Low Heat Welding of Titanium Materials with a Pulsed Nd:YAG Laser

Titanium materials exhibit a property profile that is just as versatile as that of steel materials. Titanium materials therefore have outstanding properties, such as excellent resistance to corrosion and high strength values at low densities, which makes them ideal for use in the chemical industry and as structural materials in lightweight construction. Due to the high affinity of titanium to atmospheric gases at increased temperatures above 500 °C, titanium components have to be welded in a sophisticated process under inert shielding gas by TIG welding or by an electron beam in a vacuum. A novel innovative laser beam welding process using a pulsed laser with free pulse shaping will be presented here with which oxidation‐free titanium weld seams with excellent mechanical and technological properties can be produced. For this low heat welding process, the otherwise commonly used inert gas covering can be substituted with a shielding gas nozzle. The process‐specific low heat input and the resulting low energy input per unit length both have a positive effect on the microstructure and thus on the mechanical properties. This welding process offers both technological and economical advantages over the processes used up until now, particularly for the machining of complex components and for series production.     

Fügen von Magnesium und Magnesiumlegierungen

Welding of Magnesium and Magnesium alloys Magnesium is mainly connected by screws. In this paper the results of experiments with different welding processes will be presented. The following methods have been applied: TIG, MIG, Nd: YAG‐Laser and CO₂‐Laser welding, electron beam welding and High Power Diode Laser welding.     

Thermische Nachbehandlung der laserstrahlgeschweißten Al‐Legierungen AlSi1MgMn und AlCu4Mg1

Post heat treatment of the laser beam welded aluminium alloys AlSi1MgMn and AlCu4Mg1 Laser beam welded age hardenable aluminium alloys often exhibit a loss in strength in the fusion and the heat affected zones, compared to the uninfluenced base material. A material‐compatible combination among a base material, a welding filler material, as well as welding parameters and a suitable post heat treatment of the welded joint allows to improve the weld seam properties. The base material AlSi1MgMn (6082) was welded in the aging condition T4 using AlSi12 and AlSi7Mg ‐ filler materials and the welded joint was completely aged at different temperatures and times, in order to adjust an almost constant hardness profile over the base material, heat affected zone and fusion zone. The base material AlCu4Mg1 (2024) was welded in the aging condition T351 using a AlCu6Mn ‐ filler material and the welded joint was naturally aged. The aging behaviour, the residual stress, the static and dynamic properties of welded joints were examined. The properties can be clearly improved by the post heat treatment.     

Effects of type of shielding gas upon local mechanical properties of laser welded joint in heat‐treatable steel

Small additions of oxygen or carbon dioxide to argon shielding at laser beam welding can increase welding speed and productivity and decrease the mechanical properties of welded joints. The effect of the type of active shielding gas mixtures based on argon with additions of oxygen and/or carbon dioxide upon the local mechanical properties of laser welded joints of heat‐treatable steel 25 CrMo 4 was studied. Microshear test method has been used to investigate the local mechanical properties of welded joints, including microshear strength, microshear plasticity and microshear thoughness. The obtained data were statistically processed, and a mathematical modeling of mechanical properties applying the method of response surfaces was carried out. The analysis revealed that the impact of the used shielding gas mixtures upon the local mechanical properties of the joint is not very significant. The results indicate that the microshear test can be used successfully for estimation of the local mechanical properties distribution of laser welded joints.     

Laserstrahlschweißen von Titanwerkstoffen unter Berücksichtigung des Einflusses des Sauerstoffes

Influence of the oxygen content in the shielding gas on microstructure and mechanical properties of laser welds of titanium and titanium alloys In the present work, a new tool concept for laser welding of titanium in high volume production has been presented and evaluated. Through the innovative application of a six‐layer metal web it is possible to calm the argon gas flow and avoid pernicious turbulences during welding. The integration of the mentioned metal web at the base of an open welding chamber allows the automated welding of highly reactive materials, such as titanium, under atmospheric pressure and inert shielding conditions. The higher density of argon relative to air offers the unique possibility to leave the chamber open on the top, so that a higher degree of flexibility than gas shielding devices for TIG welding, especially for industrial robots, is attained and can be successfully used for industrial mass production. Furthermore this device is important for welding three‐dimensional contours or to shield the regions of overlap (in overlapped joints) where shielding gas trailers are unsuccessful. By means of the presented gas shielding procedure and a modern laser welding process such as Nd:YAG laser welding, systematic investigations on the effect of oxygen on the microstructure as well as on the mechanical properties of reference bead‐on‐plate weldments could be performed for the first time. As a result of these welding trials it can be concluded that in order to avoid discolorations and hardness increase, lower restrictions to the purity of the shielding gas, in comparison to TIG welding condition, can be allowed. The maximum tolerable value of oxygen in the welding atmosphere was found to be approximately 1000 ppm for laser welding. On the contrary the maximum value for TIG welding is about 30 ppm. Further investigations on the microstructural and mechanical properties of the joints confirm that the optical quality assurance criteria for TIG welding due to the standards of aircraft construction transferable to Nd:YAG welding are.     

Correlation of processing route and heat treatment with the abrasive wear resistance of a plastic mold steel

The processing of polymers necessitates the use of corrosion and wear resistant tool materials being in direct contact with the feedstock material. Corrosion resistant cold work tool steels, the so called plastic mold steels, are successfully applied here, offering both a good wear and corrosion resistance. The lifetime of this tool depends on the applied heat treatment but also the processing route has a distinct effect on the resulting properties. In this work, different powder metallurgical routes like hot isostatic pressing, build‐up welding (plasma transfer arc (PTA)) and thermal spraying (high velocity oxy fuel (HVOF) and atmospheric plasma spraying (APS)) were applied to produce coatings on low‐alloyed construction steel. Coatings are compared in relation to the changes in microstructure and the feasibility of an adequate heat treatment. This paper discusses strategies to maximize wear resistance in dependence of heat treatment and the microstructural changes arising from the processing.     

Innovatives Elektronenstrahlschweißen hochschmelzender Metalle

Innovative electron‐beam welding of high‐melting metals Since its establishment as nuclear research plant Juelich in the year 1956, the research centre Juelich (FZJ) is concerned with the material processing of special metals. Among those are, above all, the high‐melting refractory metals niobium, molybdenum and tungsten. Electron beam welding has always been considered to be an innovative special welding method; in the FZJ, electron beam welding has, moreover, always been adapted to the increasing demands made by research partners and involved manufacturing and design sectors. From the manual equipment technology right up to highly modern multi‐beam technique, the technically feasible for fundamental research has, this way, always been realised.     

Verhalten geschweißter Magnesiumlegierungen unter mechanisch‐korrosiver Komplexbeanspruchung

Corrosion and corrosion fatigue of welded magnesium alloys In addition to the prevalent use of magnesium cast alloys a high potential for lightweight constructions is offered by magnesium‐wrought alloys, in particular in the automobile industry. The use of rolled and/or extruded magnesium alloys (profiles and sheet metals) requires suitable and economic join technologies like different welding procedures in order to join semi finished parts. Thus, the realization of lightweight constructions asks for high standards of materials‐ and joining‐technologies. In this context, the mechanical properties as well as the corrosion behaviour of the joints are of large interest. During welding of magnesium alloys, influences concerning the surface, the internal stresses and the microstructure occur. These influences particularly depend on the energy input and thus, on the welding procedure as well as the processing parameters, which all affect the corrosion behaviour of the joints. Sheets of magnesium alloys (AZ31, AZ61, AZ91) were joined with different welding procedures (plasma‐, laser beam‐ and electron‐beam welding in the vacuum and at atmosphere). The corrosion behaviour (with and without cyclic mechanical loading) of the welded joints was investigated by different methods such as corrosion tests, polarisation curves, scanning electron microscopy and metallography. Furthermore, substantial influencing variables on the corrosion behaviour of welded joints of magnesium alloys are pointed out and measures are presented, which contribute to the improvement of the corrosion behaviour.