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Porosity in fiber laser formation of 5A06 aluminum alloy

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Abstract

The mechanism of porosity formation and its suppression methods in laser formation of aluminum alloy have been studied using a 4kW fiber laser to weld 5A06 aluminum alloy with SAl-Mg5 filler. It was found that the porosity formation is closely related to the stability of the keyhole and fluctuation of the molten pool in the laser welding aluminum alloy. The filling wire increased the instability of the keyhole and weld pool, thus further increasing the amount of gas cavities in the joint. Prefabrication of a suitable gap for the butt joint can provide a natural passage for the flow of the liquid metal, which can weaken, and even completely eliminate the disturbance of the filling wire on the formation of keyhole. The gap can also provide a passage for the escape of the bubble. Thus, this method can greatly decrease the sheet’s susceptibility to porosity. Moreover, for a thin sheet, if the power of the laser is sufficient to form a keyhole with stable penetration through the weld sheet, a weld bead without porosity can also be obtained because closing the keyhole is almost impossible.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Material Science and Engineering, HUST, Wuhan, 430074, China

    Yangchun Yu, Chunming Wang, Xiyuan Hu, Jun Wang & Shengfu Yu

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  1. Yangchun Yu
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  2. Chunming Wang
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  3. Xiyuan Hu
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  4. Jun Wang
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  5. Shengfu Yu
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Correspondence to Chunming Wang.

Additional information

This paper was recommended for publication in revised form by Associate Editor Yong Tae Kim

Yang-chun Yu received his M.A. degree in Material Processing Engineering from Huazhong University of Science and Technology (HUST), China, in 2004. He is currently studying for a PhD at the School of Materials Science and Engineering at HUST in Wuhan, China. His research interests main in laser materials processing.

Chun-ming Wang is an associate professor at the School of Materials Science and Engineering, Huazhong University of Science and Technology (HUST), China. His research interest is laser materials processing. At least 15 of his papers have already published.

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Yu, Y., Wang, C., Hu, X. et al. Porosity in fiber laser formation of 5A06 aluminum alloy. J Mech Sci Technol 24, 1077–1082 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12206-010-0309-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12206-010-0309-4

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