Influence of welding speed on the melting efficiency of Nd:YAG laser welding

Abstract

A B S T R A C T A R T I C L E I N F O Melting efficiency is one of the more important measurable parameters in laser welding when assessing the performance of a process. This paper aims to study the effects of speed on the melting efficiency and energy transfer efficiency of Nd:YAG laser welding process. The weld bead on a 304L austenitic stainless steel sheet is created by varying the welding speed. The weld samples are cut in the transverse direction by using electric discharge machining, and the cross-section is prepared for metallographic inspection. The cross-sectional dimensions and beads length are measured by using an optical microscope and image analyzer. A methodology is proposed for estimating the weld pool volume from experimental data and a generalised equation for predicting the melting efficiency and energy transfer efficiency is developed. The results obtained by the proposed method have reasonably good agreement with the models proposed by various researchers. The outcome of the result shows the significant influence of welding speed on melting efficiency and energy transfer efficiency in welding of austenitic stainless steel thin sheets. It will be seen from results that one can select appropriate welding speed and processing conditions to obtain desired melting efficiency.