Product Code: JLA_14_1_4

Authors:
J. Du
School of Optics, Center for Research and Education in Optics and Lasers, Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Department, University of Central Florida, Orlando, Florida 32816

J. Longobardi
Metal Tech Industries, 525 Lawler Street, Iowa Falls, Iowa 50126

W. P. Latham
Air Force Research Laboratory, Directed Energy Directorate, 3550 Aberdeen Avenue SE, Kirland AFB, New Mexico 87117-5776

A. Kar
School of Optics, Center for Research and Education in Optics and Lasers, Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Department, University of Central Florida, Orlando, Florida 32816

Butt welding is practically difficult for sheet metals as thin as 50–100 μm. A new concept called marginal lap welding is developed in this study to produce continuous and distortion-free welds for such thin sheets. The energy loss due to heat conduction into the clamps becomes significant under this situation, and therefore, the input laser power to produce an effective weld increases. This article investigates the effects of heat loss during marginal lap welding of ultrathin stainless-steel (SS316L) sheets experimentally and theoretically. A mathematical model is developed to calculate the amount of conduction heat loss and the weld geometry. The results show that a smaller clamp gap causes more heat loss into the clamps and generates a narrow heat-affected zone, which is found to be beneficial to the corrosion resistance of the weldment. © 2002 Laser Institute of America.