Product Code: PIC2008_707

Guidance and Stabilisation of Electric Arc Welding using Nd:Yag Laser Radiation
Authors:
Christian Stahlhut, Laser Zentrum Hannover ; Hannover Germany
Jörg Hermsdorf, Laser Zentrum Hannover e.V:; Hannover Germany
Rainer Kling, Laser Zentrum Hannover ; Hannover Germany
Alexander Barroi, Laser Zentrum Hannover E.V.; Hannover Germany
Frank Otte, Laser Zentrum Hannover E. V. ; Hannover Germany
Presented at PICALO 2008

The trend in production industry to lightweight construction using aluminium and high and higher strength steels calls for faster, yet stable production processes. To realise these requirements, we have developed a gas metal arc welding process using laser radiation for guidance and stabilisation (LGS- GMA welding). In previous experiments, guidance and stabilisation of an electric arc using low power Nd:YAG laser radiation has been shown. Basic process parameters for maximization of the conductivity of the electric arc were obtained. First results on bead-on-plate welds with these optimized process parameters have demonstrated a doubling of the welding speed compared with an electric arc process alone. Transferring these results to square butt seams where the filling of the gap or the guidance of the arc is important should lead to a reduction of the heat input into the work piece, resulting in a decreasing distortion of the work piece. The paper will present the development and the experimental results of the LGS-GMA welding process with a higher welding speed on different seam geometries.