The effects of process variables on pulsed Nd:YAG laser spot welds: Part I. AISI 409 stainless steel

The weldabilities of AA 1100 aluminum and AISI 409 stainless steel by the pulsed Nd:YAG laser welding process have been examined experimentally and compared. The effects of Nd:YAG laser welding parameters, including laser pulse time and power intensity, and material-dependent variables, such as absorptivity and thermophysical properties, on laser spot-weld characteristics, such as weld diameter, penetration, melt area, melting ratio, porosity, and sur-face cratering, have been studied experimentally. The results of this work are reported in two parts. In Part I, the weldability of AISI 409 stainless steel by the pulse laser welding process is reported. In Part II, the weldability of A A 1100 aluminum under the same operating con-ditions is reported and compared to those of the stainless steel. When welding AISI 409 stainless steel, weld pool shapes were found to be influenced most by the power intensity of the laser beam and to a lesser extent by the pulse duration. Conduction mode welding, keyhole mode welding, and drilling were observed. Conduction mode welds were produced when power in-tensities between 0.7 and 4 GW/m² were used. The initial transient in weld pool development occurred in the first 4 ms of the laser pulse. Following this, steady-state conditions existed and conduction mode welds with aspect ratios (depth/width) of about 0.4 were produced. Keyhole mode welds were observed at power intensities greater than 4 GW/m². Penetration of these keyhole mode welds increased with increases in both power intensity and pulse time. The major weld defects observed in the stainless steel spot welds were cratering and large-occluded gas pores. Significant metal loss due to spatter was measured during the initial 2 ms of keyhole mode welds. With increasing power intensity, there was an increased propensity for occluded gas pores near the bottom of the keyhole mode welds. Formerly Graduate Student.     

The effects of process variables on pulsed Nd:YAG laser spot welds: Part II. AA 1100 aluminum and comparison to AISI 409 stainless steel

In this two-part article, the weldabilities of AA 1100 aluminum and AISI 409 stainless steel by the pulsed Nd:YAG laser welding process have been examined experimentally and compared. The effects of laser pulse time and power density on laser spot weld characteristics, such as weld diameter, penetration, melt area, melting ratio, porosity, and surface cratering, have been studied and explained qualitatively in relation to material-dependent variables such as absorptivity and thermophysical properties. The weldability of AISI 409 stainless steel was reported in Part I of this article. In the present article, the weldability of AA 1100 aluminum is reported and compared to that of AISI 409 stainless steel. Weld pool shapes in aluminum were found to be influenced by the mean power density of the laser beam and the laser pulse time. Both conduction-mode and keyhole-mode welding were observed in aluminum. Unlike stainless steel, however, drilling was not observed. Conduction-mode welds were produced in aluminum at power densities ranging from 3.2 to 10 GW/m². The power density required for melting aluminum was approximately 4.5 times greater than stainless steel. The initial transient in weld pool development in aluminum occurred within 2 ms, and the aspect ratios (depth/width) of the steady-state conduction-mode weld pools were approximately 0.2. These values are about half those observed in stainless steel. The transition from conduction- to keyhole-mode welding occurred in aluminum at a power density of about 10 GW/m², compared to about 4 GW/m² for stainless steel. Weld defects such as porosity and cratering were observed in both aluminum and stainless steel spot welds. In both materials, there was an increased propensity for large occluded vapor pores near the root of keyhole-mode welds with increasing power density. In aluminum, pores were observed close to the fusion boundary. These could be eliminated by surface milling and vacuum annealing the specimens, suggesting that such pores were due to hydrogen. Finally, excellent agreement was obtained between experimental data from both alloys and an existing analytical model for conduction-mode laser spot welding. Two nondimensional parameters, the Fourier number and a nondimensional incident heat flux parameter, were derived and shown to completely characterize weld pool development in conduction-mode welds made in both materials.     

Metallurgical and Mechanical Characterization of Laser Spot Welded Low Carbon Steel Sheets

This paper aims at investigating metallurgical and mechanical characterization of low carbon steel laser spot welds. Microstructural examinations, microhardness tests and quasi‐static tensile‐shear tests were preformed. Mechanical properties of the welds were described in terms of peak load and failure mode. The effects of laser spot welding parameters including pulse frequency, laser energy, welding speed, pulse width and welded circle diameter, on low carbon steel laser spot weld performance were studied using the Taguchi design of experiment method. It was found that the effective laser pulse energy is the controlling factor in the determination of mechanical strength of laser spot welds.     

Properties of Laser Welded SAF 2205 Duplex Stainless Steel Sheet

High rate welding methods for sheet material can offer significant cost reduction for mass production application in comparison with more conventional arc processes. Therefore, in this research, laser welds in SAF 2205 duplex stainless steel (DSS) sheets welded using different welding speeds were investigated. Metallography, texture measurements and mechanical testing were carried out on the weld joints. The corrosion properties were not evaluated. The base material was characterised by a bamboo‐like morphology and a ferrite volume fraction of 53 %. For all welding speeds, the ferrite level in the weld zone was higher than 85 % and the austenite showed an acicular morphology. Whereas in the base material a clear element partitioning existed between ferrite and austenite, no partitioning was observed in the welded zone. This is due to the very high cooling rates, which limit the amount of diffusion that can take place. Electron backscattering diffraction revealed that the texture of the cold rolled material was destroyed by the welding process. While the hardness of the base material was about 265 HV, the maximal hardness in the fusion zone exceeded 310 HV and increased with an increase of the welding speed. Yield and tensile stength were however not dramatically influenced. On the other hand, the formability properties were deteriorated by an increase of the welding speed. This behaviour can also be observed on the fracture surfaces of tensile specimens. The tensile tests on the welded sheet resulted in ductile fracture surfaces, but an easier void formation was observed in the laser welds. However, it has to be pointed out that formability of the laser welded DSS sheets is acceptable when a lower welding speed is used. This is also confirmed by the crack propagation observed during the Erichsen test. Therefore, the laser welding can be used as a joining operation for DSS sheet materials providing the corrosion requirements are fulfilled.     

Effect of Heat Input on Macro,Micro and Tensile Properties of Flux Cored Arc Welded Ferritic Stainless Steel Joints

This paper discusses the influence of Flux Cored Arc Welding Process parameters such as welding current, travel speed, voltage on bead profile, metallurgical and mechanical properties of welds of 2 mm thick 409M ferritic stainless steel sheets. The study reveals that, grain coarsening, volume fraction of martensite, hardness of heat affected zone and % of delta ferrite in ER 309 weld metal increases with increase in heat input. However, the results show that variation of heat input does not make any significant effect on tensile strength of the joint. Hence, welding parameters that provide uniform bead profile for the weld are recommended for fabrication.     

Effect of Shielding Gas on the Microstructural Evolution in Laser Beam Welded AISI 410 Martensitic Stainless Steel

Laser welding of AISI 410 martensitic stainless steel was attempted in a diffusion cooled RF excited CO₂ slab laser under Gaussian mode with argon and nitrogen as shielding gas. The effect of shielding gas and energy density on the resultant weld bead geometry, microstructure and hardness were assessed and discussed. It has been observed that welds obtained under nitrogen shielding conditions had higher and uniform hardness across the weld metal on account of reduced ferrite content.     

Investigation on the effect of laser pulse shape during Nd:YAG laser microwelding of thin Al sheet by numerical simulation

In the welding of thin A3003 Al sheet by a Nd:YAG laser beam, the laser pulse shape plays an important role in enhancing the welding penetration stability. In order to evaluate the effect of laser pulse shape during Nd:YAG laser welding of a thin Al sheet and to predict the welding performance by numerical simulation, a three-dimensional finite differential method (FDM) analysis is presented for heating with different laser pulse shapes and related welding parameters. The simulated results give good agreement with experimental results, where a sound weld shape and crack-free weld pool are obtained. The simulation results show that the welding stability is greatly affected by the modulation of laser pulse shape for the same laser energy and welding parameters. As a rectangular laser pulse is modulated to have three stages with high, medium, and low power levels for the first, second, and third stages, respectively, more energy is absorbed in the melt pool, and the cooling rate is reduced. While a high power level at the first stage increases the laser beam absorption, the thermal energy of the third stage prevents fast cooling of the melt pool. Also, evaporation is prevented by proper modulation of the laser pulse. If the laser pulse is modulated properly, the optimum melt-pool size and cooling rate can be obtained; also, the desired weld depth and welding stability are achieved for the conduction welding mode. The numerical simulation method can be used to determine the proper conditions for good welding performance.     

Adaptive Neuro-Fuzzy Inference System (ANFIS)-Based Models for Predicting the Weld Bead Width and Depth of Penetration from the Infrared Thermal Image of the Weld Pool

Type 316 LN stainless steel is the major structural material used in the construction of nuclear reactors. Activated flux tungsten inert gas (A-TIG) welding has been developed to increase the depth of penetration because the depth of penetration achievable in single-pass TIG welding is limited. Real-time monitoring and control of weld processes is gaining importance because of the requirement of remoter welding process technologies. Hence, it is essential to develop computational methodologies based on an adaptive neuro fuzzy inference system (ANFIS) or artificial neural network (ANN) for predicting and controlling the depth of penetration and weld bead width during A-TIG welding of type 316 LN stainless steel. In the current work, A-TIG welding experiments have been carried out on 6-mm-thick plates of 316 LN stainless steel by varying the welding current. During welding, infrared (IR) thermal images of the weld pool have been acquired in real time, and the features have been extracted from the IR thermal images of the weld pool. The welding current values, along with the extracted features such as length, width of the hot spot, thermal area determined from the Gaussian fit, and thermal bead width computed from the first derivative curve were used as inputs, whereas the measured depth of penetration and weld bead width were used as output of the respective models. Accurate ANFIS models have been developed for predicting the depth of penetration and the weld bead width during TIG welding of 6-mm-thick 316 LN stainless steel plates. A good correlation between the measured and predicted values of weld bead width and depth of penetration were observed in the developed models. The performance of the ANFIS models are compared with that of the ANN models.     

Pulsed Nd:YAG laser welding of copper using oxygenated assist gases

The effects of using oxygenated assist gases on the weldability and weld properties of Nd:YAG, pulsed laser welds in copper (Cu) have been evaluated. It was found that the effective absorptivity of the Cu increased as the oxygen content of the Ar assist gas was increased. This facilitated laser welding of Cu at much lower laser powers and increased weld penetration. The use of oxygenated assist gas promoted nucleation and growth of submicroscopic oxide particles within the weld metal. These particles dispersion-strengthened the weld metal, thereby increasing both weld metal hardness and strength. However, when O₂ concentrations in the assist gas were greater than 90 pct, weld metal embrittlement due to excessive volume fractions of oxides was observed. The use of oxygenated assist gas also led to excessive cold lapping and poor bead quality. The bead quality was improved, however, by ramping-down the laser power before terminating each pulse.     

Effects of Process Parameters upon the Shape Memory and Pseudo-Elastic Behaviors of Laser-Welded NiTi Thin Foil

This article discusses the effects of laser welding parameters such as power, welding speed, and focus position on the weld bead profile, microstructure, pseudo-elasticity (PE), and shape memory effect (SME) of NiTi foil with thickness of 250 μm using 100W CW fiber laser. The parameter settings to produce the NiTi welds for analysis in this article were chosen from a fractional factorial design to ensure the welds produced were free of any apparent defect. The welds obtained were mainly of cellular dendrites with grain sizes ranging from 2.5 to 4.8 μm at the weld centerline. A small amount of Ni₃Ti was found in the welds. The onset of transformation temperatures (A _s and M _s ) of the NiTi welds shifted to the negative side as compared to the as-received NiTi alloy. Ultimate tensile stress of the NiTi welds was comparable to the as-received NiTi alloy, but a little reduction in the pseudo-elastic property was noted. Full penetration welds with desirable weld bead profiles and mechanical properties were successfully obtained in this study.     

Application of Artificial Neural Network Modelling for Optimization of Yb: YAG Laser Welding of Nitinol

This article presents the investigation of Ytterbium: Yttrium aluminium garnet (Yb: YAG) laser welding of NiTinol sheet of thickness 1 mm. Welding speed, shielding gas blown distance, focal position, laser power were selected as input parameters and depth of penetration, bead width, hardness, corrosion current density were measured as performance characteristics. Experiment was designed based on L9 Taguchi design with 4 factors and 3 levels in each factor. Modelling was done using artificial neural network in four learning algorithms namely batch back propagation, quick propagation, incremental back propagation and Legvenberg-Marquardt back propagation. A comparison was made between these learning algorithms and it was found that based on least error, Legvenberg-Marquardt model was the best learning algorithm. Genetic algorithm was implemented for predicting the optimised laser welding parameters in joining NiTinol and the confirmation test results were in good agreement with the predicted results.     

Dissimilar Spot Welds of AISI 304/AISI 1008: Metallurgical and Mechanical Characterization

This paper aims at investigating structure‐properties relationships in dissimilar resistance spot welding of AISI 304 austenitic stainless steel (SS) and AISI 1008 low carbon steel (CS). Microstructural characterization, microhardness test and the tensile‐ shear test were conducted. It was shown that the shape of the SS/CS fusion zone (FZ) is unsymmetrical and the final fusion line shifts from sheet/sheet interface into the higher resistivity side (i.e. AISI 304). FZ microstructure was ranged from ferrite‐austenite to full martensite depending on the dilution ratio of the base metals. The variation of SS/CS dissimilar welds failure mode was explained in terms of hardness/microstructure characteristics. It was concluded that to ensure pullout failure mode, welding parameters needed to adjust so that the FZ size is sufficiently large and dilution is sufficiently high to produce a martensite FZ. Fusion zone size at CS side proved to be the most important controlling factor of SS/CS peak load and energy absorption. Finally, the mechanical properties of SS/CS dissimilar welds were compared with SS/SS and CS/CS similar welds.     

Microstructural Characterization of Internal Welding Defects and Their Effect on the Tensile Behavior of FSW Joints of AA2198 Al-Cu-Li Alloy

Internal features and defects such as joint line remnant, kissing bond, and those induced by an initial gap between the two parent sheets were investigated in AA2198-T851 friction stir welded joints. They were compared with the parent material and to defect-free welds obtained using a seamless sheet. The cross-weld tensile strength was reduced by the defects by less than 6 pct. The fracture elongation was not significantly affected in view of experimental scatter. Fracture location, however, changed from the thermomechanically affected zone (retreating side) to the defect in the weld nugget for the welds bearing a kissing bond and for some of the gap welds. The kissing bond was shown by EBSD to be an intergranular feature; it fractured under a normal engineering stress close to 260 MPa during an in situ SEM tensile test. Synchrotron tomography after interrupted tensile testing confirmed opening of the kissing bond. For an initial gap of 23 pct of the sheet thickness, intergranular fracture of copper-enriched or oxide-bearing grain boundaries close to the nugget root was evidenced. The stress and strain state of cross-weld specimens loaded under uniaxial tension was assessed using a 3D finite element, multi-material model, determined on the basis of experimental data obtained on the same specimens using digital image correlation.     

Influence of Yb:YAG Laser Beam Parameters on Haynes 188 Weld Fusion Zone Microstructure and Mechanical Properties

The weldability of 1.2 mm thick Haynes 188 alloy sheets by a disk Yb:YAG laser welding was examined. Butt joints were made, and the influence of parameters such as power, size, and shape of the spot, welding speed, and gas flow has been investigated. Based on an iconographic correlation approach, optimum process parameters were determined. Depending on the distribution of the power density (circular or annular), acceptable welds were obtained. Powers greater than 1700 W, welding speeds higher than 3.8 m mm^?1, and spot sizes between 160 and 320 μm were needed in the circular (small fiber) configuration. By comparison, the annular (large fiber) configuration required a power as high as 2500 W, and a welding speed less than 3.8 m min^?1. The mechanical properties of the welds depended on their shape and microstructure, which in turn depended on the welding conditions. The content of carbides, the proportion of areas consisting of cellular and dendritic substructures, and the size of these substructures were used to explain the welded joint mechanical properties.     

热镀锌钢板点焊工艺研究

热镀锌钢板与普通低碳冷轧钢板相比,其点焊焊接性能显著恶化。研究了三个主要焊接参数（焊接电流、点焊时间及电极压力）对热镀锌钢板点焊质量和电极寿命的影响。试验表明：热镀锌钢板点焊时,焊接电流、焊接时间和电极压力较同等厚度的低碳冷轧钢板都有不同程度的提高;热镀锌钢板的点焊焊接规范调节区较窄;焊点质量对焊接规范特别是电流变化敏感。     

FEM Study of Fatigue Response of 3‐Sheet Spot Welded Joints

The commercial software used for predicting fatigue strength for load‐carrying spot welds in sheet structures, like car bodies, is mainly developed for two‐sheet joints. The purpose of this work was to study the fatigue properties of three‐sheet spot welded joints with a dimensioning method used in the automotive industry and to compare such computational results to those obtained from a more accurate method and to experimental data. Eleven three‐sheet, single spot welded specimens were studied using a structural stress approach, followed by shell element simulations, similar to those used in commercial software. These results were compared to calculations based on fine meshed solid element models. Fracture mechanics was used to evaluate the loading conditions at the spot welds. Comparison between the results from the different methods and experimental results for three shear loaded specimens, consisting of triple sheets, found in literature showed good correlation. The shell element method in shear loaded cases gives stress intensities within +35% to ‐5% of the solid element method results. In peel loaded cases the results differ up to ‐60%, an under‐estimation that leads to an increase of estimated fatigue life up to 65 times.     

<Emphasis Type="Italic">In situ</Emphasis> Weak Magnetic-Assisted Thermal Stress Field Reduction Effect in Laser Welding

For decades, post-welding magnetic treatment has been used to reduce residual stress of welds by improving the crystal structure of solid-state welds. In this paper, we propose a new magnetic treatment method, which can reduce the time-dependent thermal stress field in situ and reduce the final residual stress of welds by simply exerting an assisted weak magnetic field perpendicular to the welding direction and workpiece during laser welding. A new finite-element model is developed to understand the thermal–mechanical physical process of the magnetic-assisted laser welding. For the widely used 304 austenite stainless steel, we theoretically observed that this method can reduce around 10 pct of the time-dependent thermal stress field, and finally reduce approximately 20 MPa of residual stress near the heat-affected zone with a 415-mT magnetic field for typical welding process parameters. A new mechanism based on magneto-fluid dynamics is proposed to explain the theoretical predications by combining high-speed imaging experiments of the transient laser welding process. The developed method is very simple but surprisingly effective, which opens new avenues for thermal stress reduction in laser welding of metals, particularly heat-sensitive metallic materials.     

A study on weldability of zinc-coated steel sheets in lap joint configuration

The weldability of Zn-coated steel sheets 0.7 mm thick was investigated using resistance spot welding process. The effect of welding current, welding time and holding time on weld nugget characteristics, microstructure, and mechanical properties was discussed. Then, the possibility of replacing this welding process with laser beam welding was outlined. In this respect, quality of weld joints as a function of zinc removal by grinding prior to welding was evaluated. It is found that resistance spot welding current and time are the most significant parameters in affecting both expulsion and Zn-induced porosity. Expulsion was avoided and Zn-induced porosity was reduced with the decrease in welding current and/or welding time. Zn-induced porosity was completely eliminated by zinc-removal by grinding prior to welding. The best weld joint concerning nugget characteristics, soundness and tensile shear strength was obtained using welding current of 10 kA, weld cycle of 20, holding cycle of 18. Unlike resistance spot welds, high quality of CO₂ laser welds free from Zn-induced porosity could be made without zinc removal by grinding before welding.     

Evaluation of Microstructure and Mechanical Properties of Laser Beam Welded AISI 409M Grade Ferritic Stainless Steel

 The microstructure analysis and mechanical properties evaluation of laser beam welded AISI 409M ferritic stainless steel joints are investigated. Single pass autogeneous welds free of volumetric defects were produced at a welding speed of 3000 mm/min. The joints were subjected to optical microscope, scanning electron fractographe, microhardness, transverse and longitudinal tensile, bend and charpy impact toughness testing. The coarse ferrite grains in the base metal were changed into dendritic grains as a result of rapid solidification of laser beam welds. Tensile testing indicates overmatching of the weld metal is relative to the base metal. The joints also exhibited acceptable impact toughness and bend strength properties.