Fiber laser spot welding of molybdenum alloy in a hyperbaric environment.

The effect of the growth of ambient pressures on the penetration of laser welded molybdenum (Mo) alloy was explored. It was found that when ambient pressure rose from 0.1 MPa to 1.8 MPa, the penetration of base metal (BM) was significantly reduced, which was only 17% of that obtained under ambient pressure of 0.1 MPa. Moreover, the mechanism underlying the significant reduction of the penetration of BM was analyzed. At first, by using a high-resolution scanning electron microscope (SEM), the size and the number of nano-sized metallic particles generated during laser welding under different ambient pressures were surveyed. Furthermore, the scattering and absorption of the nano-sized metallic particles for laser energy under different ambient pressures were investigated; afterwards, by applying a high-speed camera and a spectrometer, the transient behaviors and spectral signals of plasmas during fiber laser spot welding under different ambient pressures were monitored. On this basis, the inverse bremsstrahlung absorption of plasmas for laser energy under different ambient pressures was explored; finally, fiber laser spot welding test was carried out on glass/metal composite samples under different ambient pressures to survey the influence of the change of ambient pressure on dynamic behaviors of the molten pool during the welding.

Fluid Thermodynamic Simulation of Ti-6Al-4V Alloy in Laser Wire Deposition.

A 3D numerical model of heat transfer and fluid flow of molten pool in the process of laser wire deposition was presented by computational fluid dynamics technique. The simulation results of the deposition morphology were also compared with the experimental results under the condition of liquid bridge transfer mode. Moreover, they showed a good agreement. Considering the effect of recoil pressure, the morphology of the deposit metal obtained by the simulation was similar to the experiment result. Molten metal at the wire tip was peeled off and flowed into the molten pool, and then spread to both sides of the deposition layer under the recoil pressure. In addition, the results of simulation and high-speed charge-coupled device presented that a wedge transition zone, with a length of ∼6 mm, was formed behind the keyhole in the liquid bridge transfer process, where the height of deposited metal decreased gradually. After solidification, metal in the transition zone retained the original melt morphology, resulting in a decrease in the height of the tail of the deposition layer.