Hybrid 4kW fiber laser-GMAW welding of half-inch mild steel

Abstract

Thick plates with different gauges have increased their use in various industries such as the shipyard and offshore industries. The arc welding techniques are the common ways to join the thick plates, which usually requires multi-pass and interlayer control. In addition, high heat input during arc welding also leads to the large distortion in the weld. Industries have shown increasing interest in using the hybrid laser-GMAW welding techniques to join different types of thick plates due to their high productivity, low distortion and excellent synergy of laser welding advantages and arc welding advantages. In this study, a 4 kW fiber laser is combined with gas metal arc welding (GMAW) to hybrid welding of half-inch mild steels. A 4 kW fiber laser, which leads a GMAW, is used to join the root of weld groove. Then, the following GMAW fills the groove. By using this welding procedure, the weld with full-penetration is achieved by one pass. In addition, a high-speed CCD camera is used to real-time monitor the welding process. Influences of different welding parameters such as the distance between laser power and GMAW torch and the gap on the weld quality are investigated.Thick plates with different gauges have increased their use in various industries such as the shipyard and offshore industries. The arc welding techniques are the common ways to join the thick plates, which usually requires multi-pass and interlayer control. In addition, high heat input during arc welding also leads to the large distortion in the weld. Industries have shown increasing interest in using the hybrid laser-GMAW welding techniques to join different types of thick plates due to their high productivity, low distortion and excellent synergy of laser welding advantages and arc welding advantages. In this study, a 4 kW fiber laser is combined with gas metal arc welding (GMAW) to hybrid welding of half-inch mild steels. A 4 kW fiber laser, which leads a GMAW, is used to join the root of weld groove. Then, the following GMAW fills the groove. By using this welding procedure, the weld with full-penetration is achieved by one pass. In addition, a high-speed CCD camera is used to real-time monitor the w...