16BME0279 Aritra Guha Ray

• The process can be used to produce welds that meet the hardness requirements.
• This observation was also valid for the situation in which the root weld of a
partially grooved V joint was made using a Nd: YAG-laser, and the upper part of
the joint was filled later using GMAW.
• By using this procedure, test pieces up to 11 mm thick could be welded, in
comparison with the 6 mm maximum limit of former processes.
• When considering welding speed and penetration, it was observed that the
addition of the laser beam to the GMAW arc did not increase the penetration or
welding speed although it has been reported in other studies. One reason for this
is the incidence angle of the laser beam used, 50°. The angle should be
perpendicular to the welding direction in order to increase the penetration and
welding speed.
• The distortion, which was measured from the test pieces, was smaller than that
produced by GMAW alone in material of similar thickness. The main reasons lay
in the use of the I groove for the tests and the nature of the process. It was clearly
seen that by combining GMAW and the laser beam, the groove tolerances
decreased significantly, although maximum allowable air gaps were not studied.
• Despite the fact that guillotine shear cut was used in groove manufacture, only a
few pores were found in the cross sections.

Fig4. Transverse sections of a GMA-weld and

a laser-GMA-hybrid weld
sheet thickness: 8 mm
laser type: Nd:YAG
laser power: ~ 4 kW
welding speed: 2 m/min
shielding gas: 82% Ar / 18% CO2
3. Applications:
The first industrial application of the laser-GMA-hybrid welding process in a
shipyard was realized with a CO2-laser.
At the German shipyard “Kvaerner Warnow Werft” in Rostock (Fig. 5) a common
welding gantry has been refitted with equipment for the Nd: YAG-laser-GMA-hybrid
welding. During the above-mentioned regional research project, the problems
regarding with such a refitting should are solved. The refitting was done after
measuring the dynamical behaviour at the point, were the future hybrid working
head shall be located. The results correlated well with the requirements regarding
to. The first test welds made with the refitted conventional welding gantry also
verified the suitability of the gantry for use with laser technique.