• Journal of Welding and Joining
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• 제28권5호
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• pp.75-79
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• 2010

The Remote welding system(RWS) using $CO_2$ laser equipment has focusable distance of laser beam longer than 800 mm from workpiece and can deflect the laser beam by the scanner mirrors very rapidly. In the case of normal welding system based on robot, there is a limit to move the shortest path in short time and this causes interference between robot and workpiece. On the other hand, RWS is the optimized equipment to get big merits with advanced sequence of welding and short cycle time. However, there is still a pending task such as the control of plasma in the welding process of thick sheets therefore, it requires high power laser beam because of the absence of assist gas equipment in itself. In this study, high-tensile steel plates were overlap welded with $CO_2$ RWS for the production of car body and the influence of penetration depth according to the existence of assist gas was analyzed. Excellent tensile strength with enough width of molten zone independent to penetration depth was observed under welding condition with 3.6 kW laser power and 2.8 m/min welding speed without assist gas. Finally, the proto-type automotive parts were produced by applying the deduced optimal welding condition.

• Journal of Welding and Joining
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• 제24권1호
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• pp.56-63
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• 2006

The characteristics of $CO_2$ or Nd:YAG laser welded 600MPa ade TRIP steel was investigated. He or Ar gas was used as a shield gas in case of $CO_2$ laser welding, but the shield gas was not used in case of Nd:YAG laser welding. Bead on plate welding was performed with various welding conditions. Defects in the joints of both welding type occurred at 1.8m/min but were not observed over the welding speed of 2.1m/min in case of Nd:YAG laser welding. However, porosity occurred in $CO_2$ laser welding and the tendency of decreasing with the increase of welding speed. The hardness was the highest at heat affected zone near fusion zone as well as at the fusion zone and decreased on approaching the base metal. In a perpendicular tensile test to the weld line, all specimens that have been welded at optimum conditions were fractured at the base metal, and the tensile properties showed the rather higher than those of raw material. In a parallel tensile test, the strength of the joints was higher than that of the base metal. Elongation was found to be lower than that of the raw material. Forming height by Erichsen test and elongation were deeply related with the ratio of base metal/weld metal and the maximum hardness of the weld metal. Also porosity induced to decrease the strength and the elongation. The maximum formability was recorded at approximately 80% as compared with that of the raw material with the optimum condition.

• Journal of Welding and Joining
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• 제24권5호
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• pp.49-56
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• 2006

For laser welding in shipbuilding industry, gap bridging capability is one of the most important characteristics to achieve the high productivity and good weld quality. Recently, laser-GMA hybrid welding process is regarded as a distinctive method to overcome the tight gap tolerance with improving the productivity. In this study, the influence of process parameters on the bead formation was experimentally analyzed and the relationship between the process parameters and geometric imperfections was investigated. It was revealed that undercut, excessive weld metal, excessive penetration and incompletely filled groove were the major geometric imperfections. The optimized wire feeding and arc pressure were necessary to ensure the gap bridging ability. The approach to select the process parameters was conducted for butt welding with up to 2mm joint gap, in which the sound weld beads were generated without changing the welding speed.

• Journal of Welding and Joining
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• 제24권1호
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• pp.88-92
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• 2006

Laser-rotating arc hybrid welding was introduced by combining $CO_2$ laser and rotating gas metal arc welding. While the arc rotation enhances the weld pool motion, it reduces the undercut formation which is one of most critical weld defects in the conventional laser-arc hybrid welding. This research investigated the bead characteristics according to the welding parameters such as frequency of rotation, welding voltage, shielding gas composition and interspacing distance between laser and we. The welding parameters were selected to reduce spatter generation and ensure sound weld beads fur bead welding and butt welding with various joint gaps. Gap bridging ability was improved, such that the sound weld beads were achieved for butt joint with up to 2mm joint sap, with no adjustment of CTWD(Contact tip-to-workpiece distance) and electrode diameter.

• 한국레이저가공학회지
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• 제11권2호
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• pp.8-14
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• 2008

Sintered specimen which used for a blade of diamond tool was manufactured in order to verify $CO_2$ laser weldability depend on sintered temperature. Five kind of specimen were prepared and the range of temperature is from $600^{\circ}C$ to $1000^{\circ}C$ at intervals of $100^{\circ}C$. As a result of the sintered density test, the porosity rate appeared in the range of $2.1%{\sim}21.4%$. After welding, the most segments had exceeds the minimum fracture stress (600MPa, The Standard Safety of Europe) at the welding strength test except on the sintered at $600^{\circ}C$. In case of the sintered at $700^{\circ}C$, even satisfied the safety allowable stress but cannot get the good quality for bead appearance because of humping defect. In the conclusion, we could know that it showed not only relatively soundness bead but also enough welding strength when the sintered blade of diamond tool is included less than 4% of porosity rate.

• Journal of Advanced Marine Engineering and Technology
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• 제26권4호
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• pp.464-471
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• 2002

Porosity formation in partial penetration welds by high power lasers is a serious problem in industry. There are two main causes that induce porosity formation. One form of porosity is due to gases (e.g. hydrogen, oxygen) dissolving into the weld pool because of the high temperature and then the rapid solidification traps gases as a bubble in the weld metal. The second problem is voids formed by the keyhole collapsing due to unstable keyhole fluid dynamics. The voids that form at the bottom of the keyhole are relatively large and irregular in shape compared to the gas bubbles; this void formation is the primary concern in this paper. The reduction of voids formed by keyhole collapse is achieved by improving the stability of keyhole. Two methods to improve keyhole stability are discussed in this paper: pulse modulation and beam incident angle. Pulse modulation of the laser beam was performed between 100 Hz and 500 Hz to find out the optimum frequency for the keyhole dynamics. The incident beam angle changed the impact angle of the laser beam to the work surface in a range of 0 to 25 degrees. Glycerin in a semi-solidified state is used as a medium for performing the welding because its transparency allows of visualization of the keyhole.

• Journal of Welding and Joining
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• 제20권3호
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• pp.109-115
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• 2002

In this study high power Nd:YAG laser welding of structural steel was investigated. For the test steel blocks of $50{\times}50{\times}200mm$ were cut and machined, and bead-on-plate weld was made on the machined surface. Argon, nitrogen, helium, dry air or mixed gases were used to find the effect of shielding conditions on the bead formation. Results demonstrated that there were Fe I rich region and Fe II rich region in the laser induced plasma column based on the spectral analysis with S-2000 field spectrometer The Fe I region was located at the root of the column near keyhole opening. On the other hand, Fe II region was found at the middle of the plasma column. In the Nd:YAG laser welding, Fe I region emitted continuum which had peak value at wave length of around 710nm, and Fe II region had the peak at 580nm. In the welding of steel by $CO_2$ laser, however, no continuum was observed. There showed two groups of strong spikes in the $CO_2$ laser welding; the first group was displayed at the wave band of 450-560nm. This spike group emitted stronger intensity of light and sharper peaks than those group at 680-800nm.

• Journal of Welding and Joining
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• 제13권4호
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• pp.113-121
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• 1995

This study deals with the quality and the optimum range of laser cutting process. Cold rolled steel sheets for automobile application were cut by a high power CO$_{2}$ laser system with beam quality of TEM$_{\infty}$ mode. Both process parameters such as travel speed and assist gas pressure, and quality factors were considered to optimize the laser cutting. It was revealed that the thinner the sheet thickness, the less effect of oxidation energy for contributing the cutting process. High speed photographs demonstrated that molten spot on the cut surface moved in a random and vigorous manner according to its viscosity and the flowing direction of assist gas, which resulted in so called striation. Laser cutting produced a very smooth surface of average roughness(Ra) about less than 1.5.mu.m at the optimum range. It was also shown that the characteristics of dross formation was influenced by the flowing durection of assist gas and the fluidity of molten metal drop..

• Journal of Welding and Joining
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• 제13권3호
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• pp.96-105
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• 1995

An advantage offered by brazing over fusion welding is that strong joints may be produced at relatively low heat input. To minimize the thermal effects and maintain the desired dimension of assemblies. the CO$_{2}$ laser beam can be applied to the brazed joint of pin and plate as a micro heat source. This paper presents a analysis model of the laser brazing process considering the laser beam mode and heat flow in brazed parts by using the finite element method. The simulation results were compared with the experimental results obtained from the infrared temperature sensing system. Based on these results, the proper process parameters were investigated to get a good joining quality. The influence of the beam mode change was examined with respect to the temperature distribution and joint quality.

• 한국재료학회지
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• 제14권1호
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• pp.1-8
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• 2004

Laser weldability of aluminized steels for deep drawing application has been investigated. Test coupons for Nd:YAG laser welding and $CO_2$ laser welding were prepared trom the commercial steels. According to the test results, total penetration and back bead width of aluminized steels were sensitive to the welding conditions. Bead width at the half thickness of the overlap joint, however, was rather constant. Laser weldability of aluminized steels was superior to that of zinc coated steel. Weld microstructure revealed that overlap zone adjacent to the fusion line was filled with coated materials, which was thought to be desirable to protect weld from crevice corrosion. The aluminum coated materials was also found in the weld metal. Practically no spattering was observed in the laser welding of aluminized steels even when the welding was performed without joint gap. In the welding of zinc coated steel, however, spattering was so severe that it was difficult to get the acceptable weld. Bead quality of aluminized steel laser weld was smooth and stable.