Investigation and Optimization of Laser Welding of Ti-6Al-4V Titanium Alloy Plates

Abstract

Titanium alloys are employed for several applications, ranging from aerospace to medicine. In particular, Ti-6Al-4V is the most common, thanks to an excellent combination of low density, high specific strength and corrosion resistance. Laser welding has been increasingly considered as an alternative to traditional techniques to join titanium alloys. An increase in penetration depth and a reduction of possible welding defects is achieved indeed; moreover a smaller grain size in the fused zone is benefited in comparison to either TIG and plasma arc welding, thus providing an increase in the tensile strength of the welded structures. The aim of this work is to develop the regression model for a number of responses which are crucial for the feature of the joint. The study was carried out on 3 mm thick Ti-6Al-4V plates; a square butt welding configuration was considered employing a disk-laser source. A 3-level factorial plan was hence arranged in a face-centred cubic scheme. The responses were analyzed referring to the governing parameters. Then, an optimization was carried out via statistical tools, in order to find the optimal welding set-up for the alloy under examination.

Autogenous Laser Welding of AA 2024 Aluminium Alloy: Process Issues and Bead Features

“…Special care is normally required for nozzle positioning and geometry for gas supply. The authors designed and patented a specific device to be conveniently adapted according to the joint configuration and the base metal to be welded [10,11,24]. Although argon normally provides an ideal compromise between effectiveness and economic needs in industrial environments, it has been proven [17] to worsen the overall absorptance when considered for aluminium alloys.…”

“…Welds with high aspect ratio are produced with lower heat input compared with conventional arc-welding; higher productivity and lower distortion are benefited [9,4,3]. Nevertheless, specific issues must be addressed depending on the material to be welded with special care for models to predict and classify any welding imperfection [10,11,12]. For instance, laser welding of aluminium alloys is hindered by reflectivity, high thermal conductivity and excessive fluidity, as well as affected by significant tendency to pore formation [3,13].…”

Ytterbium fiber laser welding of Ti6Al4V alloy

“…These lasers can be used in a diversity of materials as the low wavelength allows absorption by almost all metals and alloys [11]. As demonstrated by Caiazzo et al, an appreciable improvement in seam quality was also achieved by adopting disk laser source [12]. In spite of the above mentioned benefits, laser welding requires low gap tolerance and accurate alignment of the pieces.…”

Multi-pass Route Planning for Thick Steel Plate Using Laser Welding with Filler Wire

“…Laser welding process is now much used for different kinds of industry like aviation, navigation as a high-energy beam welding process due to its stable and focusing energy input and high productivity [1]. Compared to conventional welding process, its higher heating and cooling rate can cause less distortion thus providing a more satisfied work [2,3].…”