<title>Lap and butt joints of dissimilar stainless steels welded by CO2 laser</title>

Abstract

This work concerns the lap welding of dissimilar (AISI 304 - 430, AISI 430 - 304, AISI 316 - 430, and AISI 430 - 316) stainless steels and the butt welding of dissimilar (AISI 304 - 316 and AISI 304 - 430) ones using a fast axial flow 2 kW cw CO2 laser (B.O.C. Laser Ltd.). Two covering gases, He and N2, are used fed coaxially to the laser beam through a 12 mm outlet diameter nozzle at a flow rate varying from 1.67 to 1.87 X 10-3)m3/s. The influence of the process parameters, such as power level, covering gas, and speed on the quality of the welded joints is examined. In the second part of the work laser lap and butt welds of dissimilar stainless steels are characterized by macro and micro graphic investigations to enable structural evaluations. Fillet weld morphology and quality of the same specimens is examined for the two different covering gases, He and N2. Moreover, the different structural aspects of the melted zones obtained with laser welds of the same pair of stainless steels, but with the beam impinging first on the austenitic stainless steel (e.g., AISI 304 - 430) and then the ferritic one (e.g., AISI 430 - 304), or vice versa, are also studied and evaluated.© (1993) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.