Numerical investigation of asymmetric weld fusion geometry in laser welding of aluminium alloy with beam oscillation

Abstract

In this work, the asymmetric weld fusion geometry in oscillating laser beam welding (OLBW) of aluminium alloy was reported and investigated using a numerical approach. A multi-physics heat transfer and fluid flow model of OLBW was developed and validated with the corresponding experimental results. The weld fusion geometry, temperature fields, and fluid flow behaviours for four commonly used oscillation modes, line, circle, eight, and infinity, were calculated to analyse the origin of the asymmetric weld fusion geometry. The results show the asymmetry of local heat input along beam travelling path and the fluid flow pattern in the molten pool are the main factors that result in the asymmetric weld fusion geometry in OLBW.

KEYWORDS:

• Laser beam welding
• beam oscillation
• fusion zone geometry
• temperature field
• fluid flow

Acknowledgement

Dr Meng Jiang thanks Dr Tuhin Mukherjee (The Pennsylvania State University) for his helpful feedback on the manuscript.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China [grant number 52105328]; the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation [grant number 2021M700990]; Heilongjiang Provincial Key Program of Engineering Science and Technology [grant number 2020ZX03A01]; the Heilongjiang Provincial Postdoctoral Science Foundation [grant number LBH-Z20143].