Effects of sinusoidal oscillating laser beam on weld formation, melt flow and grain structure during aluminum alloys lap welding

A numerical model of 1.5 mm 6061/5182 aluminum alloys thin sheets lap joints under laser sinusoidal oscillation (sine) welding and laser welding (SLW) weld was developed to simulate temperature distribution and melt flow. Unlike the common energy distribution of SLW, the sinusoidal oscillation of laser beam greatly homogenized the energy distribution and reduced the energy peak. The energy peaks were located at both sides of the sine weld, resulting in the tooth-shaped sectional formation. This paper illustrated the effect of the temperature gradient (G) and solidification rate (R) on the solidification microstructure by simulation. Results indicated that the center of the sine weld had a wider area with low G/R, promoting the formation of a wider equiaxed grain zone, and the columnar grains were slenderer because of greater GR. The porosity-free and non-penetration welds were obtained by the laser sinusoidal oscillation. The reasons were that the molten pool volume was enlarged, the volume proportion of keyhole was reduced and the turbulence in the molten pool was gentled, which was observed by the high-speed imaging and simulation results of melt flow. The tensile test of both welds showed a tensile fracture form along the fusion line, and the tensile strength of sine weld was significantly better than that of the SLW weld. This was because that the wider equiaxed grain area reduced the tendency of cracks and the finer grain size close to the fracture location. Defect-free and excellent welds are of great significance to the new energy vehicles industry.

Automated summary

This study developed a numerical model to simulate the temperature distribution and melt flow in lap joints of 1.5 mm 6061/5182 aluminum alloys thin sheets under laser sinusoidal oscillation welding. The results showed that the sinusoidal oscillation homogenized energy distribution and reduced energy peak, resulting in tooth-shaped sectional formation. The laser sinusoidal oscillation produced defect-free welds with improved tensile strength compared to traditional SLW welds, mainly due to the wider equiaxed grain area and finer grain size.