CO 2 and Nd:YAG laser beam welding of 6111-T4 aluminum alloy for automotive applications

There are two important trends that are currently taking place in the forming of sheet metal into automotive body components. One of these trends is the substitution of aluminum sheet alloys for steel. The other trend is the use of tailor welded blanks. Currently, there exists strong motivation for research to combine these technologies in order to produce tailor welded aluminum blanks. The focus of the current study is to develop welding procedures for autogenous CO2 (continuous mode) and Nd:YAG (continuous and pulsed mode) laser beam welding of 6111-T4-aluminum alloy. The mechanical and microstructural characteristics of the welded joints were evaluated using tensile tests, microhardess tests, optical microscopy, and chemical analysis. Results indicate that this alloy can be autogenously laser welded with full penetration, minimum surface discontinuities and little if any loss of magnesium through vaporization from the fusion zone. The total elongation (all weld metal) in the longitudinal direction for the laser welds made using 3 kW CO2 and 2 kW pulsed Nd:YAG show a decreasing trend with increasing travel speed. Studies indicate that the decreasing trend is probably due to the combination of two factors: orientation of the grains with respect to the loading direction and solidification cracking. The total elongation (all weld metal) of the laser welds made using 5 kW CO2 and 3 kW cw Nd:YAG did not show a consistent trend with travel speed. The main reason for this is solidification cracking. The welds made with 2 kW pulsed Nd:YAG with travel speed between 42 and 63 mm/s displayed the highest total longitudinal elongation (20.78% to 16.45%), compared to the base metal values of 27.8%. A very interesting observation was that the weld surface condition did not have any effect on the ductility of the 6111-T4-aluminum alloy studied in this investigation.