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A mathematical model for physical processes in fusion welding has been developed. It is based on the equivalent heat source concept and consists of two parts: thermo-hydrodynamics of the weld pool and heat conduction in the weldment outside the pool. In thermo-hydrodynamic problem, temperature – dependent material properties, keyhole shape, thermo-capillary and natural convection, phase transformations and other physical phenomena are taken into consideration.
Solution of the thermo-hydrodynamic problem by the finite element method is demonstrated with keyhole laser beam welding of a 15 mm thick steel plate. Thermo-capillary convection is primarily responsible for the intricate convex-concave melt pool shape and pool enlargement near the plate surfaces. The calculated and experimental molten pool dimensions are in close agreement.
In recent years, it was shown that the introduction of additional oscillating and permanent magnetic fields to laser beam and laser-arc hybrid welding can bring several beneficial effects.
Examples are a contactless weld pool support for metals of high thickness suffering from severe drop-out when being welded conventionally or an enhanced stirring to improve the mixing of added filler material in the depth of the weld pool to guarantee homogeneous resulting mechanical properties of the weld. The latest research results show the applicability to various metal types over a wide range of thicknesses and welding conditions. The observations made were demonstrated in numerous experimental studies and a deep understanding of the interaction of the underlying physical mechanisms was extracted from numerical calculations.
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.
This article is devoted to the study of the bulging effect in deep penetration laser beam welding. The numerical results of the investigations are based upon experimental results from previous studies to reveal the relationship between the bulging effect and the hot cracking formation, as well as the mixing of alloying elements in the weld pool. The widening of the molten pool in its center area can be observed in full penetration as well as in partial penetration welds on 8 mm and 12 mm thick structural steel plates, respectively. The weld pool shape is extracted from the simulations to evaluate the extent of the necking of the solidification line as well as the bulging phenomena and its influence on the hot cracking phenomena. Relying on an earlier numerical study utilizing a fixed keyhole, simulation models considering a dynamic keyhole are developed thereto. Additionally, the mixing behavior of alloying elements during partial penetration is investigated. The link between the bulge and the studied phenomena is found to be significant.
The present work is devoted to the numerical analysis of the high-power laser beam welding of thick sheets at different welding speeds. A three-dimensional transient multi-physics numerical model is developed, allowing for the prediction of the keyhole geometry and the final penetration depth. Two ray tracing algorithms are implemented and compared, namely a standard ray tracing approach and an approach using a virtual mesh refinement for a more accurate calculation of the reflection points. Both algorithms are found to provide sufficient accuracy for the prediction of the keyhole depth during laser beam welding with process speeds of up to 1.5 m/min. However, with the standard algorithm, the penetration depth is underestimated by the model for a process speed of 2.5 m/min due to a trapping effect of the laser energy in the top region. In contrast, the virtually refined ray tracing approach results in high accuracy results for process speeds of both 1.5 m/min and 2.5 m/min. A detailed study on the trapping effect is provided, accompanied by a benchmark including a predefined keyhole geometry with typical characteristics for the high-power laser beam welding of thick plates at high process speed, such as deep keyhole, inclined front keyhole wall, and a hump.
The application of the electromagnetic stirring from an oscillating magnetic field can improve the metal mixing in wire feed laser beam welding. However, the extra parameters introduced in this technique make the selection of an optimal combination of process parameters more difficult. In the current study, besides the commonly concerned magnetic flux density and frequency, the influence of the magnetic field orientation (magnetic field angle) on the transport of filler metal is studied numerically and experimentally. Ex-situ X-ray fluorescence spectrometer measurements are used to map the metal mixing in the final weld. A three-dimensional transient multi-physical model is developed to reveal the deeper physical essence, considering the coupling between heat transfer, fluid flow, keyhole dynamics, element transport and magnetohydrodynamics. The spatial distribution of the laser energy on the keyhole wall is calculated by a ray tracing algorithm. The results show that the magnetic field with smaller angle with respect to the transverse direction provides better penetration capacity, and its stirring effect can reach the lower part of the molten pool. Therefore, the smaller magnetic field angle produces better metal mixing. A constant downward flow is formed at the lower part of the molten pool when magnetic field of 10° angle is applied, which brings the filler metal to the root region. As the magnetic field angle increases to 40°, the beneficial downward flow changes into a constant upward flow, resulting in a concentration of the filler metal in the upper region. This study provides further insight of the underlying physics in the electromagnetically enhanced laser beam welding, which may guide the optimization of parameters to achieve property homogeneity or to avoid potential defects.