Heat sources’ interaction in hybrid laser welding

Despite the unparallel advantages of laser welding vis-à-vis high precision and productivity, low absorption of the laser by several materials limits its use in welding. The limitation can be overcome by hybridizing the laser with other heat sources, e.g., with welding arc or laser itself. To this end, the detailed insight of arc-laser and laser-laser interaction is not available. The project aims to divulge the heat sources’ interaction in laser-arc and self-hybridized dual fibre welding processes through capturing and analysis of in-situ signals. The project focuses on dissimilar lightweight materials and difficult to weld materials by conventional laser welding, e.g. copper alloys. The complexity associated with a higher number of process parameters in the hybrid laser is addressed with the use of data processing and soft computation techniques. In-depth understanding of the process, when transferred to the end-users and designers, is expected to enable them select technologies and monitoring tools, and thereby develop process windows for the materials that are still difficult-to-weld by conventional laser welding.

Keywords:Laser, Welding, Monitoring

Disciplines:Manufacturing processes, methods and technologies