A study of phenomena between filler wire and high power Nd:YAG laser beam

Abstract

Laser welding with filler wire addition is commonly used in welding of aluminium alloys with Nd:YAG laser. Still the use of laser in heavy section welding is one of the future applications of laser welding. In these structures use of filler wire to improve the properties of the weld or to overcome the problems of the work piece manufacturing accuracy will be common in practice. The phenomena between the laser beam and filler wire is not fully explained. This study concentrates on these phenomena without base material. The main interest in this paper is on the behaviour of Nd:YAG laser beam in this process. The experiments show that the behaviour with Nd:YAG laser is different than earlier reported in litterature in case of CO2 laser. The reflection of the beam from the wire is considerably lower. Four different types of filler material flow was recognised by the experiments.Laser welding with filler wire addition is commonly used in welding of aluminium alloys with Nd:YAG laser. Still the use of laser in heavy section welding is one of the future applications of laser welding. In these structures use of filler wire to improve the properties of the weld or to overcome the problems of the work piece manufacturing accuracy will be common in practice. The phenomena between the laser beam and filler wire is not fully explained. This study concentrates on these phenomena without base material. The main interest in this paper is on the behaviour of Nd:YAG laser beam in this process. The experiments show that the behaviour with Nd:YAG laser is different than earlier reported in litterature in case of CO2 laser. The reflection of the beam from the wire is considerably lower. Four different types of filler material flow was recognised by the experiments.