The main characteristic feature of deep penetration laser beam welding is a large temperature difference between the plasma cavity(keyhole)in the weld pool centre and the melting/solidification front.Large temperature gradients in the weld pool result in very intensive thermocapillary(Marangoni)convection.The weld pool surface width becomes very large and unstable.However,an externally applied oscillating magnetic field can stabilize the surface of the melt.In the present work this technology was used to stabilize the weld pool surface in partial penetration 4.4 kW Nd:YAG laser beam welding of AW-5754 aluminium alloy in PA position.An AC magnet was mounted on the laser welding head.The oscillating magnetic field was oriented perpendicular to the welding direction.It was found that the AC magnetic field can drastically reduce the surface roughness of welds.X-ray image analysis shows a drastic reduction of welds porosity.This effect can be explained as a result of electromagnetic rectification of the melt.
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