Thermo-Mechanical Analysis of CO_2 Laser Butt Welding on AISI 304 Steel Thin Plates

摘要

In this present study both numerical and experimental investigations of CO2 laser butt welding on thin AISI 304 Steel sheet were carried out. A 3D numerical model was established using Finite Element Method for determining the weld induced transient thermal history, residual stresses and residual deformation. The finite element software package ANSYS-14.5 was used to develop this present model. In this model temperature dependent thermo-mechanical properties of AISI 304 steel were considered. The element birth and death technique was used to simulate the welding joint. The weld bead geometry was also incorporated in this present study. Appropriate APDL macros were developed to simulate the situation of a moving volumetric heat source and transient elasto-plastic thermos-mechanical analysis. The numerical results were validated by experimentally obtained results. The FE model compared well with those of the experimental results.