Laser welding for joining of open-cell aluminum foam to solid shell

Laser welding of open-cell aluminum foam and solid shell was performed with the objective of fabricating promising hybrid metallic materials. In this study, a feasibility of laser welding of a solid A6063 aluminum sheet to an open-cell AC2A aluminum foam was investigated. The effects of various laser-welding parameters such as laser power, welding speed, and defocused distance in addition to the pore size of aluminum foam were evaluated in terms of the shear strengths of the welded joints between the aluminum solid sheet and porous plate. Increases in weld joint width (w) and penetration depth (d) were effective to an increase in the tensile shear strength of solid-porous material joint.