Melt-pool and keyhole dynamics during thin-plate laser welding of steel

K. Williams; William O'Neill; William M. Steen

doi:10.1117/12.144555

4 May 1993 Melt-pool and keyhole dynamics during thin-plate laser welding of steel

K. Williams, William O'Neill, William M. Steen

Proceedings Volume 1810, 9th International Symposium on Gas Flow and Chemical Lasers; (1993) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.144555
Event: Ninth International Symposium on Gas Flow and Chemical Lasers, 1992, Heraklion, Greece

Abstract

An investigation is made of the melt-pool formed during keyhole welding with a cw CO₂ laser on thin plate mild steel. The aim of the study is to analyze the dynamics of the melt-pool and keyhole in order to provide information on the causes of instabilities found during high speed welding. Such problems found during high speed welding include humping, keyhole failure, and surface tension driven melt-pool instabilities. The effects of varying laser power (2 to 4 kW), traverse speed, shroud gas, gas delivery angle, and plate thickness were studied. The methods used included various high speed camera techniques. Two high speed cameras are used, a high speed video camera at a frame rate of 1,000 frames per second and a high speed gated camera used in conjunction with a frame grabber capable of gate speeds as low as 25 ns and freeze frame multi-imaging. The high speed video system was used to gather information on the gross melt-pool characteristics, e.g., shape, length, width, and any other slow changes present (of the order of 100 Hz). It is hoped by correlating these results with theory that an insight into high speed behavior will be obtained.

Citation Download Citation

K. Williams, William O'Neill, and William M. Steen "Melt-pool and keyhole dynamics during thin-plate laser welding of steel", Proc. SPIE 1810, 9th International Symposium on Gas Flow and Chemical Lasers, (4 May 1993); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.144555

ACCESS THE FULL ARTICLE

INSTITUTIONAL
Select your institution to access the SPIE Digital Library.

SELECT YOUR INSTITUTION

PERSONAL
Sign in with your SPIE account to access your personal subscriptions or to use specific features such as save to my library, sign up for alerts, save searches, etc.

PERSONAL SIGN IN

No SPIE Account? Create one

PURCHASE THIS CONTENT

SUBSCRIBE TO DIGITAL LIBRARY

50 downloads per 1-year subscription

Members: $195

Non-members: $335 ADD TO CART

25 downloads per 1 - year subscription

Members: $145

Non-members: $250 ADD TO CART

PURCHASE SINGLE ARTICLE

Includes PDF, HTML & Video, when available