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- Solidification cracking (24)
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- Partial penetration (5)
- Weld pool shape (5)
- High power laser beam welding (4)
- Hot cracking (4)
- Laser hybrid welding (4)
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It is already known that the laser beam welding (LBW) or hybrid laser-arc welding (HLAW) processes are sensitive to manufacturing tolerances such as gaps and misalignment of the edges, especially at welding of thick-walled steels due to its narrow beam diameter. Therefore, the joining parts preferably have to be milled. The study deals with the influence of the edge quality, the gap and the misalignment of edges on the weld seam quality of hybrid laser-arc welded 20-mm-thick structural steel plates which were prepared by laser and plasma cutting. Single-pass welds were conducted in butt joint configuration. An AC magnet was used as a contactless backing. It was positioned under the workpiece during the welding process to prevent sagging. The profile of the edges and the gap between the workpieces were measured before welding by a profile scanner or a digital camera, respectively. With a laser beam power of just 13.7 kW, the single-pass welds could
be performed. A gap bridgeability up to 1 mm at laser-cut and 2 mm at plasma-cut samples could be reached respectively.
Furthermore, a misalignment of the edges up to 2 mm could be welded in a single pass. The new findings may eliminate the need for cost and time-consuming preparation of the edges.
Diese Arbeit zeigt erstmals die Anwendung einer elektromagnetischen Schmelzbadsicherung beim einlagigen MSG-Schweißen von dickwandigen Stählen. Die innovativen Entwicklungen im Bereich des Lichtbogenschweißverfahrens ermöglichen eine Erhöhung der Abschmelzleistung, um die Einschweißtiefe zu steigern. Somit kann die Lagenanzahl reduziert und die Produktivität gesteigert werden. Allerdings besteht insbesondere beim einlagigen Schweißen von dickwandigen Bauteilen in PA-Position ein erhöhtes Risiko für das gravitationsbedingte Austropfen der Schmelze an der Wurzel. Zur Verhinderung werden Badsicherungen eingesetzt, die mechanisch angebracht und nach dem Schweißen entfernt werden müssen, was zeit- und kostenintensiv ist.
Die im Rahmen dieser Studie eingesetzte elektromagnetische Schmelzbadsicherung wirkt dem gravitationsbedingten Austropfen der Schmelze entgegen und kompensiert den hydrostatischen Druck. Sie wirkt kontaktlos, was im Gegensatz zu herkömmlichen Badsicherungen vorteilhaft ist, so dass auf eine zeit- und kostenintensive Nachbearbeitung der Schweißnahtwurzel verzichtet werden kann. Das auf extern angelegten oszillierenden Magnetfeldern beruhende Verfahren wird dabei unterhalb des zu schweißenden Bauteils positioniert. Die Magnetfeldlinien sind quer zur Schweißrichtung ausgerichtet, sodass längs zur Schweißrichtung Wirbelströme im Werkstück und eine stets nach oben gerichtete Lorentzkraft generiert werden. Mit Hilfe der elektromagnetischen Badsicherung konnten beim einlagigen MSG-Schweißen von bis zu 10 mm dicken Blechen die Tropfenbildung vermieden werden. Die innovative Technologie ermöglicht es, dickwandige Bauteile einlagig zu schweißen und reduziert die Nachbearbeitungszeiten und -kosten deutlich.
Laserstrahlhybridschweissen von Türmen für Windkraftanlagen Ökonomische und ökologische Vorteile
(2022)
Das Laserstrahlhybridschweißen ist beim Schweißen von Türmen für Windkraftanlagen eine Alternative zum Unterpulverschweißen von Dickblechen in Mehrlagentechnik und bietet hier ökonomische und ökologische Vorteile. Der industrielle Einsatz des Verfahrens ist jedoch durch prozessspezifische Herausforderungen eingeschränkt. Die im Beitrag beschriebene kontaktlose elektromagnetische Badstütze dient zur Erweiterung des Verfahrenspotenzials im Dickblechbereich >15 mm.
The study deals with the influence of the heat input and the resulting cooling times on the microstructure and Charpy impact toughness of single-pass laser hybrid welded 20-mm thick high-strength steel S690QL. The main focus is on the change of the mechanical properties over the entire seam thickness. The cooling times were measured in-situ using a pyrometer and an optical fibre in three different depths of the seam where Charpy impact test specimens were also later taken. Thereby, three different heat inputs from 1.3 kJ/mm to 2 kJ/mm were investigated. Despite the observed decreased values of both t8/5-cooling time and the Charpy impact toughness in the root part of the seam, the required impact toughness of 38 J/cm2 could be reached in dependance on applied heat input, especially at the heat input of 1.6 kJ/mm.
Die technischen Entwicklungen in der Lasertechnologie in den letzten Jahrzehnten haben eine neue Generation von Hochleistungslasersystemen im Leistungsbereich bis zu 100 kW auf den Markt gebracht. Dennoch ist die industrielle Anwendung des Hochleistungslaserstrahlschweißens auf bis zu 15 mm dicke Bleche beschränkt. Mögliche Ursachen der Einschränkungen des Verfahrens sind z.B. die Sensibilität des Verfahrens auf Fertigungstoleranzen wie Spalt und Kantenversatz, die erhöhte Tropfenbildung bei höheren Blechdicken und eine inhomogene Verteilung des Zusatzwerkstoffes beim Laserhybridschweißen. In dieser Studie wird ein auf extern angelegte Magnetfelder basierte elektromagnetische Schmelzbadstütze eingesetzt, um die Grenzen des Verfahrens zu erweitern und die Herausforderungen zu minimieren. Der wesentliche Vorteil der elektromagnetischen Schmelzbadstütze ist, dass sie berührungslos arbeitet. Mit Hilfe der elektromagnetischen Schmelzbadstütze konnten bei 20 mm dicken Proben aus S355J2 die Tropfenbildung an der Wurzel vermieden werden. Zudem wurde der Einfluss der Kantenqualität auf die Schweißnahtqualität untersucht, wobei verschiedene Schneidverfahren zur Kantenvorbereitung eingesetzt wurden, wie z.B. Plasma-, Brenn- oder Laserschneiden. Es konnte gezeigt werden, dass auch bei schlechteren Kantenvorbereitung im Gegensatz zu gefrästen Bauteilen die Werkstoffe einlagig mittels Laserhybridschweißen bei einer hohen Schweißnahtqualität gefügt werden konnten. Bei plasmageschnittenen Proben wurden zudem eine Spaltüberbrückbarkeit bzw. Kantenversatz von bis zu 2 mm sicher überbrückt. Des Weiteren war es mit Hilfe der externen Magnetfelder möglich, die Durchmischung des Zusatzwerkstoffes über die gesamte Schweißnahttiefe deutlich zu homogenisieren.
Solidification cracking is still a serious problem in laser beam welding, especially in the welding of thick-walled plates. The influence of weld pool geometry on solidification cracking in partial penetration welding of thick plates is investigated within scope of this study. Therefore, a specific experimental setup of steel and quartz glass in butt configuration and on the side with high-speed camera were used to record the weld pool shape. In addition, the influence of laser inclination angle on the weld pool geometry and on solidification crack formation was investigated. The results show a bulge in the weld pool root, which is separated from an upper region by a necking region. This leads to a case where there are three different longitudinal region lengths with different solidification zones. This temporal sequence of solidification strongly promotes the formation of solidification cracks in the weld root.
Solidification cracking is still a serious problem in laser beam welding, especially in the welding of thick-walled plates. The influence of weld pool geometry on solidification cracking in partial penetration welding of thick plates is investigated within scope of this study. Therefore, a specific experimental setup of steel and quartz glass in butt configuration and on the side with high-speed camera were used to record the weld pool shape. In addition, the influence of laser inclination angle on the weld pool geometry and on solidification crack formation was investigated. The results show a bulge in the weld pool root, which is separated from an upper region by a necking region. This leads to a case where there are three different longitudinal region lengths with different solidification zones. This temporal sequence of solidification strongly promotes the formation of solidification cracks in the weld root.
The study deals with the influence of the heat input on the thermal cycles and Charpy impact toughness for hybrid laser-arc welding of 25 mm thick structural steel S355J2 using a 20-kW high-power laser in combination with an electromagnetic weld pool support. The main focus is on the change of the mechanical properties over the entire seam thickness. The cooling times were measured using a pyrometer in combination with an optical fibre in three different locations near to fusion lines corresponding to different heights of the seam. Also, Charpy impact specimens were taken from different parts of the weld joint corresponding to the different heights. The influence of the heat input was investigated for 1.8 kJ mm-1 and 3.2 kJ mm-1. Despite the observed decreased values of both t8/5-cooling time and the Charpy impact toughness in the root part of the seam, the required values could be reached in dependance on applied heat input.
The present work deals with the recently confirmed widening of the weld pool interface, known as a bulging effect, and its relevance in high power laser beam welding. A combined experimental and numerical approach is utilized to study the influence of the bulge on the hot cracking formation and the transport of alloying elements in the molten pool. A technique using a quartz glass, a direct-diode laser illumination, a high-speed camera, and an infrared camera is applied to visualize the weld pool geometry in the longitudinal section. The study examines the relevance of the bulging effect on both, partial and complete penetration, as well as for different sheet thicknesses ranging from 8 mm to 25 mm. The numerical analysis shows that the formation of a bulge region is highly dependent on the penetration depth and occurs more frequently during partial penetration above 6 mm and complete penetration above 8 mm penetration depth, respectively. The location of the bulge correlates strongly with the cracking location. The obtained experimental and numerical results reveal that the bulging effect increases the hot cracking susceptibility and limits the transfer of alloying elements from the top of the weld pool to the weld root.
The study deals with the determination of the influence of an externally applied oscillating magnetic field on the melt pool dynamics in high power laser beam and hybrid laser arc welding processes. An AC magnet was positioned under the workpiece which is generating an upward directed electromagnetic force to counteract the formation of the droplets. To visualise the melt flow characteristics, several experiments were carried out using a special technique with mild steel from S355J2 with a plate thickness of up to 20 mm and a quartz glass in butt configuration. The profile of the keyhole and the melt flow were recorded with a highspeed camera from the glass side. Additionally, the influence of the magnetic field orientation to the welding direction on the filler material dilution on laser hybrid welding was studied with variating oscillation frequency. The element distribution over the whole seam thickness was measured with X-ray fluorescence (XRF). The oscillation frequency demonstrated a great influence on the melt pool dynamics and the mixing of the elements of the filler wire. The highspeed recordings showed, under the influence of the magnetic field, that the melt is affected under strong vortex at the weld root, which also avoids the formation of droplets.
One of the challenges of the high-power hybrid laser welding of thick steels is the sensitivity of the process of the process to manufacturing tolerances. This usually leads to a time-consuming preparation of the welding edges, such as milling. The study deals with the influence of the edge quality of milled and plasma-cut steel made of S355J2 with a wall thickness of 20 mm on the laser hybrid welded seam quality. Furthermore, the gap bridgeability and the tolerances towards edge misalignment was investigated. An AC magnet was used as backing support to prevent sagging and positioned under the workpiece, to generate an upwards directed electromagnetic pressure. The profiles of the edges and the gap on the top and root side were measured using a digital camera. Single-pass laser hybrid welds of plasma-cut edges could be welded using a laser beam power of just 13.7 kW. A gap bridgeability up to 2 mm and misalignment of edges up to 2 mm could be achieved successful. Additionally, the independence of the cutting side and the welding side was shown, so that samples were welded to the opposite side to their cutting. For evaluation of internal defects or irregularities, X-ray images were carried out. Charpy impact strength tests were performed to determine the toughness of the welds.
Solidification cracking is still a particular problem in laser beam welding, especially in the welding of thick-walled plates. In this study, the influence of weld pool geometry on solidification cracking in partial penetration welding of thick plates is a subject of discussion. For this purpose, a special experimental setup of steel and quartz glass in butt configuration and lateral with high speed camera was used to capture the weld pool shape. Additionally, laser beam welding experiments were carried out to compare the crack positions and the cross section with the high-speed camera observations. The results showed a bulge in the weld pool root separated from the upper region by a nick area. This leads to the fact that three different longitudinal lengths with different solidification areas are taking place. This temporal sequence of solidification strongly promotes the solidification cracks in the weld root.
In this study, steel-glass experiments were conducted to observe the melt pool geometry using a high-speed camera. The high-speed recordings and optical flow analysis show that two main flows take place in form of vortices. The lower vortex drives the melt backwards from the front keyhole wall and thus causes an extension of the melt pool, which is called bulging. This bulging promotes solidification cracking by forming a closed area filled with melt and the accumulation of impurities in the final solidification phase, resulting in low-melting phases which are under tensile stress at the end of solidification.
The application of hybrid laser-arc welding (HLAW) for joining closed circumferential welds is a challenge due to the high risk of forming a defective overlap area with a shrinkage void or solidification cracks in the material thickness. A series of HLAW experiments were performed to understand the development of a faulty overlap area when closing the circumferential weld. Welding trials on flat specimens and pipe segments were supported by numerical analyses in which the thermomechanical behavior of the welds in the overlap area was investigated. Different process control strategies were tested, including variations in defocusing levels and the overlap length. The newly developed HLAW head, including laser optics with a motor-driven collimation system, made it possible to defocus the laser beam during welding without disturbing the stability of the welding process. High-level defocusing of the laser beam of more than 40 mm relative to the specimen surface with a resulting beam diameter of > 2.9 mm, and in combination with a short overlap length of 15 mm, was promising with respect to the formation of a desired cup-shaped weld profile that is resistant to solidification cracks.
Laser metal deposition (LMD) as an additive manufacturing technique became increasingly important in recent years and thus the demand for component safety. This is the reason, for the need for reliable in-situ defect detection techniques. For laser beam weld seams an optical measurement technique based on an optical flow algorithm was successfully used to define the critical straining conditions that lead to hot cracking. This algorithm was adapted for bead-on-plate weld seams on LMD deposited layers of IN718 alloy while performing external strain on the specimen in an externally loaded hot cacking test facility. The resulting transversal hot cracks along the weld seam were localized via X-Ray inspection and the type of cracking confirmed by Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM). The strain distribution was measured in the vicinity of the solidification front and correlated to the detected hot cracks. Based on the results this technique could be adopted for LMD experiments.
Solidification cracking phenomena taking place under Controlled Tensile Weldability (CTW) test conditions have already been investigated both experimentally and numerically via FEA in order to get a better understanding of the mechanisms of hot crack formation during laser beam welding of austenitic steel grades. This paper develops a three dimensional finite element model employing the contact elements technique to simulate the formation and propagation of solidification cracks during laser full penetration welding of fully austenitic stainless steel 1.4376. During the experimental procedure the resulting strain and displacement directed to the laser beam in the Close vicinity of the weld pool was measured at the surface of the workpiece using a Digital Image Correlation (DIC) technique with an external diode laser as an illuminating source. Local strain fields, global loads and crack lengths predicted by the model are in good Agreement with those observed in experiments.
Laser welding is a widely established manufacturing process in many industry sectors. Solidification cracking represents one of the most inadequately solved problems in welding and has major economic implications. The avoidance of hot crack forms for most fusion welding processes poses a key challenge for an important range of metallic construction materials and affects not only the manufacturers of welding equipment and material manufacturers, but also a large number of customers using welding technologies, as well as welding technical standardization and research. Solidification cracking susceptibility was examined with the help of the Controlled Tensile Weldability Test (CTW) developed by Federal Institute for Materials Research and Testing (BAM), Berlin. The test is based on the fact that hot crack formation depends on a critical strain that emerges within a critical temperature range, the so called brittle temperature range (BTR). Using this test and defined investigation programme a centreline solidification crack was generated. By controlling the applied strain during the laser beam welding process, it was possible to determine the critical strain and strain rate that led to solidification cracking formation. The hot cracking susceptibility of the tested stainless steels was qualified and quantified. The results demonstrate that the crack length increases with increasing applied strain. Furthermore, the strain rate has a significant influence on the formation of the solidification crack.
Laser welding is a widely established manufacturing process in many industry sectors. Solidification cracking represents one of the most inadequately solved problems in welding and has major economic implications. The avoidance of hot crack is for most fusion welding processes a key challenge for an important range of metallic construction materials and affects not only the manufacturers of welding equipment and material manufacturers, but also a large number of customers using welding technologies, as well as welding standardization and research. In this study a new investigation programme has been developed to qualify the hot cracking susceptibility of a variety of austenitic stainless steels. The results show the possibility of using this technique to determinate the critical values that occur with initiation of solidification cracking during laser beam welding
Solidification cracking phenomena taking place under controlled tensile weldability (CTW) test conditions have already been investigated both experimentally and numerically via FEA in order to get a better understanding of the mechanisms of hot crack formation during laser beam welding of austenitic steel grades. This paper develops a threedimensional finite element model employing the contact element technique to simulate the formation and propagation of solidification cracks during laser full penetration welding of fully austenitic stainless steel 1.4376. During the experimental procedure, the resulting strain and displacement directed to the laser beam in the close vicinity of the weld pool was measured at the surface of the workpiece using a digital image correlation (DIC) technique with an external diode laser as an illuminating source. Local strain fields, global loads and crack lengths predicted by the model are in good agreement with those observed in experiments.
In dieser Studie wurde die Heißrissanfälligkeit beim Laserstrahlschweißen für die Werkstoffe 1.4376, 1.4301 und 1.4828 mit Hilfe des CTW Test quantifiziert. Bei den Versuchen konnten Erstarrungsrisse in den Proben generiert werden. Zusätzlich können mit der Bildkorrelations-Technik die lokalen Dehnungen und Dehnungsraten während des Heißrisstests gemessen wer den. In Verbindung mit einem externen Diodenlaser zum Beleuchten der zu messende Oberfläche und lnterferenzfiltern an den Kameras konnten die DIC Messungen ohne optische Störungen durchgeführt werden.
Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass die Heißrissbildung bei einer externen Belastung von 3 % für die Stahlsorte 1.4376 zu erwarten ist. Für die Stahls orte 1.4301 beträgt dieser Grenzwert 2 % und 1,5 % für die Stahlgüte 1.4828. Außerdem ist zu beobachten, dass die Gesamtrisslänge mit zu nehmender äußerer Zugbeanspruchung steigt
The safety of components or constructions is of great importance in the manufacturing and processing of metallic materials. Solidification cracking as well as the weldability of materials remain still for many years a highly contentious issues, particularly with regard to the causes of the hot crack formation. Many of studies have been conducted to determine the critical condition of occurrence of the solidification cracking. In this study different digital image correlation measuring techniques in conjunction with laser diodes as the illuminating source have been employed to measure the arising strain field during the laser welding process at the surface of the workpiece directed to the laser beam in the close vicinity of the weld pool. The Controlled Tensile Weldability test (CTW) was used to apply an external tensile load during the laser beam welding in order to generate the solidification cracks. The results showed that by means of those techniques it is possible to measure the strain field without any disturbances from the intense welding light or the smoke. Additionally, the strain and the strain rate as a critical factor determining solidification crack formation can be measured and analyzed.
Experimental study and numerical simulation of hot crack formation for novel laser weldability test.
(2015)
Laser beam welding is a widely established manufacturing process in several industries. The solidification cracking seriously effecting the safety of welded joints could arise during the beam welding of stainless steels caused by high solidification rates. In this study the controlled tensile weldability test (CTW) was used to investigate the solidification cracking susceptibility the fully austenitic stainless steels CrMnNi (1.4376), CrNi (1.4301), CrNiMo (1.4404) and CrNiSi (1.4828) during laser beam welding. The test facility allows welding of specimens with simultaneous application of tensile load along or cross to the welding direction while the speed of tensile force application is either constant or increases linearly. The tensile force increment and/or the displacement are set by means of a CNC controller. Trials were conducted by varying the ultimate tensile strain and cross-head speed while keeping the welding parameters constant. By observing the crack-no crack behaviour and estimating the generated crack length for each trail using a new optimized experimental procedure the influence of the two important conditions (the strain and the strain rate) for the formation of solidification cracks can be investigated, the critical values of strain and strain rate that are responsible for solidification cracking formation have been determined. In the present study a three-dimensional FEM using the contact element technique was developed to simulate the solidification cracking during laser full penetration welding under external load conditions for the steel 1.4376 in order to get a better understanding of the mechanisms of hot crack initiation and the theoretical results were compared to the experimental ones. By comparing the resulting solidification crack with simulated crack, it is possible to determine the critical condition of solidification crack formation in the region where the strains and the strain rates cannot be measured due to the high temperature. The results show a good agreement between numerical calculation and experiment. It is proposed that the solidification cracking susceptibility may be predicted by FEM analysis by using the correct mechanical and thermo-physical constants of the materials.
One of the main factors affecting the use of lasers in the industry for welding thick structures is the process accompanying solidification cracks. These cracks mostly occurring along the welding direction in the welding center, and strongly affect the safety of the welded components. In the present study, to obtain a better understanding of the relation between the weld pool geometry, the stress distribution and the solidification cracking, a three-dimensional computational fluid dynamic (CFD) model was combined with a thermo-mechanical model. The CFD model was employed to analyze the flow of the molten metal in the weld pool during the laser beam welding process. The weld pool geometry estimated from the CFD model was used as a heat source in the thermal model to calculate the temperature field and the stress development and distributions. The CFD results showed a bulging region in the middle depth of the weld and two narrowing areas separating the bulging region from the top and bottom surface. The thermo-mechanical simulations showed a concentration of tension stresses, transversally and vertically, directly after the solidification during cooling in the region of the solidification cracking.
In recent years, laser beam welding has found wide applications in many industrial fields. Solidification cracks are one of the most frequently encountered welding defects that hinder obtaining a safe weld joint. Decades of research have shown that one of the main causes of such cracks are the strain and the strain rate. Obtaining meaningful measurements of these strains has always been a major challenge for scientists, because of the specific environment of the measurement range and the many obstacles, as well as the high temperature and the plasma plume. In this study, a special experimental setup with a high-speed camera was employed to measure the strain during the welding process. The hot cracking susceptibility was investigated for 1.4301 stainless steel, and the critical strain required for solidification crack formation was locally and globally determined.
In the article considered the problem of hot cracks occurrence during laser welding process. The main reason of their appearance is strain. The optical method for measuring full field strain locally near the solidification front during laser welding process is proposed. The proposed method of optical measurement allows to determine the real values of the critical strain for various materials characterizing the occurrence of hot cracks in laser welding process.
A self-restraint hot cracking test (free edge test) was used in combination with a novel optical measurement technique to determine the critical straining conditions for solidification cracking for the stainless steel grade 1.4828 (AISI 309). The Lucas-Kanade algorithm for the optical flow (OF) calculation was implemented to obtain the full-field displacement and then the full-field strain.
The use of external laser illumination with appropriate filters allows to obtain good image quality with good contrast. The critical straining conditions required for solidification cracking can be obtained by means the proposed technique in the immediate vicinity of the solidification front. A very good repeatability was demonstrated for the used measurement technique. The critical straining conditions for solidification cracking for the tested steel und under this welding conditions has been detected
Using optical measuring to investigate the hot cracking susceptibility of laser welded joints
(2015)
Investigation of hot cracking susceptibility of laser welded joints of four austenitic steels
(2015)
One trend in today’s structural design for automobiles is towards application of stainless Steel in addition to traditional carbon Steel. This is mainly due to the advantages offered by stainless steel to the designer, i.e. its high corrosion resistance, heat resistance, strength and formability. Welding of austenitic stainless steel involves a high risk of solidification cracking due to low melting eutectics containing different kinds of impurities and to accumulated strain behind the weld pooi in the mushy zone. As a result, the quality of stainless steel welded joints will greatly be affected which may give cause for safety concerns. The intention of this study was to investigate the hot cracking sensitivity of laser welded fully austenitic stainless steels and to determine the critical local strain and strain rate from the formation of solidification cracks. C02-laser welding experiments were conducted using the steel X8CrMnNi19-6-3 (Nirosta H400). Solidification cracking susceptibility was examined with the help of the Controlled Tensile Weldability (CTW) Test developed by BAM Federal Institute for Materials Research and Testing in Berlin. The critical strain and strain rate of solidification cracking was measured at the surface of the workpiece directed to the laser beam in the close vicinity of the weld pool by using the Digital Image Correlation (DIC) technique and diode laser as the illuminating source.
In this study, the influence of the welding speed, the arc power, and the laser focal position on the solidification crack formation for partial penetration laser hybrid–welded thick-walled plates was investigated.
The solidification cracking in the weld root is a result of interaction between metallurgical and geometrical and thermomechanical factors.
Experimentally, a direct correlation between the welding speed and the crack number was observed. That is by reducing the welding velocity, the crack number was decreased. The focal position shows also a significant influence on the crack number. By focusing the laser on the specimen surface, the crack number has been significantly diminished.
The wire feed speed showed a very slight influence on the crack formation. That is due to the large distance between the critical region for cracking and the arc region.
The numerical model shows a high stress concentration in the weld root for both components (vertical and transversal).
Numerically, the reduced welding speed showed a strong impact on stress, as the model demonstrated a lower stress amount by decreasing the welding speed.
The metallurgical factors, such as the assumed accumulation of the low-melting eutectics in the weld root, should be a contribution for solidification cracking, where the tensile stress is acting.
A novel approach for the reconstruction of an equivalent volumetric heat source from a known weld pool shape is proposed. It is based on previously obtained weld pool geometries from a steady-state thermo-fluid dynamics simulation. Hereby the weld pool dimensions are obtained under consideration of the most crucial physical phenomena, such as phase transformations, thermo-capillary convection, natural convection and temperature-dependent material properties. The algorithm provides a time and calibration efficient way for the reproduction of the weld pool shape by local Lamé curves. By adjusting their parameters, the identification of the finite elements located within the weld pool is enabled. The heat input due to the equivalent heat source is assured by replacing the detected nodes’ temperature by the melting temperature.
The model offers variable parameters making it flexible and adaptable for a wide range of workpiece thicknesses and materials and allows for the investigation of transient thermal effects, e.g. the cooling stage of the workpiece. The calculation times remain acceptably short especially when compared to a fully coupled process simulation. The computational results are in good agreement with performed complete-penetration laser beam welding experiments.
A novel approach for the reconstruction of an equivalent volumetric heat source from a known weld pool shape is proposed. It is based on previously obtained weld pool geometries from a steady-state thermo-fluid dynamics simulation. Hereby, the weld pool dimensions are obtained under consideration of the most crucial physical phenomena, such as phase transformations, thermo-capillary convection, natural convection, and temperature-dependent material properties. The algorithm provides a time and calibration efficient way for the reproduction of the weld pool shape by local Lamé curves. By adjusting their parameters, the identification of the finite elements located within the weld pool is enabled. The heat input due to the equivalent heat source is assured by replacing the detected nodes’ temperature by the melting temperature. The model offers variable parameters making it flexible and adaptable for a wide range of workpiece thicknesses and materials and allows for the investigation of transient thermal effects, e.g., the cooling stage of the workpiece. The calculation times remain acceptably short especially when compared to a fully coupled process simulation. The computational results are in good agreement with performed complete-penetration laser beam welding experiments.
In this study, the influence of the welding speed and the arc power on the solidification crack formation for partial penetration laser hybrid welded Thick-Walled plates were investigated. Experimentally, a linear correlation between the welding velocity and the crack number was observed. That is by reducing the welding velocity the crack number was reduced.
The reduced welding velocity showed a strong impact on stress, as the model demonstrated a very lower stress amount in comparison to the reference case. The reduction of the welding speed could be a helpful technique to reduce the hot cracking. The wire feed speed showed a very slight influence on the crack formation. That can be returned to the large distance between the critical region for cracking and the arc region.
In this study, the influence of the welding speed and the arc power on the solidification crack formation for partial penetration laser hybrid welded Thick-Walled plates were investigated. Experimentally, a linear correlation between the welding velocity and the crack number was observed. That is by reducing the welding velocity the crack number was reduced.
The reduced welding velocity showed a strong impact on stress, as the model demonstrated a very lower stress amount in comparison to the reference case. The reduction of the welding speed could be a helpful technique to reduce the hot cracking. The wire feed speed showed a very slight influence on the crack formation. That can be returned to the large distance between the critical region for cracking and the arc region.
In this study, the influence of the welding speed, the arc power and the laser focal position on the solidification crack formation for partial penetration laser hybrid welded thick-walled plates were investigated. Experimentally, a direct correlation between the welding speed and the crack number was observed. That is by reducing the welding velocity the crack number was decreased. The focal position shows also a significant influence on the crack number. Since by focusing the laser on the specimen surface, the crack number has been significantly diminished.
The wire feed speed showed a very slight influence on the crack formation. That is due to the large distance between the critical region for cracking and the arc region.
The numerical model shows a high-stress concentration in the weld root for both components (vertical and transversal).
Numerically, the reduced welding speed showed a strong impact on stress, as the model demonstrated a lower stress amount by decreasing the welding speed. The solidification cracking in the weld root is a result of interaction between metallurgical and geometrical and thermomechanical factors.
Using a novel optical measurement technique together with the OF algorithm, a two-dimensional deformation analysis during welding was conducted.
The OF technique was the first of its kind to provide a measurement of the full strain field locally in the immediate vicinity of the solidification front. The local critical strain and strain rate in vicinity of the solidification front has observed 1.57%, 28 %/s, respectively.
Bislang kommt das Laserstrahlschweißen bzw. Laserhybridschweißen hauptsächlich bei Dickblechen mit einer Wandstärke von bis zu 15 mm zum Einsatz. Für Anwendungen über 20 mm war dieses Verfahren aufgrund einiger Herausforderungen bisher nur bedingt realisierbar. Eine von der Bundesanstalt für Materialforschung und -prüfung (BAM) entwickelte elektromagnetische Schmelzbadunterstützung ermöglicht nun ein einlagiges Schweißen von bis zu 30 mm Wandstärke.
The geometry of the melt pool in laser beam welding plays a major role to understand the dynamics of the melt and its solidification behavior. In this study, a butt configuration of 20 mm thick structural steel and transparent quartz glass was used to observe the weld pool geometry in the partial penetration mode by means of a high-speed camera. The observations show that the dimensions of the weld pool vary depending on the depth. The areas close to the weld pool surface take a teardrop-shape. A bulge-region and its temporal evolution were observed approximately in the weld pool root. Additionally, a 3D transient thermal-fluid numerical simulation was performed to obtain the weld pool shape and to understand the formation mechanism of the observed bulging effect. The model considers the local temperature field, the effects of phase transition, thermo-capillary convection, natural convection and temperature-dependent material properties. The numerical results showed good accordance and were furthermore used to improve the understanding of the experimentally observed bulging effect.
The stability of the keyhole decreases for deep penetrated high-power laser beam welding. The keyhole tends to collapse with increasing laser power and e.g. keyhole induced porosity can occur. This study deals with the observation of the keyhole during high-power laser beam welding in partial penetration mode by means of a high-speed camera. A butt configuration of 25 mm thick structural steel and transparent quartz glass was used for the experiments. An oscillating magnetic field was applied perpendicular to the welding direction on the root side of the steel plate. The keyhole was highlighted with a coaxial diode laser. It was ascertained that the stability of the keyhole and the weld penetration depth were increased by applying an oscillating magnetic field with an oscillating frequency of 1.2 kHz and a magnetic flux density of 50 mT.
Using the novel optical measurement technique together with the optical flow algorithm, a twodimensional deformation analysis during welding has been conducted. This technique provides for the first time a measurement of the strain field locally in the immediate vicinity of the assumed solidification front. The described procedure of the opticalmeasurement allows to determine the real martial-dependent values of critical strain and strain rate characterising transition to the hot cracking during laser welding processes. The local critical strain that obtained in the assumed solidification showed that the local critical strain decreases as the strain rate increases. Moreover, this phenomenon has also been shown with results from the CTW-test, since the global strain decreases with an increase in the external strain rate.
The shape of the weld pool in laser beam welding plays a major role to understand the dynamics of the melt and its solidification behavior. The aim of the present work was its experimental and numerical investigation. To visualize the geometry of the melt pool in the longitudinal section a butt joint configuration of 15 mm thick structural steel and transparent quartz glass was used. The weld pool shape was recorded by means of a high-speed video camera and two thermal imaging MWIR and VIS cameras. The observations show that the dimensions of the weld pool vary depending on the depth. The regions close to the surface form a teardrop shaped weld pool. A bulge-region and its temporal evolution were observed approximately in the middle of the depth of the weld pool. Additionally, a transient numerical simulation was performed until reaching a steady state to obtain the weld pool shape and to understand the formation mechanism of the observed bulging phenomena. A fixed keyhole with an experimentally obtained shape was used to represent the full-penetration laser beam welding process. The model considers the local temperature field, the effects of phase transition, thermo-capillary convection, natural convection and temperature-dependent material properties up to evaporation temperature. It was found that the Marangoni convection and the movement of the laser heat source are the dominant factors for the formation of the bulging-region. Good correlation between the numerically calculated and the experimentally observed weld bead shapes and the time-temperature curves on the upper and bottom surface were found.
This technique is the first to provide a measurement of the full strain field locally in the immediate vicinity of the solidification front. Automatic identification of the cases that can be critical for the solidification crack formation the described procedure of the optical measurement allows the real material-dependent values of critical strain characterising the transition to hot cracking during laser welding processes to be determined. The local critical strain in vicinity of the solidification front has observed between 3.6 and 4.2%.
Untersuchungen der Heißrissanfälligkeit laserstrahlgeschweißter Verbindungen austenitischer Stähle
(2017)
Die lokalen Dehnungen bzw. Dehngeschwindigkeiten im heißrisskritischen Temperaturintervall sind Funktionen des Temperaturfeldes im Nahbereich des Schmelzbades (Schweißverfahren, Werkstoff), der thermo-mechanischen Kennwerte des Versuchswerkstoffes sowie von außen aufgebrachten Verfor-mungen. Da die lokal vorherrschenden Dehnungen im Nahbereich des Schmelzbades nicht bzw. nur mit sehr aufwendigen Methoden ermittelt werden können, dienen bespielweise die im CTW-Test (Controlled Tensile Weldability) von außen aufgebrachten Dehnungen oder Dehnraten als Kriterium für die Heißriss-empfindlichkeit. In dieser Studie wurde CTW-Test zur Untersuchung der Heißrissresistenz verschiedenen austenitischen Stählen eingesetzt.
The geometry of the melt pool in laser beam welding plays a major role to understand the dynamics of the melt and its solidification behavior. In this study, a butt configuration of 15 mm thick structural steel and transparent quartz glass was used to observe the weld pool geometry by means of high-speed camera and an infrared camera recording. The observations show that the dimensions of the weld pool vary depending on the depth. The areas close to the weld pool surface take a teardrop-shape. A bulge-region and its temporal evolution were observed approximately in the middle of the depth of the weld pool. Additionally, a 3D transient thermal-fluid numerical simulation was performed to obtain the weld pool shape and to understand the formation mechanism of the observed bulging effect. The model takes into account the local temperature field, the effects of phase transition, thermo-capillary convection, natural convection and temperature-dependent material properties up to evaporation temperature. The numerical results showed good accordance and were furthermore used to improve the understanding of the experimentally observed bulging effect.
The geometry of the melt pool in laser beam welding plays a major role to understand the dynamics of the melt and its solidification behavior. In this study, a butt configuration of 15 mm thick structural steel and transparent quartz glass was used to observe the weld pool geometry by means of high-speed camera and an infrared camera recording. The observations show that the dimensions of the weld pool vary depending on the depth. The areas close to the weld pool surface take a teardrop-shape. A bulge-region and its temporal evolution were observed approximately in the middle of the depth of the weld pool. Additionally, a 3D transient thermal-fluid numerical simulation was performed to obtain the weld pool shape and to understand the formation mechanism of the observed bulging effect. The model takes into account the local temperature field, the effects of phase transition, thermo-capillary convection, natural convection and temperature-dependent material properties up to evaporation temperature. The numerical results showed good accordance and were furthermore used to improve the understanding of the experimentally observed bulging effect.
Over the past decade, laser beam welding has significantly evolved and established itself as an efficient tool in the industry. Solidification cracking and the weldability of materials have been highly contentious issues for many years. Today, there are many self and externally loaded tests to investigate the hot cracking resistance of steels. The purpose of this paper is to compare the susceptibility of three stainless steel grades to hot cracking by using an externally loaded hot cracking test (CTW) and a self-restraint test in accordance with SEP-220-3. The repeatability and effectiveness of the results are discussed. The experimental results are widely dispersed, implying a low predictive value for the self-restraint test. On the other hand, the results from the externally loaded test exhibit excellent repeatability and provide a quantitative characterization of the susceptibility of steels to hot cracking.
Laser welding is a widely established manufacturing process in many industry sectors. Solidification cracking as well as the weldability of materials is still since many years a highly contentious issue, particularly regarding the causes of the hot crack formation. Many of studies have been conducted to determine the critical conditions of occurrence of the solidification cracking. In this study a 2D in-situ observation technique in conjunction with laser diodes as the illuminating source has been employed to measure the arising strain field during the laser beam welding process. For the first time the employed technique enabled the in-situ measurement of the transient strain field at the surface of the workpiece directed to the laser beam in the critical range, where the solidification cracking normally occurs. Thus the critical threshold strain values at high temperatures characterizing transition from crack free to crack concomitant welding process could be deduced.
Entwicklung eines Verfahrens zur Untersuchung der Heißrissresistenz lasergeschweißter Verbindungen
(2016)
In den letzten Jahrzehnten hat sich die Strahlschweißtechnik signifikant weiterentwickelt und als effizientes und wirtschaftliches Werkzeug in der Industrie etabliert. Für die Untersuchung der Heißrissresistenz verschiedener Werkstoffe existieren zahlreiche eigen- und fremdbeanspruchende Tests. Diese wurden aber speziell für andere Schweißverfahren, insbesondere das Lichtbogenschweißen, konzipiert.
Daher besteht die Notwendigkeit eines geeigneten Heißrisstests, bei dem Werkstoffe realen Strahlschweißbedingungen ausgesetzt werden können. Die Entwicklung sowie die Standardisierung einer aussagekräftigen experimentellen Methode stellen einen wichtigen Schritt auf dem Weg zur Vermeidung von Heißrissen und damit für die Gewährleistung der Sicherheit von gefügten Bauteilen dar. Ziel der Forschungsarbeiten ist es, einen geeigneten Test zur effektiven Untersuchung der Heißrissanfälligkeit von lasergeschweißten Verbindungen zu konzipieren und zu entwickeln.
This paper represents the results for proposed optical flow method based on the Lucas-Kanade (LK) algorithm applied to two different problems. The following observations can be made:
- The estimated strain and displacement for conducted tensile test are generally very close to those measured with conventional DIC-technique.
- The LK technique allows measurement of strain or displacement without special selection of a region of interest.
Using a novel optical measurement technique together with the optical flow algorithm, a twodimensional deformation analysis during welding was conducted. This technique is the first to provide a measurement of the full strain field locally in the immediate vicinity of the solidification front. Additionally, the described procedure of the optical measurement allows the real material-dependent values of critical strain characterizing the transition to hot cracking during laser welding processes to be determined.
In this study, a three-dimensional CFD-simulation model was developed to simulate the fluid flow in the weld pool. The CFD-model showed a bulging region in the middle of the depth, which is separated from the top surface and bottom surface by two narrowing regions. It can be concluded that the interaction of the movement of the laser source with the Marangoni vortex leads to a teardrop shape at the upper and bottom surface of the workpiece. Additionally, it shows that the bulging in the weld is a result of the backflows on the upper and lower sides due to the thermo-capillary-driven flows. The weld pool shape was used as a heat source in a two-dimensional thermomechanical model, which allows a highly accurate transformation of the weld pool dimensions obtained from the CFD model. This developed technique allows the consideration of physical aspects, which cannot be considered when using traditional heat sources. The mechanical model has shown that the chronological order of the solidification of the weld has a significant influence on the nature and distribution of the stresses in the weld. High tensile stress has been observed in the bulging region, i.e. in the susceptible region for solidification cracking, when compared to the other narrowing regions, which show compressive stress.
In this study, a three-dimensional CFD-simulation model was developed to simulate the fluid flow in the weld pool. The CFD-model showed a bulging region in the middle of the depth, which is separated from the top surface and bottom surface by two narrowing regions. It can be concluded that the interaction of the movement of the laser source with the Marangoni vortex leads to a teardrop shape at the upper and bottom surface of the workpiece. Additionally, it shows that the bulging in the weld is a result of the backflows on the upper and lower sides due to the thermo-capillary-driven flows. The weld pool shape was used as a heat source in a two-dimensional thermomechanical model, which allows a highly accurate transformation of the weld pool dimensions obtained from the CFD model. This developed technique allows the consideration of physical aspects, which cannot be considered when using traditional heat sources. The mechanical model has shown that the chronological order of the solidification of the weld has a significant influence on the nature and distribution of the stresses in the weld. High tensile stress has been observed in the bulging region, i.e. in the susceptible region for solidification cracking, when compared to the other narrowing regions, which show compressive stress.
Using a novel optical measurement technique together with the optical flow algorithm, a two-dimensional deformation analysis during welding was conducted. The presented technique is the first to provide a measurement of the full strain field locally in the immediate vicinity of the solidification front.
Additionally, the described procedure of the optical measurement allows the real material-dependent values of critical strain and strain rate characterizing the transition to hot cracking during laser welding processes to be determined. Furthermore, the above-mentioned technique is independet on the welding process, which means, it can be also used for arc welding processes. Dependency between the external strain rate and the critical local strain and strain rate has been observed. That is to say, the critical local strain and strain rate is increased with an increase of the strain rate.Moreover, this technique allows automatic identification of the cases that can be critical for the solidification crack formation by monitoring the state of strain on the crack-sensitive region within the mushy zone.
The shape of the weld pool in laser beam welding plays a major role to understand the dynamics of the melt and its solidification behavior. The aim of the present work was its experimental and numerical investigation. To visualize the geometry of the melt pool in the longitudinal section a butt joint configuration of 15 mm thick structural steel and transparent quartz glass was used. The weld pool shape was recorded by means of a high-speed video camera and two thermal imaging MWIR and VIS cameras. The observations show that the dimensions of the weld pool vary depending on the depth. The regions close to the surface form a teardrop shaped weld pool. A bulge-region and its temporal evolution were observed approximately in the middle of the depth of the weld pool. Additionally, a transient numerical simulation was performed until reaching a steady state to obtain the weld pool shape and to understand the formation mechanism of the observed bulging phenomena. A fixed keyhole with an experimentally obtained shape was used to represent the full-penetration laser beam welding process. The model considers the local temperature field, the effects of phase transition, thermo-capillary convection, natural convection and temperature-dependent material properties up to evaporation temperature. It was found that the Marangoni convection and the movement of the laser heat source are the dominant factors for the formation of the bulging-region. Good correlation between the numerically calculated and the experimentally observed weld bead shapes and the time-temperature curves on the upper and bottom surface were found.
The strain field can reflect the initiation time of solidification cracks during the welding process. The traditional strain measurement is to first obtain the displacement field through digital image correlation (DIC) or optical flow and then calculate the strain field. The main disadvantage is that the calculation takes a long time, limiting its suitability to real-time applications. Recently, convolutional neural networks (CNNs) have made impressive achievements in computer vision.
To build a good prediction model, the network structure and dataset are two key factors. In this paper, we first create the training and test sets containing welding cracks using the controlled tensile weldability (CTW) test and obtain the real strain fields through the Lucas–Kanade algorithm. Then, two new networks using ResNet and DenseNet as encoders are developed for strain prediction, called StrainNetR and StrainNetD. The results show that the average endpoint error (AEE) of the two networks on our test set is about 0.04, close to the real strain value. The computation time could be reduced to the millisecond level, which would greatly improve efficiency.
AbstractLaser beam welding has become widely applied in many industrial fields in recent years. Solidification cracks remain one of the most common welding faults that can prevent a safe welded joint. In civil engineering, convolutional neural networks (CNNs) have been successfully used to detect cracks in roads and buildings by analysing images of the constructed objects. These cracks are found in static objects, whereas the generation of a welding crack is a dynamic process. Detecting the formation of cracks as early as possible is greatly important to ensure high welding quality. In this study, two end-to-end models based on long short-term memory and three-dimensional convolutional networks (3D-CNN) are proposed for automatic crack formation detection. To achieve maximum accuracy with minimal computational complexity, we progressively modify the model to find the optimal structure. The controlled tensile weldability test is conducted to generate long videos used for training and testing. The performance of the proposed models is compared with the classical neural network ResNet-18, which has been proven to be a good transfer learning model for crack detection. The results show that our models can detect the start time of crack formation earlier, while ResNet-18 only detects cracks during the propagation stage.
The present work deals with the recently confirmed widening of the weld pool interface, known as a bulging effect, and its relevance in high power laser beam welding. A combined experimental and numerical approach is utilized to study the influence of the bulge on the hot cracking formation and the transport of alloying elements in the molten pool. A technique using a quartz glass, a direct-diode laser illumination, a high-speed camera, and two thermal imaging cameras is applied to visualize the weld pool geometry in the longitudinal section. The study examines the relevance of the bulging effect on both, partial and complete penetration, as well as for different sheet thicknesses ranging from 8 mm to 25 mm. The numerical analysis shows that the formation of a bulge region is highly dependent on the penetration depth and occurs above 10 mm penetration depth. The location of the bulge correlates strongly with the cracking location. The obtained experimental and numerical results reveal that the bulging effect increases the hot cracking susceptibility and limits the transfer of alloying elements from the top of the weld pool to the weld root.