TY - JOUR A1 - Avilov, Vjaceslav A1 - Fritzsche, André A1 - Bachmann, Marcel A1 - Gumenyuk, Andrey A1 - Rethmeier, Michael T1 - Full penetration laser beam welding of thick duplex steel plates with electromagnetic weld pool support JF - Journal of laser applications N2 - Full penetration high power bead-on-plate laser beam welding tests of up to 20 mm thick 2205 duplex steel plates were performed in PA position. A contactless inductive electromagnetic (EM) weld pool support system was used to prevent gravity drop-out of the melt. Welding experiments with 15 mm thick plates were carried out using IPG fiber laser YLR 20000 and Yb:YAG thin disk laser TruDisk 16002. The laser power needed to achieve a full penetration was found to be 10.9 and 8.56 kW for welding velocity of 1.0 and 0.5 m min−1, respectively. Reference welds without weld pool support demonstrate excessive root sag. The optimal value of the alternating current(AC) power needed to completely compensate the sagging on the root side was found to be ≈1.6 kW for both values of the welding velocity. The same EM weld pool support system was used in welding tests with 20 mm thick plates. The laser beam power (TRUMPF Yb:YAG thin disk laser TruDisk 16002) needed to reach a full penetration for 0.5 m min−1 was found to be 13.9 kW. Full penetration welding without EM weld pool support is not possible—the surface tension cannot stop the gravity drop-out of the melt. The AC power needed to completely compensate the gravity was found to be 2 kW. KW - Electromagnetic weld pool control KW - Duplex stainless steel KW - Laser beam welding KW - Full penetration welding PY - 2016 DO - https://doi.org/10.2351/1.4944103 SN - 1042-346X SN - 1938-1387 VL - 28 IS - 2 SP - 022420-1 EP - 022420-7 PB - American institute of physics CY - Woodbury, NY, USA AN - OPUS4-35668 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER -