Abstract
Laser beam welding is increasingly being used in welding of structural steels. The laser welding process is one of the most advanced manufacturing technologies owing to its high speed and deep penetration. The thermal cycles associated with laser welding are generally much faster than those involved in conventional arc welding processes, leading to a rather small weld zone. Experiments are performed for 304 stainless steel plates changing several process parameters such as laser power, welding speed, shielding gas flow rate, presence of surface pollution, with fixed or variable gap and misalignment between the similar and dissimilar plates, etc. The following conclusions can be drawn that laser power and welding speed have a pronounced effect on size and shape of the fusion zone. Increase in welding speed resulted in an increase in weld depth/ aspect ratio and hence a decrease in the fusion zone size. The penetration depth increased with the increase in laser power.
