Contact mechanical studies on continuous wave CO2 laser beam weld of mild steel with ambient and under water medium

Laser induced keyhole (KH) and weld pool formation during laser beam welding (LBW) can alter mechanical properties of weld seams. In this regard, deep penetration high power continuous wave (CW) CO₂ laser induced KH was generated in mild steel (MS) in both ambient and under water medium. Under water, KH was deeper and narrower as compared with KH formed in ambient condition. Contact mechanical studies of both the types of weld zones were carried out by measuring hardness and frictional properties. A significant rise in hardness was observed in fusion zone (FZ) regardless of the medium used. The KH and weld pool mediated LBW fusion zone showed lower coefficient of friction. Scratch size was also found to decrease in FZ due to increased hardness. The mechanical properties of FZ such as hardness, coefficient of friction and scratch size were correlated with microstructure composed of fine grained structure in the weld zones.