Effects of laser-induced plume in high-power fiber laser welding with long-focal-distance focusing optics

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Effects of laser-induced plume in high-power fiber laser welding with long-focal-distance focusing optics

Kawahito, Yousuke / Oiwa, Shinpei / Mizutani, Masami / Katayama, Seiji

High power fiber lasers of high beam quality have been developed, and remote welding with a high-power fiber laser has been expected to be one of new high-speed welding procedures in automobile industries. In particular a long-focal-distance focusing optics is beneficial to the welding of a wide area. However, features and effects of a laser-induced plume in such welding process are not fully understood. Therefore, the study was undertaken to investigate weld penetration characteristics with or without removal of a laser-induced plume, to clarify welding phenomena and to develop a stable welding procedure in 4 kW high-power fiber laser welding of a 1.5 mm-thick zinc-coated steel sheet using the focusing optics with a lens of 1,250 mm in focal length. The welds obtained at the focal position without removal of the plume were so unstable that the full penetrations were changed to partial penetrations during laser welding. To fundamentally understand the remote welding phenomena, refractive-index distribution above the laser-irradiated area was visualized by the Michelson interference method. The observation results of fringe patters through a high-speed video camera demonstrated that the incident laser beam was defocused and refracted by a wide formation range and complicated behavior of small refractive-index values derived from the high-temperature metal vapor of the plume, leading to the formation of an unstable penetration weld. It was also confirmed that the removal of the laser-induced plume and the corresponding widespread field of low refractive-index values by using a fan was essential to the stable production of fully-penetrated welds in the high-power fiber laser remote welding with the long-focal-distance focusing optics.