HIGH-POWER LASER WELDING OF AUSTENITIC STAINLESS STEEL WITH ELECTROMAGNETIC CONTROL OF WELD POOL

摘要

Laser deep-penetration welding became a widely applied tool in industrial applications due to available laser power of 20 kW and more for the single-pass welding of steel plates of up to 20 mm thikness. Above a critical limit, liquid metal tends to drop out of the bead due to hydrostatic pressure. Laser welding, in contrast to electron beam welding technique, allows for an electromagnetic manipulation of fluid flow in the weld pool. AC electromagnetic system for compensation of the hydrostatic pressure by induced Lorentz forces in the melt was experimentally and numerically investigated for single-pass full-penetration welding of up to 20 mm thikness austenitic stainless steel plates of grade AISI304. It was shown that the application of 200-234 mT magnetic fields at oscillation frequency of around 2.6 kHz lead to a full compensation of hydrostatic forces in the melt for plate 10-20 mm thick, respectively. Coupled fluid flow, thermal and electromagnetic finite element simulations were done with different applied magnetic flux densities and oscillation frequencies calculating for the optimal magnetic field strength to avoid melt sagging in the weld pool. The simulation results point to a lower magnetic field density needed for that purpose. The reason for that can lie in the magnetic properties of the material not being totally non-ferromagnetic.