Porosity reduction in Nd–YAG laser welding of stainless steel and inconel alloy by using a pulsed wave

Abstract

This study investigates the influence of the Nd–YAG laser power wave mode on the porosity and mechanical properties of SUS 304L and inconel 690 weldments. Initially, a rectangular laser power waveform is specified. The output is then progressively changed from a pulsed wave mode to a continuous wave mode by reducing the value of ΔP (ΔP = Pp−Pb, where Pp is the peak power and Pb is the base power) to zero. Bead-on-plate (BOP) and butt welding are performed at a constant mean output power (1.7 kW). The BOP results demonstrate that the depth/width (D/W) ratio of both materials increases with ΔP and attains a maximum value when full penetration just occurs. The D/W ratio and the travel speed for full penetration are higher for SUS 304L than for inconel 690. In butt-welds of inconel 690 and SUS 304L, the porosity ratio decreases from 7.1% to 0.5% and from 2.1% to 0.5%, respectively, as ΔP increases from 0 to 2780 W. Therefore, the tensile strength and percentage elongation are enhanced significantly in inconel 690. The degree of porosity reduction in inconel 690 exceeds that of SUS 304L. This suggests that the viscosity of the molten inconel 690 metal is higher than that of SUS 304L. Consequently, the effect of porosity reduction due to the increase in molten metal fluidity caused by increasing ΔP is greater for inconel 690 than for SUS 304L.