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The effect of the oscillating metal vapor plume on the keyhole and molten pool behavior during the laser beam welding of AlMg3 aluminum alloys is investigated by the experimental and numerical method. The real-time height of the metal vapor plume is measured by high-speed camera observation. The obtained experimental results are used to evaluate the additional heating source and laser beam attenuation caused by the scattering and absorption based on the Beer-Lambert theory. Furthermore, the dynamic behavior of the metal vapor plume is incorporated into a 3D transient heat transfer and fluid flow model, coupled with the ray tracing method, for the laser beam welding of the AlMg3 alloy. It is found that the additional heating resulting from the scattered and absorbed laser beam energy by the metal vapor plume significantly expands the shape of the molten pool on the top region. Moreover, the oscillating metal vapor plume caused the fluctuation of the molten pool shape. The probability of keyhole collapse at the bottom increases significantly to 72% due to the oscillating laser power induced by the laser beam attenuation. The internal interplay between the metal vapor plume, molten pool shape, and the keyhole collapse are obtained. The developed model has been validated by the experiments, which shows a good agreement.
Through experimental observation and auxiliary numerical simulation, this investigation studies the different types of grain refinement of 5754 aluminum alloy laser beam welding by applying a transverse oscillating magnetic field. Scanning electron microscope results have proved that the application of a magnetic field can reduce the average crystal branch width and increase its number. The interaction between the induced eddy current generated by the Seebeck effect and the applied external magnetic field produces a Lorentz force, which is important for the increase of the number of crystal branches. Based on the theory of dendrite fragmentation and the magnetic field-induced branches increment, the grain size reduction caused by the magnetic field is studied. Furthermore, the effects of the magnetic field are analyzed by combining a phase field method model and simulations of nucleation and grain growth. The grain distribution and average grain size after welding verifies the reliability of the model. In addition, the introduction of a magnetic field can increase the number of periodic three-dimensional solidification patterns. In the intersection of two periods of solidification patterns, the metal can be re-melted and then re-solidified, which prevents the grains that have been solidified and formed previously from further growth and generates some small cellular grains in the new fusion line. The magnetic field increases the building frequency of these solidification structures and thus promotes this kind of grain refinement.
The weld quality and the possible defect formation are directly determined by the weld pool shape and the thermo-fluid dynamics therein. In this paper, an untypical weld pool profile, i.e., elongated at its top and bottom but narrowed at the middle, is found experimentally and numerically in the wire feed laser beam welding. The detrimental influence of the weld pool narrowing on the element transport is analyzed and discussed. A magnetohydrodynamic technique is utilized to suppress the narrowing, aiming at a more homogenous element distribution. It is found that a low-temperature region is formed in the middle of the weld pool due to the interaction of the two dominant circulations from the top and bottom regions. The weld pool is significantly narrowed due to the untypical growth of the mushy zone in the low-temperature region, which results in a direct blocking effect on the downward flow and the premature solidification in the middle region. The Lorentz force produced by a transverse oscillating magnetic field shows the potential to change the flow pattern into a single-circulation type and the low-temperature-gradient region is mitigated.
Therefore, the downward transfer channel is widened, and its premature solidification is prevented. The numerical results are well validated by experimental measurements of metal/glass observation and X-ray fluorescence element mapping.
Numerical analysis of ultrasonic vibration enhanced friction stir welding of dissimilar Al/Mg alloys
(2023)
The ultrasonic vibration enhanced friction stir welding (UVeFSW) process has unique advantages in joining dissimilar Al/Mg alloys. While there are complex coupling mechanisms of multi-fields in the process, it is of great significance to model this process, to reveal the influence mechanism of ultrasonic vibration on the formation of Al/Mg joints.
In this study, the acoustic-plastic constitutive equation was established by considering the influence of both ultrasonic softening and residual hardening on the flow stress at different temperatures and strain rates. And the ultrasonic induced friction reduction (UiFR) effect on friction coefficient in different relative directions at the FSW tool-workpiece interface was quantitatively calculated and analyzed.
The Al/Mg UVeFSW process model was developed through introducing the above acoustic effects into the model of Al/Mg friction stir welding (FSW). The ultrasonic energy is stronger on the aluminum alloy side. In the stirred zone, there is the pattern distribution of ultrasonic sound pressure and energy. The heat generation at the tool-workpiece contact interface and viscous dissipation were reduced after applying ultrasonic vibra-tion. Due to the UiFR effect, the projection of friction coefficient and heat flux distributions at the tool-workpiece interface present a "deformed" butterfly shape. The calculated results show that ultrasonic vibra-tion enhanced the material flow and promoted the mixing of dissimilar materials.
The contactless magnetohydrodynamic technology has been considered as a potential and promising method to improve the weld qualities of deep penetration laser beam welding. In this paper, numerical investigations are conducted to study the influence of the auxiliary oscillating magnetic field on the porosity suppression in laser beam welding of 5754 aluminum alloy. To obtain a deeper insight into the suppression mechanism, a three-dimensional transient multi-physical model is developed to calculate the heat transfer, fluid flow, keyhole dynamic, and magnetohydrodynamics. A ray tracing algorithm is employed to calculate the laser energy distribution on the keyhole wall. A time-averaged downward Lorentz force is produced by an oscillating magnetic field. This force acts in the molten pool, leading to a dominant downward flow motion in the longitudinal section, which blocks the bubble migration from the keyhole tip to the rear part of the molten pool. Therefore, the possibility for the bubbles to be captured by the solidification front is reduced. The electromagnetic expulsive force provides an additional upward escaping speed for the bubbles of 1 m/s ~ 5 m/s in the lower and middle region of the molten pool. The simulation results are in a good agreement with experimental measurements. Based on the results obtained in this study, a better understanding of the underlying physics in laser beam welding enhanced by an auxiliary oscillating magnetic field can be provided and thus the welding process can be further optimized reducing the porosity formation.
A three-dimensional numerical model was developed to accurately predict the steady-state weld pool shape in full penetration laser beam welding. The model accounts for the coupling between the heat transfer and the fluid dynamics by considering the effects of solid/liquid phase transition, thermo-capillary convection, natural convection, and phase-specific and temperature-dependent material properties up to the evaporation temperature. A fixed right circular cone was utilized as a keyhole geometry to consider the heat absorbed from the laser beam. The model was used to analyze the influence of the thermodynamic activity of solutes and turbulence on the weld pool shape. A mesh sensitivity analysis was performed on a hybrid mesh combining hexahedral and tetrahedral elements. For the case of full penetration laser beam welding of 8 mm thick unalloyed steel sheets, the dependence of the weld pool shape on the surface-active element sulfur was found to be negligible. The analysis of the results showed that a laminar formulation is sufficient for accurately predicting the weld pool shape since the turbulence has a minor impact on the flow dynamics in the weld pool. The validity of the numerical results was backed up by experimental measurements and observations, including weld pool length, local temperature history, and a range of metallographic crosssections.
Numerical study on the formation of a bulging region in partial penetration laser beam welding
(2023)
A transient three-dimensional thermo-fluid dynamics numerical model was developed to study the formation of a bulging region in partial penetration laser beam welding. The model accounts for the coupling between the fluid flow, the heat transfer, and the keyhole dynamics by considering the effects of multiple reflections and Fresnel absorption of the laser beam in the keyhole, the phase transitions during melting and evaporating, the thermo-capillary convection, the natural convection, and the phase-specific and temperature-dependent material properties up to the evaporation temperature. The validity of the model was backed up by experimentally obtained data, including the drilling time, the weld pool length, the local temperature history outside the weld pool, the process efficiency, and a range of metallographic crosssections.
The model was applied for the cases of partial penetration laser beam welding of 8 mm and 12 mm thick unalloyed steel sheets. The obtained experimental and numerical results reveal that the bulging region forms transiently depending on the penetration depth of the weld, showing a tendency to transition from a slight bulging to a fully developed bulging region between penetration depths of 6 mm and 9 mm, respectively.
The spatial laser energy absorption inside the keyhole is decisive for the dynamic molten pool behaviors and the resultant weld properties in high-power laser beam welding (LBW). In this paper, a numerical simulation of the LBW process, considering the 3D transient heat transfer, fluid flow, and keyhole dynamics, is implemented, in which the free surface is tracked by the volume-of-fluid algorithm. The underlying laser-material interactions i.e., the multiple reflections and Fresnel absorption, are considered by an advanced ray-tracing method based on a localized Level-Set strategy and a temperature-dependent absorption coefficient. The laser energy absorption is analyzed from a time-averaged point of view for a better statistical representation. It is found for the first time that a noticeable drop of the time-averaged laser energy absorption occurs at the focus position of the laser beam, and the rest region of the keyhole has relatively homogenous absorbed energy. This unique absorption pattern may lead to a certain keyhole instability and have a strong correlation with the detrimental bulging and narrowing phenomena in the molten pool. The influence of the different focus positions of the laser beam on the keyhole dynamics and molten pool profile is also analyzed and compared. The obtained numerical results are compared with experimental measurements to assure the validity of the proposed model.
The amount of absorbed energy in the keyhole as well as its spatial and temporal distribution is essential to model the laser beam welding process. The recoil pressure, which develops because of the evaporation process induced by the absorbed laser energy at the keyhole wall, is a key determining factor for the macroscopic flow of the molten metal in the weld pool during high-power laser beam welding. Consequently, a realistic implementation of the effect of the laser radiation on the weld metal is crucial to obtain reliable and accurate simulation results.
In this paper, we discuss manyfold different improvements on the laser-material interaction, namely the ray-tracing method, in the numerical simulation of the laser beam welding process. The first improvement relates to locating the exact reflection points in the ray tracing method using a so-called cosine condition in the determination algorithm for the intersection of the reflected rays and the keyhole surface. A second correction refers to the numerical treatment of the Gaussian distribution of the laser beam, whose beam width is defined by a decay of the laser intensity by a factor of 1/e2 thus ignoring around 14 % of the total laser beam energy. In a third step, the changes in the laser radiation distribution in the vertical direction were adapted by using different approximations for the converging and the diverging regions of the laser beam thus mimicking the beam caustic. Finally, a virtual mesh refinement was adopted in the ray tracing routine. The obtained numerical results were validated with experimental measurements.
New developments in nickel-based superalloys and production methods, such as the use of additive manufacturing (AM), can result in innovative designs for turbines. It is crucial to understand how the material behaves during the AM process to advance industrial use of these techniques. An analytical model based on reaction-diffusion formalism is developed to better explain the solidification behavior of the material during laser metal deposition (LMD). The well-known Scheil-Gulliver theory has some drawbacks, such as the assumption of equilibrium at the solid-liquid interface, which is addressed by this method. The solidified fractions under the Scheil model and the pure equilibrium model are calculated using CALPHAD simulations. Differential scanning calorimeter is used to measure the heat flow during the solid-liquid phase transformation, the result of which is further converted to solidified fractions. The analytical model is compared with all the other models for validation.
An accurate and efficient description of the spatial distribution of laser energy is a crucial factor for the modeling of laser material processing, e.g., laser welding, laser cutting, or laser-based additive manufacturing. In this study, a 3D heat transfer and fluid flow model coupled with the volume-of-fluid algorithm for free surface tracking is developed for the simulation of molten pool dynamics in high-power laser beam welding. The underlying laser-material interactions, i.e., the multiple reflections and Fresnel absorption, are considered by a ray-tracing method. Two strategies of free surface reconstruction used in the ray-tracing method are investigated: a typical piecewise linear interface calculation (PLIC)-based method and a novel localized Level-Set method. The PLIC-based method is discrete, resulting in non-continuous free surface reconstruction. In the localized Level-Set method, a continuous free surface is reconstructed, and thus the exact reflection points can be determined. The calculated spatial laser energy distribution and the corresponding molten pool dynamics from the two methods are analyzed and compared. The obtained numerical results are evaluated with experimental measurements to assure the validity of the proposed model. It is found that distinct patterns of the beam multiple reflections are obtained with the different free surface reconstructions, which shows significant influence not only on the molten pool behaviors but also on the localized keyhole dynamics.
This study presents mechanisms of the evolution of a narrowed region in the weld pool center during deep penetration laser beam welding. In numerous numerical studies presented in this study, it was also found that the local reduction of the weld pool size can cause detrimental effects on the melt flow behavior and the resulting properties of the welds. A particularly large influence of this effect was identified in three aspects. Firstly, the local variation of the solidification sequence of the weld pool causes an increase in the hot-cracking susceptibility due to a locally delayed solidification. Secondly, it was proven that a change in the local length and width of the weld pool is associated with an adverse impact on the potential flow routes of the molten material that induces stronger local variations of its solidification. Thus, the element mixing, e.g. during the welding with filler materials, is blocked. This leads to a non-homogeneous chemical composition of the final weld and can cause undesired effects on the final material properties. Finally, another observed effect is related to the reduced ability of process pores to reach the top surface. As this type of porosity is usually produced around the keyhole tip, the change of the fluid flow regime above this area plays a significant role in determining the final path of the pores until the premature solidification in the middle of the weld pool captures them. This study summarizes mainly numerical results which were supported by selected experimental validation results.
Additive manufacturing promises a high potential for the maritime sector. Directed Energy Deposition (DED) in particular offers the opportunity to produce large-volume maritime components like propeller hubs or blades without the need of a costly casting process. The post processing of such components usually generates a large amount of aluminum bronze grinding waste. The aim of the presented project is to develop a sustainable circular AM process chain for maritime components by recycling aluminum bronze grinding waste to be used as raw material to manufacture ship Propellers with a laser-powder DED process. In the present paper, grinding waste is investigated using a dynamic image Analysis system and compared to commercial DED powder. To be able to compare the material quality and to verify DED process parameters, semi-academic sample geometries are manufactured.
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.
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.
In order to reduce weight of vehicles, the interest in multi-material-design has been growing within the last few years. For vehicles the combination of steel and aluminium alloys offers the most promising compromise between weight, strength and formability. Thermal joining of these dissimilar materials is still a challenge to overcome. A possible approach is a new joining technology, whereby a combination of laser beam welding and contactless induced electromagnetic forces are used to displace the generated melt of one joining partner into a notch of the other. This paper presents the working principle and shows numerical analyses to improve the understanding of this joining process. The simulations help to calculate the thermal development of the joining partners, which is important for the formation of intermetallic phases. Furthermore, the calculation of the time required for a complete displacement is possible. The numerical results are validated by experimental results.
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.
Due to the rapid thermal cycles involved in additive manufacturing of metals, high internal stresses and peculiar microstructures occur, which influence the parts mechanical properties. To systematically examine their formation, in-process measurements of the temperature are needed. Since the part emissivity is strongly inhomogeneous and rapidly changing in the process, the applicability of thermography for the determination of thermodynamic temperatures is limited. Measuring the thermal radiation in different wavelengths simultaneously, temperature and emissivity can be separated. Here, we present results of a preliminary study using multispectral thermography to obtain real temperatures and emissivities in directed energy deposition (DED) processes.
The determination of mechanical properties of welded Steel structures such as strength or ductility is a subject of high interest for the majority of Companies in the area of metal Processing. The material Parameters can be obtained by performing the tensile test on the samples made from a part of a component. In some cases, it is highly expensive to produce the tensile specimens especially from the weld metal, which contains different type of microstructure such as weld seam or heat affected zone in an extremely small area. Therefore, a method is described in this paper to determine the material Parameters of high strength Steel structures and welded joints locally and without any additional effort to perform the tensile test. In this method, instrumented indentation technique (IIT), an indenter is pushed on the flat surface of a specimen in a certain period of time and simultaneously the applied force and the corresponding indentation path are measured. The data related to the force-indentation diagram is given as input to an artificial neural network (ANN) to obtain the material Parameters. The ANN can be trained by generating the large qualitative data sets with numerical Simulation of the IIT procedure. The Simulation must be run several times with the different material model parameter sets to generate the numerous
force-indentation diagrams as the inputs of ANN. Then, the trained ANN is validated by performing the IIT on the welded joints and comparing the obtained material Parameters from ANN with the tensile test.
Consequently, the mechanical properties of welded joints can be determined by performing the IIT and evaluating the resulting data by the ANN.
The development of high energy laser sources enables single-pass welds of thick plates up to 30 mm, but often additional materials are needed to influence the properties of the weld seams. However, the homogenous distribution of filler materials in form of e.g. electrodes is only possible up to 7 mm while the elements are only traceable up to a depth of 14 mm. To overcome this problem a two-step process is used where first the edges of the weld partners are coated with the filler material by laser metal deposition (LMD) and afterwards are welded by laser beam. Single-pass welds with electromagnetic weld pool support of 30 mm thick S355 J2+N-plates with austenitic AISI 316L-coatings were investigated as well as the influence of the coatings to the penetration depth of the laser beam without electromagnetic weld pool support in double-sided joints. The weld seams were tested by X-ray inspection and cross sections.
In additive manufacturing (AM) Laser Metal Deposition (LMD), parts are built by welding layers of powder feedstock onto a substrate. Applications for steel powders include forging tools and structural components for various industries. For large parts, the choice of tool-paths influences the build-rate, the part performance and the distortions in a highly geometry-dependent manner. With weld-path lengths in the range of hundreds of meters, a reliable, automated tool path generation is essential for the usability of LMD processes.
In this contribution, automated tool-path generation approaches are shown and their results are discussed for arbitrary geometries. The investigated path strategies are the classical approaches: “Zig-zag-” and “contour-parallel-strategies”. After generation, the tool-paths are automatically formatted into g-code for experimental build-up and ASCII for a numerical simulation model. Finally, the tool paths are discussed in regards to volume-fill, microstructure and porosity for the experimental samples.
This work presents a part of the IGF project 18737N “Welding distortion simulation” (FOSTA P1140)
Because of its excellent corrosion resistance, high tensile strength and high ductility, duplex stainless steel 2205 offers many areas of application. Though laser beam welding accompanied by high cooling rates, duplex steels tend to perform higher ferrite contents in weld metal as the base metal, which leads to a reduction of ductility and corrosion resistance of the weld joint. To overcome this problem, a solution, based on buttering the plate edges by laser metal deposition (LMD) with material containing higher Ni concentrations prior to laser welding was suggested.
In this context different process parameters for LMD process were investigated. In a second step the possibility of welding those edges defect free while achieving balanced austenite-ferrite ratio was verified with metallographic analysis, Electron Backscatter Diffraction (EBSD) and impact testing according to Charpy.
The paper describes a systematic investigation of the EM influenced laser beam welding of the aluminum die casting alloy AlSi12(Fe) in comparison to a reference material, a wrought aluminum alloy AlMg3. By using of a face centred CCD test plan, the influencing variables laser power, welding velocity and magnetic flux density are varied with regard to their influence on the remaining porosity. The global pore fraction of the weld seams was analyzed by X-ray images with ImageJ. This enabled a qualitatively very good regression model to be derived for the respective material, which identifies the dominant influencing variables. The results prove, statistically verified, for the investigated parameter range, that
- the magnetic flux density is the main cause for the porosity reduction,
- the porosity rises with increasing laser power the porosity in the weld seams rises,
- the influence of the welding velocity is negligible,
- the pore quantity in wrought alloy is more strongly minimized by the magnetic flux density than in die casting,
- the porosity decreases due to the EM influence by approx. 70 % compared to the unaffected welds. This effect is emphasized by the contour line charts, which illustrate the relationship between laser power and magnetic flux density.
With the exception of the quadratic influence of B at the wrought alloy, the statistical correlation shows a linear development of the respective influence variables for both aluminum alloys. In order to investigate these deviations, further simulations with a focus on weld pool geometry and weld pool flow are to be performed. In addition, the welding results can be classified in accordance with DIN EN ISO 13919-2 in the highest evaluation group B for AlMg3 and in evaluation group C for AlSi12(Fe) by applying a magnetic flux density of 350 mT. The analysis of the CT images at constant laser power and welding velocity allows a direct comparison both between the two alloys and also as a function of the magnetic flux density with regard to the number and size of pores. An increase in the magnetic flux density leads to a significant decrease in the number and volume of pores, which can be seen more clearly in wrought alloy than in die casting. Very acceptable results can be achieved for both materials and different welding parameters. This successfully demonstrates the desired process robustness and functionality of the EM system for practical applications. For subsequent investigations of overlap joints, the lowest possible laser power and a high magnetic flux density are recommended.
The additional element from the filler wire in the laser beam welding is usually distributed inhomogeneously in the final weld due to the high solidification rate of weld pool. It has been found that the electromagnetic stirring produced by an external oscillating magnetic field can enhance the material mixing in the weld pool to achieve a more uniform element distribution. However, the magnetic field has a highly non-linear and multi-coupled interaction with the weld pool behavior, which makes the quantitative explanation of the physical mechanism difficult. In this study, the effect of electromagnetic stirring on the transport phenomena in the wire feed laser beam welding is investigated by a numerical modelling. A 3D transient multi-physical model considering the magnetohydrodynamics, heat transfer, fluid flow, keyhole dynamics and element transport is developed. The multiple reflections and the Fresnel absorption of the laser on the keyhole wall are calculated using the ray tracing method. The numerical results show that a Lorentz force produced by the oscillating magnetic field and its induced eddy current gives significant influence on the transport phenomena in the molten pool. The forward and downward flow is enhanced by the electromagnetic stirring, which homogenizes the distribution of the additional elements from a nickel-based filler wire in a steel weld pool. The numerical results show a good agreement with the high-speed images of the molten pool, the fusion line from the optical micrograph and the element distribution from the energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy. This work provides a physical base for the electromagnetic-controlled laser beam welding and some guidance for the selection of electromagnetic parameters.
Laser Powder Bed Fusion (L-PBF) is a promising additive manufacturing (AM) technology for metal part production especially for complex and lightweight structures or functional designs. In L PBF processes several by-products including welding plume and its condensates, spatter and ejected powder are generated during laser exposure. Investigations of micro- and nano-sized by-products have received little attention in literature. This study focuses on the analysis of particle emissions in L PBF of 316L stainless steel using a scattered light aerosol spectrometer and a fast mobility particle sizer spectrometer during the process which allows for in-situ analysis of particle sizes in the range of 6 nm to 100 µm. A distinct correlation of emission signals to part position can be revealed. In addition, a significant influence of laser scanning vector directions on emission signals is presented. Furthermore, differing powder layer thicknesses can be recognised by deviations in emission signals.
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.
The geometrical characteristics of the weld end crater are commonly used for the validation of numerical results in welding simulation. A semi-analytical model calculating the cooling stage of the welding process after the moving energy source is turned off has been developed. A solution for various combinations of heat sources and workpieces has been found. The theoretical limits for the heat transfer of the absorbed energy during cooling in a thin plate and a semi-infinite body were studied. It is shown that after turning off the energy source, an additional melting of the base material in longitudinal direction may occur. The developed technique is applied to complete-penetration keyhole laser beam welding of a 2 mm thick austenitic chromium-nickel 316L steel plate at a welding speed of 20 mm/s and a laser power of 2.3 kW. The results show a theoretical increase of the weld end crater length in comparison to the length of the steady-state weld pool of up to 19 %. A shift of the centre of the end crater, in which the solidification of the liquid metal ends, towards the tail of the end crater relative to the axis of the heat source at the time of its termination, was computed. The speed and the direction of crystallization of the molten material in the weld pool and the end crater were found to be different. A good agreement between the computational results and the welding experiments was achieved.
The control of friction and wear is a major concern in many industrial applications. A promising method for a tailored surface modification is the so-called laser implantation technique. This method combines surface texturing and material optimization in one processing step by a localized dispersing of hard ceramic particles using pulsed laser radiation. Wear resistant, protruding micrometric features (implants) with defined geometry can be created in deterministic pattern where needed on highly stressed surfaces, i.e. on forming or cutting tools. However, in order to maintain the implants over the tool’s lifetime, a suitable selection of hard ceramic particles is a prerequisite. They must provide a defect-free Metal Matrix Composite with a high share of homogeneously distributed particles and especially a high implant hardness.
In this study TiN, TiC and TiB2 hard particles were compared as implant materials for the first time. By a systematic variation of the pulse power and pulse duration, their dispersing behavior and influence on the material properties of AISI D2 tool steel was investigated. Although all powder materials had grain sizes smaller than 10 µm, it was possible to disperse them by pulsed laser radiation and to obtain defect-free protruding implants. The highest share of dispersed particles (~64 %) was observed for TiB2. By scanning electron microscopy and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, it was also shown that a significant share of the pre-placed particles was dissolved by the laser beam and precipitated as nanometer sized particles within the matrix during solidification. These in-situ formed particles have a decisive influence on the material properties. While the TiN and TiC implants have shown maximum hardness values of 750 HV1 and 850 HV1, the TiB2 implants have shown the highest hardness values with more than 1600 HV1. By X-ray diffraction, it was possible to ascribe the lower hardness values of TiC and TiN implants to high amounts of retained austenite in the metal matrix. By implanting TiB2, the formation of retained austenite was successfully suppressed due to the in-situ formation of TiC particles, which was proven by electron backscatter diffraction. In conclusion, all the implant materials are basically suitable for laser implantation on AISI D2 tool steel. However, TiB2 has shown the most promising results.
Rapid localized heating and cooling during additive manufacturing using laser deposition method (LMD) lead to loss of dimensional accuracy as well as cracking of built parts. Finite-Element welding simulations allow prediction of geometrical deviations and accumulated residual stresses as well as their optimization before conducting experiments. Due to the great length of stacked welds, calculation times for fully transient thermomechanical simulations are currently long, the calculation stability suffers from the high number of contact bodies in the model and the modelling effort is high, as the geometries need to be sliced and positioned layer-wise.
In this contribution, an integrated modelling approach is demonstrated for a thin-walled LMD component made from 30 layers of 1.4404 (316L) stainless steel: Instead of the layer-by-layer modelling strategy commonly found in the literature, the whole component mesh is kept in one piece and the fully transient, layer-by-layer material deposition is implemented via element sets. In contrast to prior simulations, nonlinear contact between the layers does not have to be considered, significantly decreasing calculation times. The calculated distortions are compared to recently published, in-situ digital image correlation (DIC) measurements as well as numerical simulations conducted with the established layer-wise modelling strategy to judge result quality. Finally, the improvement in calculation time and ease-of-use is compared between both modelling approaches and conclusions regarding future usage for industrial-scale components are drawn.
With global increases in clean energy demand, the natural gas is gaining in importance. Pipelines are the safest and most cost-effective way of transporting natural gas. Due to high transport volume and resulting high operation pressure, the demand for ultra-high strength steel grades such as X120 is very strong. As a result of the fact that these steels are produced by thermo-mechanical controlled processing, the welding process must be selected accordingly. Based on investigations, a high heat input such as by submerged arc welding process leads to softening in the weld metal and loss of strength whereas pure laser beam welding results in high cooling rates and deteriorate toughness of the weld metal. The objective of this research is to investigate the influence of heat input to mechanical properties of hybrid laser-arc welded pipeline steels of grade X120. Test specimens with a thickness of 20 mm could be welded without preheating in a single-pass with different welding velocities to observe the largest possible parameter window of the heat input. The achieved V-notch impact energy for hybrid laser-arc welded samples was 144±37 J at a testing temperature of -40 °C. With a tensile strength of 930±4 MPa the requirements of API 5L was achieved. To prevent gravity drop-outs at the slow welding speeds, an electromagnetic weld pool support system was used, which works contactless and is based on generating Lorentz forces. It was therefore possible to control the cooling rate in order to meet the requirements of the mechanical properties. By adapting the electromagnetic weld pool support to the laser and laser hybrid welding process, the application potential of these technologies for industrial implementation can be drastically increased.
In this paper shortwave infrared (SWIR) thermographic measurements of the manufacturing of thin single-line walls via laser metal deposition (LMD) are presented. As the thermographic camera is mounted fixed to the welding arm, an acceleration sensor was used to assist in reconstructing the spatial position from the predefined welding path. Hereby we could obtain data sets containing the size of the molten pool and the oxide covered areas as functions of the position in the workpiece. Furthermore, the influence of the acquisition wavelength onto the thermograms was investigated in a spectral range from 1250 nm to 1550 nm. All wavelengths turned out to be usable for the in-situ process monitoring of the LMD process. The longer wavelengths are shown to be beneficial for the lower temperature range, while shorter wavelengths show more details within the molten pool.
Results of experimental investigations of the relationship between laser-hybrid welding process parameters, type of the filler metal and the mechanical properties of the welds made from 9% nickel cryogenic steel X8Ni9 are discussed. The results contribute to the development and conversion in the industrial practice a new laser beam-based welding technology for the automated manufacturing of LNG tanks. The remarkable heterogeneity in the chemical composition of the weld metal as well as an insufficient impact toughness could be indicated by using austenitic filler wire. The most promising results were achieved by applying 11%Ni filler wire, which is similar to the base material. A correlation between impact toughness and wire feeding speed could be shown. The highest impact toughness was 134 J at -196°C. The laser-hybrid welds passed the tensile test. The failure stress of 720 MPa with a fracture location in the base metal was achieved for all samples tested.
Single-pass Hybrid Laser Arc Welding of Thick Materials Using Electromagnetic Weld Pool Support
(2019)
Hybrid laser-arc welding process allows single-pass welding of thick materials, provides good quality formation of joints with minimal thermal deformations and a high productivity in comparison with arc-based welding processes. Nevertheless, thick-walled steels with a thickness of 20 mm or more are still multi-pass welded using arc welding processes, due to increased process instability by increasing laser power. One limitation factor is the inadmissible formation of gravity drop-outs at the root. To prevent this, an innovative concept of electromagnetic weld pool support is used in this study. With help of such system a stable welding process can be established for 25 mm thick steel plates and beyond. Sound welds could be obtained which are tolerant to gaps and misalignment of the welded parts. The adaptation of this system to laser and hybrid laser-arc welding process can dramatically increase the potential field of application of these technologies for real industrial implementation.
This work aims to find the thermal cycles during and after fusion welding through simulation by first calculating the resulting local temperature field in the quasi-stationary part of the process. Here complete-penetration keyhole laser beam welding with a laser power of 18 kW on a 15 mm thick slab of a low-alloyed steel at a welding speed of 2 m/min is considered. In order to physically depict the laser material interaction a multi-physics numerical model including the effects of phase transformation, thermo-capillary convection, natural convection and temperature-dependent material properties up to evaporation temperature is developed. It uses a fixed keyhole geometry with a right truncated circular cone shape to introduce the laser beam energy to the workpiece. In a subsequent study, the resulting local temperature field is then used as an equivalent heat source in order to predict the unsteady thermal cycle during and after fusion welding. The translational movement of the laser beam through the workpiece is represented by a moving mesh approach. For the simulation, stationary heat transfer and fluid dynamics are described by a system of strongly coupled partial differential equations. These are solved with the commercial finite element software COMSOL Multiphysics 5.0. The results of the numerical simulation are validated by experiments, where the weld bead shapes and the thermal cycles show good correlation.
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.
Plasma-Transferred-Arc (PTA) welding is a process that enables high deposition rates, but also causes increased thermal load on the component. Laser based Direct Energy Deposition (DED) welding, on the other hand, achieves a high level of precision and thus comparatively low deposition rates, which can lead to high processing costs. Combining laser and arc energy aims to exploit the respective advantages of both technologies.
In this study, different possibilities of this process combination are presented using a PTA system and a 2 kW disk laser. This includes the combination in a common process zone as a highspeed plasma laser cladding technology (HPLC), which achieves process speeds of 10 m/min. Besides that it is being examined whether a pre-running plasma arc can be used to coat difficult-to-weld rail steel with a carbon content of 0.8 % due to a preheating effect. Furthermore, a smoothing of the coating by a plasma arc following the laser is investigated.
The shape of the parts, created by the technology of direct laser metal deposition (DLMD), is influenced by various parameters, for example, the power and diameter of the laser source spot. The contribution of energy from the laser affects the temperature distribution in the formed layers. The changing temperature in the working area entails a Change in the geometry of the layers and affects the stability of the process. In this paper, experiments on the measurement of temperature cycles in the DLMD process with different directions of the filling track are carried out. An infrared camera was used to measure thermal cycles. The calibration of the acquired data (i.e. correspondence table between the intensity of thermal radiation of the material and the absolute temperature) was done with help of two-color pyrometer ex situ and in situ measurements. The experiments are carried out on two materials 316L and Inconel 718. The effect of the maximum temperature on the layer height is shown, and thermal cycles in the formation of layers for different filling strategies are presented.
Additive manufacturing is no longer just used for the production of prototypes but already found its way into the industrial production. However, the fabrication of massive metallic parts with high geometrical complexity is still too time-consuming to be economically viable. The combination of the powder bed-based selective laser melting process (SLM), known for its geometrical freedom and accuracy, and the nozzle-based laser metal deposition process (LMD), known for its high build-up rates, has great potential to reduce the process duration. For the industrial application of the SLM-LMD hybrid process chain it is necessary to investigate the interaction of the processes and its effect on the material properties to guarantee part quality and prevent component failure. Therefore, hybrid components are manufactured and examined before and after the heat treatment regarding the microstructure and the hardness in the SLM-LMD transition zone. The experiments are conducted using the nickel-based alloy Inconel 718.
Over the last years, the weight of modern car bodies has risen significantly due to the increasing customers’ demand for comfort and safety equipment. However, this ongoing trend leads to an increasing fuel consumption and thus to higher carbon dioxide emissions. In order to counteract these problems, hot stamping has been established in the automotive industry as a key technolo-gy for lightweight construction, regarding the manufacturing of safety-relevant car body compo-nents. Hot stamped parts are commonly made out of boron-manganese steel 22MnB5, which is initially austenized and subsequently formed and quenched in one process step. As a result, geo-metrical complex structures with an ultimate tensile strength of 1500 MPa are generated. The surfaces of the workpieces are coated with an Al-Si layer to avoid oxide scale formation and to ensure corrosion protection. However, the coating system leads to an increased adhesive wear on the tool surface due to the high thermo-mechanical tool stresses. Therefore, a time and cost con-suming rework of the hot stamping tools is required. The aim of this study is to increase the tribological performance of hot stamping tools by using a laser implantation process. This tech-nique allows the ma-nufacturing of separated, elevated and dome-shaped microstructures on the tool surface in consequence of a localized dispersing of hard ceramic particles by pulsed laser radiation. The generated surface features offer great potential for reducing the tribological load, due to their high hardness and wear resistance. For this purpose, the friction coefficient of un-modified and laser implanted tool surfaces were examined and compared by using a modified pin-on-disk test. In addition, the surfaces were analyzed by optical measurements in order to quantify the amount of wear.
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.
Laser-Metal-Deposition (LMD) and Plasma-Transferred-Arc (PTA) are well known Technologies which can be used for cladding purposes. The prime objective in combining LMD and PTA as a Hybrid Metal Deposition-Technology (HMD) is to achieve high Deposition rates at low thermal Impact. Possible applications are coatings for wear protection or repair welding for components made of steel. The two energy sources (laser and Plasma arc) build a Joint process Zone and are configurated to constitute a stable process at laser powers between 0.4-1 kW (defocused) and Plasma currents between 75-200 A. Stainless steel 316L serves as filler material. For this HMD process, a Plasma Cu-nozzle is designed and produced by powder bed based Selective Laser Melting. The potential of the HMD Technology is investigated and discussed considering existing process. This paper demonstrates how the interaction of the two energy sources effects the following application-relevant properties: Deposition rate, powder Efficiency and energy Input.
The present research work encloses results of experimental investigations of the interaction between welding process parameters for laser-beam and hybrid-laser-arc as well as type of the filler metal and the achievable mechanical properties of the weld joints on steel grade X8Ni9+QT640 for cryogenic service containing 9% nickel. The results obtained contribute to the development and conversion in the industrial practice a new laser beam-based welding technology for the automated manufacturing of facilities for the liquefaction, storage and the transport of natural gases (LNG facilities). The results show, that the martensitic microstructure of the laser weld metal including low amount of retained austenite not exceeding 3.5% leads to the relatively low V-notch impact energy. The remarkable heterogeneity in the chemical composition of the weld metal through the weld thickness could be recognized in the case of hybrid-laser-arc welding with ERNiCrMo-3 austenitic filler metal, what also led to insufficient impact toughness of the weld metall. The most promising results could be achieved by using 11%Ni filler wire, which is similar to the base metal and provides a homogeneous microstructure with uniform distribution of Ni through the weld seam. It is remarkable, that a correlation between Charpy impact toughness and wire feeding speed and respectively process heat input exists. The highest toughness values were 134±58 J at -196C. The both laser as well as laser-hybrid welds passed the tensile test. The failure stress of 720±3 MPa with a fracture location in the base material was achieved for all samples tested.
The present research work aims at clarification of the effect of the welding electrode type on the mechanical properties of SMA welded joints of 9%Ni steel plates. Properties of produced SMA welded joints were evaluated using different non-destructive and destructive investigation methods. In comparison with the conventionally used Ni-based welding electrode ENiCrMo-3 (AWS A5.11), an experimentally produced non-conventional ferritic welding electrode with 11%Ni (ENi11-Company specification) has resulted in a better combination of the mechanical properties of SMA welded joints of this steel type for critical cryogenic applications. Besides, a positive economic impact for the experimentally produced non-conventional ferritic welding electrode, due to its lower cost, could be another attractive aspect.
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.
Laser Metal Deposition (LMD) as a technology for additive manufacturing allows the production of large components outside of closed working chambers. Industrial applications require a stable process as well as a constant deposition of the filler material in order to ensure uniform volume growth and reproducible mechanical properties. This paper deals with the influence of travel path strategies on temperature profile and material deposition. Meandering and spiral hatching strategies are used in the center as well as in the edge of a specimen. The temperature is measured with thermocouples attatched to the backside of the specimen. The tests are carried out on the materials S235JR and 316L. The results show a strong dependence of the maximum temperatures on the travel path strategy and the welding position on the component.