Modeling of welding heat source in the hybrid welding process

Abstract

The rapid development of computer technology now allows for analysis of welding stresses for most welding processes. The types of welding heat sources that are nec- essary to determine the temperature eld during welding are well described. The temperature gradient that occurs during welding is one of the major causes of welding residual stresses that can signi cantly affect the service life of welded joints. Hence, modeling the temperature eld during welding is one of the necessary elements for estimating deformation and stresses in welded constructions. Hybrid welding processes belong to a new group of welding variants that combine most commonly two conventional welding methods, such as laser welding and GMA welding or plasma welding and GMA welding. Modeling of welding residual stresses in this type of welding requires the de nition of a new type of heat source model combining a concentrated stream of energy with the classical heat sources present in the welding arc. The paper presents an attempt to describe the model of heat source used in hybrid welding combining the plasma arc (plasma welding) and electric arc (GMA welding). For this purpose, a 3D numerical model (FEM) of two hybrid welded (plasma+GMA) steel plates was used. The results of the numerical simulations of the temperature eld generated by hybrid welding for the proposed hybrid heat source model are presented. Discussion of the results with respect to the shape of the hybrid weld obtained for identical parameters of the hybrid welding process was discussed.