed to approximate the Pareto front,and verification experiments show that the relative errors are less than 14.67%.Furthermore,the main effect and the interaction effect of processing parameters on bead geometries are studied.Results demonstrate that the proposed EM-MOABC is effective in guiding actual fiber LBW applications.

Formation, microstructure and mechanical properties of double-sided laser beam welded Ti-6Al-4V T-joint

The T-joints of Ti?6Al?4V alloy were manufactured by double-sided synchronized laser beam welding with the homologous filler wire. The formation, microstructure and mechanical properties of welded joints as well as the correlations of each other were investigated. The results indicate that the quality of weld seams is good without defects such as discontinuity, beading, visible cracks or porosity, which is linked to the steady molten pool behavior and droplet transition. The morphologies of the heat affected zone (HAZ) located on the skin and stringer are disparate. The microstructure of the HAZ and fusion zone (FZ) is mainly comprised of acicular martensiticα′ phases. The microhardness of the HAZ and FZ is higher than that of the base metal (BM) and reaches a maximum value at the HAZ near FZ on the stringer. The tensile specimens along the skin and stringer fractured at the BM with ductile fracture surfaces.

Liquation cracking in laser beam welded joint of ZK60 magnesium alloy

The ZK60 magnesium alloy plates were welded by laser beam welding (LBW) and the microstructures in the partially melted zone (PMZ) of welded joints were investigated. For the as-cast alloy, the eutectoid mixtures along grain boundaries (GBs) in the PMZ are liquefied during welding, and their re-solidified materials present hypoeutectic characters, which lead to more severe segregation of the Zn element along GBs, and thus enhance the cracking tendency of the PMZ. The main reasons for liquation cracking of PMZ are described as that the absence of liquid at the terminal stage of solidification leads to the occurrence of shrinkage cavities in PMZ, from which liquation cracking initiates, and propagates along the weakened GBs under the tensile stress originating from solidification shrinkage and thermal contraction. Lower heat input can reduce the cracking tendency, and the plastic processing such as rolling also contributes to the mitigation of PMZ liquation cracking by reducing the size of eutectoid phases and changing their distribution in the base metal.

Microstructure and high-temperature mechanical properties of laser beam welded TC4/TA15 dissimilar titanium alloy joints

The microstructure evolution and high-temperature mechanical properties of laser beam welded TC4/TA15 dissimilar titanium alloy joints under different welding parameters were studied.The results show that the weld fusion zone of TC4/TA15 dissimilar welded joints consists of coarsenedβcolumnar crystals that contain mainly acicularα’martensite.The heat affected zone is composed of the initialαphase and the transformedβstructure,and the width of heat affected zone on the TA15 side is narrower than that on the TC4 side.With increasing temperature,the yield strength and ultimate tensile strength of the TC4/TA15 dissimilar welded joints decrease and the highest plastic deformation is obtained at 800°C.The tensile strength of the dissimilar joints with different welding parameters and base material satisfies the following relation(from high to low):TA15 base material>dissimilar joints>TC4 base material.The microhardness of a cross-section of the TC4/TA15 dissimilar joints reaches a maximum at the centre of the weld and is reduced globally after heat treatment,but the microhardness distribution is not changed.An elevated temperature tensile fracture of the dissimilar joints is located on the side of the TC4 base material.Necking occurs during the tensile tests and the fracture characteristics are typical when ductility is present in the material.

Microstructure and mechanical properties of laser beam welded TC4/TA15 dissimilar joints

The microstructure and mechanical properties of laser beam welded dissimilar joints in TC4 and TA15 titanium alloyswere investigated. The results showed that the coarse columnar grains containing a large amount of acicular α and martensite α′ werepresent in the fusion zone (FZ), some residual α phases and martensite structure were formed in the heat-affected zone (HAZ) onTC4 side, and bulk equiaxed α phase of the HAZ was on TA15 side. An asymmetrical microhardness profile across the dissimilarjoint was observed with the highest microhardness in the FZ and the lowest microhardness in TA15 BM. The orders of yield strengthand ultimate tensile strength were as follows: TC4 BM > TC4/TC4 similar joint > TA15 BM > TA15/TA15 similar joint > TC4/TA15dissimilar joint, and increased while hardening capacity and strain hardening exponent decreased with increasing strain rate from1×10?4 s?1 to 1×10?2 s?1. The TC4/TA15 dissimilar joints failed in the TA15 BM, and had characteristics of ductile fracture atdifferent strain rates.

Mechanism of laser welding of SiC reinforced LD2 aluminum metal matrix composite

In this paper the mechanism of SiC_P/LD2 aluminum matrix composites during laser welding was investigated. The emphasis was laid on the study of the distribution of aluminum carbides in whole welds. The joint can be divided into three regions both in depth and in width. The depth is divided into severe reaction region, partial reaction region, and no reaction region. In these regions, the extent of interfacial reaction varies gradually, the shape of reactants varies from long to fine. In width it can also be divided into severe reaction region, partial reaction region, and initial reaction region from the center of the weld to about the welding junction. In the initial reaction region, nucleation and growth of the reaction products on the surface of SiC particles can be observed by using TEM. The investigation showed that the quantity and size of SiC are relative to the temperature gradient in the molten pool.

Application of Nd:YAG Laser Welding to Implantable Neuro-Stimulator

It is difficult to weld the material and structure of implantable neuro-stimulator such as pure medical titanium and irregular outside shield by conventional arc welding methods.Currently there are few reports on the neuro stimulator sealing technology,and none of them have simultaneously considered the quality control methods.In order to develop the sealing procedure and quality control methods,an investigation of applying Nd：YAG laser welding to implantable neuro-stimulator components is carried out.Firstly,the automatic Nd：YAG laser welding system equipped with proper fixture configuration is introduced.A special fixture structure is illustrated and the key point for the device is to reduce the fit-up gap between the two shields.Then,a novel welding process technique is proposed to satisfy the engineering requirements.The optimized process parameters for titanium shell,feedthrough and fastener are provided and concluded by an orthogonal experiment.Finally,different quality control measures such as visual inspection,X-ray detecting and leakage testing,are presented on the final products.The results show that the Nd：YAG laser welding applied on the implanted neuro-stimulator under optimized parameters can prevent welding defects and improve the weld joints quality.Combination of various quality control methods will guarantee the sealing performance and mechanical properties of the products.It is confirmed that the processing procedure and quality methods can not only resolve the process technology on welding ultra-thin structure of medical device,but also provide the reference for other implantable device.

Response of structural and magnetic properties of ultra-thin FeCo–V foils to high-energy beam welding processes

Microstructural evolutions and grain-boundary-character distribution during high-energy-beam welding of ultra-thin Fe Co-V foils were studied. Detailed data about the boundaries, coincidence site lattice（CSL） relationships, grain sizes, and microstructural features were acquired from electron-backscatter diffraction（EBSD） maps. Moreover, the evolution of the magnetic properties during high-energy-beam welding was studied using vibrating sample magnetometry（VSM）. The fraction of low-angle boundaries was observed to increase in the fusion zones of both electron- and laser-beam-welded foils. The results showed that the fractions of low-Σ CSL boundaries（particularly twin boundaries, Σ3） in the fusion zones of the welded foils are higher than those in the base metal. Because the strain rates produced during high-energy-beam welding are very high（because of the extremely high cooling rate）, grain deformation by a slip mechanism is limited; therefore, deformation by grain twinning is dominant. VSM analysis showed that the magnetic properties of the welded foils, i.e., their remanence, coercive force, and energy product, changed significantly. The formation of large grains with preferred orientation parallel to the easy axis of magnetization was the main reason for the diminished magnetic properties.