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Formation, microstructure, and mechanical properties of oscillating laser-welded joints of 8-mm 304 stainless steel

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Abstract

Oscillating laser could improve the welding stability and eliminate defects compared to the conventional laser welding. In this paper, the butt joints of 304 stainless steel with 8 mm thickness were made by oscillation laser welding. The relationship between the oscillating parameters, energy distribution, flow dynamics, formation, microstructure, and mechanical properties were established. The results showed that the oscillation amplitude largely affected energy density and size of the melt pool, while oscillation frequency had a notable effect on trajectory line energy and stability of the keyhole. Defects including collapse, spatters, and pores emerged when inappropriate oscillation parameters were used. Increased amplitude (0.9 to 1.5 mm) to reduce the spatter generation and lower frequency (300 to 100 Hz) to reduce the porosity of the weld (2.1 to 0.2%). Differences of the microstructure of the weld zone at different oscillation parameters were small owing to homogenization of temperature field and similarity of the thermal cycling profiles which leaded to a consistent process of structure evolution. Unequilibrium solidification processes in the molten pool increase dislocation density in the weld zone, resulted in welded joint with higher yield strengths than the base metal. On the other hand, tensile strength of the joint was little lower than that of base metal due to porosity defects. Under oscillation parameters of 1.5 mm–100 Hz, tensile strength of the welded joints reached 99.7% of base metal, and yield strength increased by 8.7% compared to the base material, indicating an acceptable welding quality.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to express our deep gratitude to the Analysis and Test Center of HUST (Huazhong University of Science and Technology), the State Key Laboratory of Material Processing and Die & Mould Technology and the State Key Laboratory of Digital Manufacturing Equipment & Technology of HUST, for their friendly cooperation.

Funding

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 52105338 and No. 52188102).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Digital Manufacturing Equipment & Technology, School of Mechanical Science and Engineering, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, 430074, Hubei, China

    Peikang Tao & Yu Huang

  2. State Key Laboratory of Material Processing and Die & Mould Technology, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, 430074, Hubei, China

    Chunming Wang, Gaoyang Mi & Xiong Zhang

  3. State Key Laboratory of Ultra-Precision Machining Technology, Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong SAR, China

    Xiong Zhang

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  1. Peikang Tao
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Contributions

All authors contributed to the study’s conception and design. Peikang Tao: methodology, writing—original draft preparation, data curation, visualization. Xiong Zhang: conceptualization, methodology, writing review and editing, project management. Chunming Wang: methodology and materials. Gaoyang Mi: conceptualization, methodology. Yu Huang: writing review and editing. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Xiong Zhang.

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Tao, P., Wang, C., Mi, G. et al. Formation, microstructure, and mechanical properties of oscillating laser-welded joints of 8-mm 304 stainless steel. Int J Adv Manuf Technol 130, 2899–2913 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00170-023-12868-y

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