Improvements of laser weldability of aluminum alloys by laser texturization

Abstract

The application of laser beam welding to aluminum alloys has some complications, mainly due to their high reflectivity, high thermal conductivity and low viscosity. In order to increase the laser absorption of aluminum alloys, some surface treatments has been applied in the literature, such as the application of dark coatings or sandblasting. However, these conventional superficial treatments have some drawbacks, such as the low weld penetration, the possibility to undergo magnesium evaporation and the impossibility to control and/or change the superficial properties of the treated samples. In the present contribution, laser texturization treatments have been performed with a fibber laser for the first time on aluminum alloys to increase their weldability. These textured samples have shown better weldability than reference sandblasted samples.

Numerical modeling and simulation for laser beam welding of ultrafine-grained aluminium

“…In figure 7 shows a photograph of a molten pool under laser action with power P = 1.50 kW and velocity v = 8.3 mm s −1 on an aluminium sample [19]. Good coherence was obtained between the results of the numerical calculations and the actual experiments (see figures 6 and 7).…”

“…The discretization of the sample was performed by hexahedral finite elements DC3D4 without intermediate nodes [19]. In the welding plane, the global size of the elements is 1 mm, and around local compression (the dark area of…”

Joining Technologies for Aluminium Castings—A Review

“…In that wavelength domain, the laser absorption rate for aluminium is a factor of two higher and the laser welding process can be initiated more efficiently. For this reason, direct diode lasers are favourable for aluminium laser welding applications [80][81][82].…”