INFLUENCE OF LASER WELDING SPEED ON WELD WIDTH, PENETRATION, REINFORCEMENT AND HEAT AFFECTED ZONE

Laser welding is an emerging eco-friendly technology that has a significant potential in industrial applications. Compared to arc welding, laser welding is quicker, more efficient, less energy demanding, more user friendly, while the cost of the equipment has dropped in recent years. In this paper, an attempt was made to determine the dimensions of the weld, weld metal and heat affected zone in order to better understand phenomenons that occur in the process. It was found that the increasing in welding speed has a strong influence on the penetration, reinforcement and heat affected zone, while the width of the weld was not affected. Furthermore, in some specimens, gas inclusions or pores were observed within the weld. There is a strong tendency of the gases to escape, which is evident from the apparent underfill defect in some specimens, that was followed by crystallisation.