A Study on Behavior of Materials Under The Influence of Laser Joining

Laser welding will be an important welding process for different applications in aerospace , aircraft , automotive, electronics and other industries, due to its capabilities like minimum heat affected zone, welding of various thicknesses, adoptability to welding of various materials possessing widely varying physical properties like melting point, absorption, reflectivity etc. It utilizes laser source as a non contact heat generation technology to weld different materials so as to achieve welds of high quality narrow width and high penetration depths without the need of filler wires. It may be necessary to understand the effect of process parameters on the weldability of materials for successful welding. Laser welding popularly uses two types of lasers like CO2 and Nd:YAG (neodymium doped yttrium – aluminium – garnet) with different powers. Nd:YAG lasers are used to weld materials of different thicknesses involving powers upto 5 kW. Whereas, CO2 lasers are used for applications which involve higher powers upto 20 kW. Laser welding allows a direct transition from light energy into heat energy. This technique is involved with the process of laser - matter interaction in which various parameters such as pulse energy, pulse duration, spot size, welding speed, laser power, weld width, penetration depth, reflectivity, absorption coefficient, thermodynamic properties etc. are used for analysis. This paper presents a review of the different parameters including process as well as materials on the weldability of various materials like carbon steels, stainless steels, magnesium alloys, aluminium alloys, refractory materials such as vanadium, titanium, zirconium, tantalum etc. The selection of appropriate parameter for welding of specified material is discussed. The prominent weld defects common to the laser welding such as porosity, oxide inclusions, cracking, loss of alloying elements etc., are discussed as related to the microstructure as well as mechanical properties such as hardness, tensile strength and fatigue strength etc.