National Institute of Technology, Trichy

N. Siva Shanmugam, Department of Mechanical Engineering

FINITE ELEMENT SIMULATION OF
THE TEMPERATURE AND BEAD
PROFILES OF T-JOINT LASER WELDS
16.11.2011 1
N. Siva Shanmugam
1*
, G. Buvanashekaran
2
and K. Sankaranarayanasamy
1
1
Department of Mechanical Engineering, National Institute of Technology,
Tiruchirappalli 620 015, Tamil Nadu, India.
2
Welding Research Institute, Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited,
Tiruchirappalli 620 014, Tamil Nadu, India.
National Institute of Technology, Trichy
N. Siva Shanmugam, Department of Mechanical Engineering
16.11.2011 2
The laser welding is a keyhole welding process having
concentrated heat input. To obtain the required weld profile and
quality of weld, correct process parameters have to be selected.
Laser beam
Keyhole
Base material
Plasma
Melt pool
Input Parameters
Output Parameters
Beam power
Welding speed
Beam Angle
Spot Diameter
Exposure time
Bead width
Depth of
penetration
Schematic representation of key hole welding
Laser Beam Welding
National Institute of Technology, Trichy
N. Siva Shanmugam, Department of Mechanical Engineering
16.11.2011 3
The Heat developed during welding process intermittently
interacts with the work piece over very short time intervals,
resulting in very rapid heating and cooling cycles.
The weld bead is the product of a number of overlapping spot
welds, and every point in the weld area experiences a complex
series of thermal cycles during the passage of the welding heat
source.
This complexity implies that analytical modeling techniques are
almost impossible.
The Finite Element Modeling, therefore, is the preferred
option, although the analysis requires a very large number of
small time steps.
WHY FEM ?
National Institute of Technology, Trichy
N. Siva Shanmugam, Department of Mechanical Engineering
16.11.2011 4

Laser head
Cross jet
Work table
Shielding gas
Exhaust
Fibre Optic
Cable
Cross slide
CCTV
2kW Nd:YAG laser welding system at
WRI
Power Source
Computer Numerical Controlled
welding system
National Institute of Technology, Trichy
N. Siva Shanmugam, Department of Mechanical Engineering
Material for Experimentation SS304
The alloy 304 is a general-purpose austenitic stainless steel
The melting point of stainless steel ranges from 1400 to 1455
o
C.
Chemical Composition of AISI 304 Stainless Steel
16.11.2011 5
Component C Cr Fe Mn Ni P S Si
Wt. % 0.055 18.28 66.34 1.00 8.48 0.029 0.005 0.6
National Institute of Technology, Trichy
N. Siva Shanmugam, Department of Mechanical Engineering
16.11.2011 6
Flow Diagram
Laser Welding
Simulation
National Institute of Technology, Trichy
N. Siva Shanmugam, Department of Mechanical Engineering
where
(x,y,z) = coordinate system attached to the heat source
q
v
= power generation per unit volume in the domain D (W m
3
)
k
x
, k
y
, k
z
= thermal conductivity in the x, y and z directions (W m
1
K
1
)
C
p
= specific heat capacity (J kg
1
K
1
)
= density (kg m
3
)
t = time (s)
v
w
= velocity of workpiece (m s
1
)
( ) z y x q
z
T
k
z y
T
k
y x
T
k
x y
T
v
t
T
C
v w p
, , ) ( +
|
.
|

\
|
c
c
c
c
+
|
|
.
|

\
|
c
c
c
c
+
|
.
|

\
|
c
c
c
c
=
(

c
c
+
c
c

Mathematical Description of the Model

16.11.2011 7
National Institute of Technology, Trichy
N. Siva Shanmugam, Department of Mechanical Engineering
|
|
.
|

\
|

=
2
0
2
0
3
exp
r
r
Q Q
r
2
1
2 2
) ( y x + = r
) /( ) ( * ) (
0 i e e i e e
z z z z r r r r =
,
Q
r
is the source intensity,
Q
0
is the maximum source intensity,
r
e
is the (x,y) parameter of Gaussian curve in the upper plane at z=z
e
,
r
i
is the (x,y) parameter of Gaussian curve in the lower plane at z=z
i
.
3D Conical Gaussian heat source model
16.11.2011 8
National Institute of Technology, Trichy
N. Siva Shanmugam, Department of Mechanical Engineering
Heat Input Calculation
where Q
keyhole
is the absorbed laser beam power (75%), r
0
is the
average keyhole radius, H is the plate thickness, r is the current
radius, i.e. the distance from the cone axis and z is the current
depth.
Where q is the maximum heat flux per unit area and R is the
heat source effective radius (R = 2r
0
, r
o
is the average
keyhole radius, about 0.3mm).
Surface
Volume
|
|
.
|

\
|
+
=
2
2 2
0
) ( 3
exp ) , (
R
y x
q y x q
2
0
3
R
Q
q
top
t
=
top
Q is a power of the plane heat source (25%)
|
.
|

\
|
=
|
.
|

\
|

h
z
e
h r
Q
z q
r
r
keyhole
1
2
) (
2
0
1
2
0
t
v
q
is a Volumetric heat source
h
16.11.2011 9
H. Du, L. Hu, J. Liu and X. Hu, A study on the metal flow in full penetration laser beam welding for
titanium alloy, Journal of Computational Materials Science, 29, 2004, pp. 419-427.
National Institute of Technology, Trichy
N. Siva Shanmugam, Department of Mechanical Engineering
The initial condition is
The essential boundary condition is
Boundary Conditions
( ) ( ) z y x T t z x T , , , , 0 ,
0
=
( ) ( ) z y x T z y x T , , 0 , , ,
0
=
on the boundary S
1
. This condition prescribes
nodal temperatures at the inlet surface S
1
.
16.11.2011 10
National Institute of Technology, Trichy
N. Siva Shanmugam, Department of Mechanical Engineering
( ) ( ) 0
4
0
4
0
= + +
c
c
T T T T h q
n
T
k
n
oc
Boundary Conditions
The natural boundary conditions can be defined by
n
k
q
h
o
c
0
T
where
is thermal conductivity normal to the surface (W/m K)
is prescribed heat flux (W/m
2
)
(varies with beampower, welding speed and beamincident angle)
is heat transfer coefficient for convection (W/m
2
K)
is Stefan-Boltzmann constant for radiation (5.67 x 10
-8
W/m
2
K
4
)
is emissivity
is ambient temperature (K)
on the boundary S
2
.
16.11.2011 11
National Institute of Technology, Trichy
N. Siva Shanmugam, Department of Mechanical Engineering
Heat Input to FEM
A three Dimensional Conical Gaussian Heat
Source Model
T - Joint
16.11.2011 12
National Institute of Technology, Trichy
N. Siva Shanmugam, Department of Mechanical Engineering
Thermal material properties namely conductivity, specific heat, density are
temperature dependent
The latent heat of fusion is considered by the enthalpy of material for the
calculation of phase change
The physical phenomena like viscous fore, buoyancy force, convective melt
flowand Marangoni effects are neglected
It is also assumed that, the absorbed laser energy is considered as 69.3%of
the laser power as proposed by Xie and Kar.
The assumptions made in this investigation are:
16.11.2011 13
Ref: Xie J, Kar A. Laser Welding of Thin Sheet Steel with Surface Oxidation. Welding Research
Supplement 1999; 78:343s 348s
National Institute of Technology, Trichy
N. Siva Shanmugam, Department of Mechanical Engineering
16.11.2011 14
Sl.
No.
Beam
Power
(BP), Watts
Welding
speed
(WS),
mm/min
Beam
Angle
(BA), deg.
Focal Length
(F), mm
1 1000 500 30
160 2 1250 600 45
3 1500 700 60
Laser Welding Parameters
Three input laser parameters namely laser beam power, welding speed and
beamincident angle varied at three levels resulting in 3
3
= 27 welding trials.
The experimental trials are conducted based on full factorial design.
National Institute of Technology, Trichy
N. Siva Shanmugam, Department of Mechanical Engineering
16.11.2011 15
Schematic representation of laser
welding process for T-joint specimen
National Institute of Technology, Trichy
N. Siva Shanmugam, Department of Mechanical Engineering
16.11.2011 16
T-joint laser weld
Beam power -1250 W, welding speed 500 mm/min, beam angle 30
o
National Institute of Technology, Trichy
N. Siva Shanmugam, Department of Mechanical Engineering
16.11.2011 17
Experimental Work
Cross sectional views of 1.6 mm thick T joint specimen welded with (a)
60
o
, (b) 30
o
and (c) 45
o
beam angles on both sides of the stiffener
Beam power 1250 W,
welding speed 500 mm/min
Partial Penetration
Partial Penetration
National Institute of Technology, Trichy
N. Siva Shanmugam, Department of Mechanical Engineering
16.11.2011 18
Physical Model of T-joint configuration
National Institute of Technology, Trichy
N. Siva Shanmugam, Department of Mechanical Engineering
Finite Element Model
2D
3D
T Joint
16.11.2011 19
National Institute of Technology, Trichy
N. Siva Shanmugam, Department of Mechanical Engineering
16.11.2011 20
The temperature distribution during laser
welding process at various time steps
Beam power -1250 W, welding speed 500 mm/min, beam angle 30
o
National Institute of Technology, Trichy
N. Siva Shanmugam, Department of Mechanical Engineering
Weld pool shape between (a) Experimental investigation and
(b) finite element simulation
(a) (b)
Comparison Exp. Vs. FEM
T Joint
16.11.2011 21
Beam power -1250 W,
welding speed 500 mm/min
beam angle 30
o
National Institute of Technology, Trichy
N. Siva Shanmugam, Department of Mechanical Engineering
60
o
45
o
30
o
Beam power - 1250 W,
welding speed - 500 mm/min
Bead Shape
BA - 60
o
BA - 45
o
BA - 30
o
T Joint
16.11.2011 22
National Institute of Technology, Trichy
N. Siva Shanmugam, Department of Mechanical Engineering
16.11.2011 23
Proper fusion of base material (horizontal and vertical sheets) and tie
between the bead profiles is achieved when the laser system is operated
with 30
o
beam incident angle,1250 W beam power and 500 mm/min.
welding speed.
A partial penetration is established in the macro graph, when the
beam angle is maintained at 60
o
For the beam angle of 45
o
, proper fusion of base material is achieved
between the horizontal and vertical sheets, but there is no tie between
the resulting bead profiles
A series of experiments have been conducted to verify the finite
element simulation results.
Comparison of experimental and simulation results reveals a very
good correlation for depth of penetration and bead width values with a
standard error of 2.78% and 1.9%, respectively
Based on the results of this investigation, the following conclusions
are made:
CONCLUSIONS
National Institute of Technology, Trichy
N. Siva Shanmugam, Department of Mechanical Engineering
16.11.2011 24