Monitoring of solidification crack propagation mechanism in pulsed laser welding of 6082 aluminum

Pulsed laser sources with pulse durations in the millisecond regime can be used for spot welding and seam welding of aluminum. Seam welds are generally produced with several overlapping spot welds. Hot cracking has its origin in the solidification process of individual spot welds which determines the cracking morphology along the seam welding. This study used a monitoring unit to capture the crack geometry within individual spot welds during seam welding to investigate the conditions for initiation, propagation and healing (re-melting) of solidification cracking within overlapping pulsed laser welds. The results suggest that small crack radii and high crack angles with respect to welding direction are favorable conditions for crack healing which leads to crack-free seam welds. Optimized pulse shapes were used to produce butt welds of 0.5 mm thick 6082 aluminum alloys. Tensile tests were performed to investigate the mechanical strength in the as-welded condition.

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