Product Code: ICA13_905

Hybrid Laser Welding of Single Sided Fully Penetrated Fillet Welds
Authors:
Wojciech Suder, Cranfield University; Cranfield Great Britain
Josef Camilleri, Cranfield University; Cranfield Great Britain
Stewart Williams, Cranfield University; Cranfield Great Britain
Presented at ICALEO 2013

Fillet welds are inherent part of large structures in shipbuilding industry, where distortion is a major issue. Hybrid laser welding enables fully penetrated fillet welds to be achieved with a lower energy than arc-based welding processes. This has significant effect on increase of productivity, decrease of distortion and reduction of weight. To achieve defects-free welds with good fatigue life it is necessary to control the weld profile, particularly in fully penetrated welds. In this work a detailed study of the key forces determining the profile and the fatigue life of hybrid fillet welds has been carried out. The effect of laser and MIG parameters, such as the laser power density, MIG current and voltage and processing angles of both sources on the weld bead profile has been investigated. The results indicate that the weld profile in fully penetrated fillet joints is a net result of the amount of deposited material by the MIG source, the energy distribution of the laser and the pressure of the laser-induced vapor and the electromagnetic force of the MIG. By changing the balance between the deposited material and the net pressure that transports it to the back side, the weld profile can be tailored for a particular application.