Joint strength and behaviour of coated aluminium in laser lap welding of steel sheets

When galvanized steel sheets are closely overlapped and welded by laser lap welding, a large amount of molten metal spatters, resulting in a poor surface appearance of the weld and weakened strength of the welded joint, as compared with that of cold-rolled steel sheets. Whereas in the case of aluminium-coated steel sheets, even when they are closely overlapped and welded by laser lap welding, no spattering occurs. Thus, a good surface appearance of the weld is obtained, but the welded joint has lower strength. In both the mentioned cases, it is known that if a clearance of about 0.1 mm is provided between the steel sheets, laser lap welding produces a good surface appearance of the weld and the welded joint strength equal to that of the cold-rolled steel sheets. This report discusses specifically how, in laser lap welding of overlapped Al-coated steel sheets, Al of the coated layer comes to enter the weld metal, also specifically how to reduce the joint strength, as well as what behaviours of Al are present when a clearance is provided between the steel sheets. When the steel sheets are closely overlapped and welded, Al becoming molten on the base metal side of the bond of the overlapped face becomes swallowed up by the bath streams of the molten pool, flowing into the molten pool, then forming the Fe–Al intermetallic compound, while not being sufficiently stirred. It is considered that when subjected to the tensile shear test, the Fe–Al intermetallic compound starts to fracture, thereby causing a partial loss of the weld metal and a reduction in the joint strength. On the other hand, when a clearance is provided between the steel sheets, it may be inferred that the fusion Al on the base metal side of the bond stays in place without flowing into the molten pool, consequently not forming the Fe–Al intermetallic compounds within the weld metal.