CO2 laser beam welding of 6061-T6 aluminum alloy thin plate

Abstract

Laser beam welding is an attractive welding process for age-hardened aluminum alloys, because its low heat input minimizes the width of weld fusion and heat-affected zones (HAZs). In the present work, 1-mm-thick age-hardened Al-Mg-Si alloy, 6061-T6, plates were welded with full penetration using a 2.5-kW CO2 laser. Fractions of porosity in the fusion zones were less than 0.05 pct in bead-on-plate welding and less than 0.2 pct in butt welding with polishing the groove surface before welding. The width of a softened region in the-laser beam welds was less than 1/4 times that of a tungsten inert gas (TIG) weld. The softened region is caused by reversion of strengthening β″ (Mg2Si) precipitates due to weld heat input. The hardness values of the softened region in the laser beam welds were almost fully recovered to that of the base metal after an artificial aging treatment at 448 K for 28.8 ks without solution annealing, whereas those in the TIG weld were not recovered in a partly reverted region. Both the bead-on-plate weld and the butt weld after the postweld artificial aging treatment had almost equivalent tensile strengths to that of the base plate.