The investigation of laser beam interaction with aluminum/titanium overlap joint

Abstract

In-situ analysis of dissimilar laser welding in overlap configuration, which finds the most frequent application in industry, attracts an increasing attention of the research community. In the present work, emission spectroscopy and high-speed imaging were used to investigate the vapor plume behavior during a Yb:YAG laser pulse on the overlap joint between pure titanium and aluminum alloy A5754. A 15 ms long laser pulse was applied to the overlap joints, where titanium and then A5754 were placed on the top. Correlation of the obtained results with post-mortem observation of the impact zones and with a finite-element model of the keyhole evolution was performed. The combination of these approaches facilitated the development of a comprehensive phenomenological timelines of the processes, along with an evaluation of the efficacy of the employed online methods to discern the involvement of the bottom material with the melted zone. The considered configurations showed very different behavior: with reflective A5754 placed on top, the use of high laser power produced an intense keyhole propagation in bottom titanium plate, inducing rapid mix between the elements, while with titanium on top, the use of lower laser power produced prolongated keyhole stagnation at the interface with reflective A5754. High-speed imaging showed very fluctuating behavior of the plume, where the involvement of the bottom material was traduced either by a drastic drop of thermal and atomic emission after the keyhole tip enters the bottom A5754 plate, or by strong periodic bursts of Ti-rich jet after the keyhole reaches the bottom titanium plate. The results of emission spectroscopy were found in adequation with the involvement of bottom material into the melted zone, however, they are affected by plume fluctuations and by the pollution of the top plate by volatile elements.