Special features of the formation of welded joints in vertical laser-arc welding of low-alloy steels

ABSTRACT

Investigations were carried out into the special features of the technology of vertical laser-arc welding of large structures made of high-strength and low-alloy steels with a variable welding gap and a large root face.

The parameters of the conditions of vertical laser-arc welding of root passes in the low-alloy steel 30–40 mm thick with a root face of 10 mm (welding speed, the amplitude and frequency of transverse oscillations, the intensity of welding current, arc voltage, laser radiation power) resulting in the formation of high-quality welded joints are determined. The experimental results show that the laser radiation power, required for producing continuous penetration of the root face, depends on the thickness of the parent metal: for the metal thickness of 14–30 mm the sufficient laser radiation power is 3.8 kW, for a thickness of 40 mm it is no less than 4.6 kW to penetrate a depth of 5 mm.

The welded joints have a fine-dispersed acicular structure of the martensitic – bainitic type. The experimental results were used to develop a technology of welding of low-alloy steels of different thickness using robotic equipment.

KEYWORDS:

• laser-arc welding
• hybrid welding
• LS-10
• microstructure
• needle structures
• high-strength steel
• welding in protective gas

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