TY - CONF A1 - Rethmeier, Michael T1 - Laser and hybrid welding with ultra high power lasers N2 - Welding with high-power lasers has a history of over 30 years. With the introduction of high-powerCO2 lasers, the subject was investigated as early as the 1990s as part of various research projects. A renewed interest in the subject was awakened with the market launch of high-brilliance, high-power fibre and disc lasers at the beginning of the 2000s. In industrial production, the use of high-power lasers for welding shipbuilding constructions at the same time as for mobile crane construction is mainly associated with low-alloy high-strength steels with a maximum wall thickness of 15 mm. The use of high-power multi 10kW lasers for even greater sheet thicknesses (20mm-100 mm) promises significantly greater advantages [1]. For these wall thicknesses the economic, technological and ecological advantages of the process over conventional welding methods become especially clear and visible [2]. Despite numerous research projects on this topic, laser technology still faces a number of hurdles that need to be overcome. The new lasers with scalable laser powers up to 100 kW and the application of an electromagnetic weld pool support as well as local vacuum environment widen the possible application range tremendously. In this contribution, the authors address the technical solutions for high-power laser beam welding in the field of thick sheet metal applications, highlight the technological and normative challenges in the industrial implementation of the process and present a perspective for the first concrete applications in the field of off-shore wind energy. T2 - Stuttgarter Laser Tage CY - Stuttgart, Germany DA - 04.06.2024 KW - High-power laserbeam welding KW - Thick plates KW - Electromagnetic weld pool support PY - 2024 AN - OPUS4-62412 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Bachmann, Marcel T1 - Reconstruction of the time-averaged keyhole geometry in laser beam welding with electromagnetic support N2 - In laser beam welding (LBW), the time-averaged keyhole shape provides statistical insights into the process compared to its transient geometry, offering a deeper understanding of the overall keyhole behaviour. However, capturing the time-averaged keyhole shape through experimental methods remains challenging. In this paper, a reconstruction algorithm for the time-averaged keyhole is developed and integrated into a three-dimensional transient multi-physical coupled numerical model. The algorithm can accurately capture the key characteristics of the keyhole, including its diameter and centroid. In addition, it can also successfully reproduce the experimentally observed phenomena of keyhole tailing. The overall shape of the keyhole appears smooth, without exhibiting obvious instability features. Furthermore, the time-averaged keyhole shape is compared under different magnetic flux densities when an external oscillating magnetic field is applied. The results indicate that the application of external magnetic fields does not fundamentally alter the overall keyhole shape. With increasing magnetic flux density, the trailing tail becomes progressively less pronounced and a noticeable increase in the curvature of the rear wall is observed. The standard deviation of the keyhole diameter can serve as an effective index for evaluating the keyhole instability. Keyhole stability in LBW of aluminium alloys is improved under the assistance of electromagnetic fields, and this stabilization is positively correlated with increasing magnetic flux density. T2 - 14th International Seminar Numerical Analysis of Weldability CY - Seggau, Austria DA - 21.09.2025 KW - Laser beam welding KW - Keyhole reconstruction KW - Electromagnetic weld pool support KW - Porosity defects KW - Keyhole stability PY - 2025 AN - OPUS4-64257 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER -