LASER WELDING USING Nd:YAG

LASERS
Laser is widely used as a thermal source for industrial applications. This
is because of the local treatment, precise operation, and short processing
time. One of the important industrial applications of laser processing is
the laser welding, which offers considerable advantages over the
conventional welding methods. High intensity laser beam melts and
partially evaporates the welded material during the process. Attainment
of high temperature gradient during the heating and cooling periods
results in the development of high thermal stresses in the welding zone.
Once the cooling period ends, the residual stress in the welding zone is
resulted. This, in turn, influences the mechanical performances of the
resulting welds.
The laser used for laser welding here in this study is
.
Nd :YAG laser which is a solid state gain media laser Nd:YAG laser
with its capability of operating in both high power CW and pulsed-modes and
its flexible beam delivery through fibre optics. As for the pulsedmode
Nd:YAG laser, its inherently complicated pulsed laser parameters permits a
wide range of experimental conditions to be applied. The laser also has the
ability of pulse shaping at pulse repetition rates of up to several kilohertz
and with a duration varying from 0.5 to 20 ms. This flexibility gives
control of the thermal input with a precision not previously available.

PROCESS PARAMETERS GOVERNING Nd:YAG LASER

WELDING :

The laser parameters are :

1. PP is the average peak power (kW)
2. EP the pulse energy (J)
3. TP the pulse duration (ms)
 4. PD the average peak power density(kW/m2)
5. A the laser spot area (m2)
6. PM the mean laser power (kW)
7. PRR the pulse repetition rate
8. TF the pulse-to-pulse time (ms)
9. CD the duty cycle
10.Welding frequency/pulse frequency(in Hz).

Here is a detailed tabulation on the range of process parameters involved

in the fabrication of different materials.

TABULATION:
Author Optimum Result/
Year Process Conclusion
Experiment Parameters
Metals
S.P.Gadag Pulse
Frequency-
1-1000 Hz
Due to locally restricted
Characterisation Power of energy input and
of dissimilar high power density, laser
the laser-
joints in laser Tool Steel welding permits a
400 W
welding of tool controlled heat
steel and Distribution and a
aluminium with Pulse minimized interaction of
M.N. and Duration-
pulsed Nd:yag the joining materials.
Srinivasan 1994 laser. 0.2-20 ms Thus, the formation of
brittle inter metallic
Aluminium Pulse phases could be avoided.
Energy-
0-40 W

Rate of
welding-
B.L. 0.35m/min
Mordike

Chengwu Max. output

Yao Power of A complete metallurgical
the laser- bond was obtained at the
15kW interface between the
Beam copper plate and the steel
plate in the present study.
Diameter-
The joint was a slope butt
0.7 mm joint and was obtained by
FIRST focusing the laser beam on
Binshi Xu SPECIMEN the steel side. A copper–
: steel dissimilar joint free of
Copper Thickness- defects and excellent
2001 Interface and 7.0 mm tensile properties was
microstructure
Low Power- obtained.
and mechanical
properties of Carbon 8.0kW
laser welding Steel Penetration-
copper–steel 3.0mm
dissimilar joint. Offset-
0.5mm
Jun Fu Acute angle
at steel
interface-84
degrees

SECOND
SPECIMEN
:
Thickness-
10.0mm
Power-
11.0kW

Penetration-
4.0mm
 Offset-
1.0mm
Acute angle
at steel
interface-85
degrees

Sound welds of Kovar and

tool steel
were produced by laser
Kovar welding with a pulsed
T.A. Mai (Cu-Fe-Ni Pulse Nd:YAG
laser.
Characterisation
alloy) Frequency- It was concluded that
of dissimilar 20 Hz controlling the melting
2004 joints in laser Power of ratio
welding of steel– and the laser- of metals is an important
A.C. kovar 290 W factor for defect-free
Spowage Pulse welding of dissimilar
Tool Steel Duration- 8 metals.
ms
Rate of
welding-
0.3 m/min

Pulse
Chen Frequency-
Characterisation 15 Hz Sound welds of Copper
Liyun of dissimilar and Aluminium
Copper Power of
joints in laser the laser- were produced by laser
welding of welding with a pulsed
275 W
Copper with Nd:YAG
2003 And Pulse
 aluminium Duration-8 laser. Microstructure and
ms Hardness of the weld
Aluminium Rate of obtained was studied in
Teh Kim welding- order to reach to the
150 mm/s conclusion.
Ming
Pulse was
shaped.
Increasing peak power in
Carbon Power of constant pulse energy
M.J. Steel the laser- caused distractive
Torkaman 143 W effect such as spattering,
y Pulse high PIC and crack
propagation inside
Energy-
the weld metal as well as
10J weld/aluminum interface.
Pulse
And Increasing
Dissimilar Frequency- pulse duration caused
welding of 20Hz more heat input per unit
carbon steel to Rate of length and consequently
2009 5754 aluminum Welding- high values of PIC while
alloy by Nd:YAG 11.5 mm/s decreasing pulse duration
pulsed laser Work restricted
Distance- enough melt production
Aluminium
1.5 mm for joining.
S. Peak
Tahamtan power-
1.43 kW
Pulse
Duration-
5 ms

Jose´ Pulsed Nd:YAG AISI 304 Pulse energy

Roberto laser welding of stainless of up to 10 J,
Berretta AISI 304 to AISI steel repetition
 420 stainless (Fe-86.2% rate of up to AISI 420 steel, for any
steels. Ni-0.13% 500Hz, incident laser beam
Cr-13.5%) average position had the highest
power of microhardness value.
100W, peak The position of the laser
power of beam with respect to the
Wagner de 3 kW and joint
Rossi pulse influenced the wt% of the
duration main chemical elements
from 0.2 up (Cr, Ni,
to to 10ms. Fe) in the weld zone but
energy did not interfere with the
(E)=6.0 J, homogeneity of the
average elements in the weld zone.
2006 power
(Pm) =84 W,
Maurı´cio pulse
David
duration (tp)
=7ms and
pulse
frequency
AISI 420 (f) = 14 Hz.
stainless The weld
Steel fillets were
(Fe-71% prepared at a
Ni-9% welding
Martins das
Neves Cr-19%) speed (v) =
300mm/min
and pulse
overlaps of
approximatel
y 30%. Argon
gas was used
at a flow rate
Ivan Alves of 10 l/min.
de Almeida
Zhang Li Butt joint of AISI304L and
 AISI12L13 can be
AISI304L made using a laser-welding
non- Power of technique. The offset and
Autogenous magnetic the laser- the impingement angle of
laser welding of stainless 760 W the laser beam are two key
stainless steel to steel parameters for controlling
Speed of
free-cutting steel the melt ratio of the
1996 for
welding- dissimilar
the manufacture 61.26 mm/s materials in order to avoid
of hydraulic and Focus solidification cracking in
valves. position- the
G. 0.2 mm fusion zone and micro-
Fontana Offset- fissuring in the Heat
0.12 mm to Affected Zone.
AISI304L
AISI12L13 i.e.
free-cutting austenitic
steel tubular stainless
parts, which steel
make up the
main valve
cylinder.
TakashiU Mild Steel Power of The strength of the laser
eda (C-0.18%) the laser- welds is higher than
2000 W both the yield strength of
AISI340L mild steel and the
Welding rupture
strength of Stainless steel
And Speed
Pulsed Nd:YAG under the test conditions
Range-
EisukeSe 2007 laser welding of
1000
adopted in this study. The
Mild Steel to greater mechanical
ntoku mm/min
AISI340 properties
stainless steel. Stainless of the laser welds
steel Pulse demonstrate the beneficial
frequency- effect
1500 Hz of rapid solidification in
Yoshihiro the fusion zone and of a
Wakimur Focus small
setting- HAZ.
127 mm

Nozzle gap-
AkiraHos 1.5 mm
okawa
Nozzle
Diameter-
1.5mm

CONCLUSION :

Joining of dissimilar materials is one of the

challenging tasks facing modern manufacturers. Dissimilar joining
technologies find applications in many sectors including
microelectronics , medical , optoelectronics and microsystems.
The tiny geometry of the joints and the different optical and thermal
properties of the materials makes laser welding one of the most suitable
production methods.The details about each and every process parameter
and the range of process parameters for welding different metals using
Nd:YAG laser has ben studied in detail and a brief summary has been
drawn regarding the papers in which rhe results were published and the
optimum process parameters for different metal fabrication has been
tabulated.