Study on root hump formation mechanism in full penetration laser welding with backing gas for aluminum alloy

Abstract

The dynamic behavior of molten pool in full penetration laser welding (FPLW) with backing gas or without backing gas for aluminum alloy was observed. It is found that the backing gas can greatly improve the root hump formation. A transient and multi-phase 3D numerical model considering the metallic vapor ejection process was developed to explain this phenomenon, in which an evaporation and condensation model was established to simulate the production of metallic vapor. Based on the proposed model, the metallic vapor ejection, periodic keyhole variation profiles and molten pool evolution were presented, which indicated that the flow pattern of melt in the molten pool was deeply affected by the vapor ejection pattern. The ejection velocity of vapor is 45–70 m s −1 . The high-speed vapor makes the melt flow (MF) velocity within 1 mm of the keyhole wall change from 5.5 m s −1 to 0.2 m s −1 . The high velocity gradient near the keyhole is the main reason to form an invert cone-shaped sagging under the keyhole and some globular spatters near the keyhole outlet. The surface tension plays an important role to shorten the invert cone-shaped sagging and improves root hump formation. Alumina film formed on the back surface of molten pool can worsen the root hump formation due to the lack of surface tension. • An innovative transient and multi-phase 3D numerical model considered the metallic vapor ejection process was developed to simulate the root hump formation process in full penetration laser welding of aluminum alloy. • The flow pattern of melt in the molten pool evolution was presented in the full penetration laser welding with backing gas. • Proposing that the high-speed metallic vapor results in a significant velocity gradient near the keyhole wall, which is the main reason to form an invert cone-shaped sagging under the keyhole. • Proposing that the surface tension plays an important role to shorten the invert cone-shaped sagging and backing gas is helpful for improving the formation of root hump.