Product Code: ICA10_1906

Laser Welding: the Spatter Map
Authors:
Alexander F. H. Kaplan, Lulea University of Technolog, Dept. TFM; Lulea Sweden
John Powell, Laser Expertise Ltd.; Nottingham Great Britain
Presented at ICALEO 2010

Spatter is among the main welding defects, causing deposited droplets as well as underfill or craters. Despite several successful measures to suppress spatter and some discoveries on the mechanism, a systematic guideline as well as a closed theory on spatter is missing, but desired. The paper presents several approaches to categorize spatter experiences in a systematic, extendable manner. Some of them where applied for the 46 literature entries found. From high speed imaging quantitative categorization is possible, e.g. of the drop ejection location or the drop kinetics. The Bifurcation Flow Chart, BFC, enables mapping of the trends and mechanisms revealed, combining even very different cases like pulsed and continuous, conduction and keyhole mode welding, or Zn-coating and pollutions. It is hoped that the here presented methods and initial mappings will be applied and continuously extended to once complete the map of and control over spatter.