Influence of superimposed intensity distributions on weld seam quality and spatter behavior during laser beam welding of copper with green laser radiation

With the increasing demand for copper connections in the field of renewable energies, e.g., for electric vehicle applications, various approaches were pursued to reduce the challenging spatter and melt ejection susceptibility in laser beam welding of copper materials. One is the use of adjustable intensity profiles of multi-mode beam sources with a combination of a core and ring beam in order to affect a modification of the flow field in the melt pool surrounding the highly dynamic keyhole in the deep penetration welding process. This should favor a reduction of spattering and melt pool ejections, especially at low weld speeds and high penetration depths in pure copper, therefore enabling a more stable deep penetration welding process. In this work, the influence of different superimposed intensity distribution ratios for green laser radiation with summarized power up to 3 kW on the generation of process imperfections was investigated conducting welding experiments on Cu-ETP using high-speed imaging for enhanced process understanding. In addition, the effects of different power distribution conditions and welding speeds on the seam dimensions were analyzed. It was found that a significant amount of laser power in the ring beam leads to a widening of the melt pool in the area near the sample top-surface, which effectively reduces spatter behavior. The associated change in process zone morphology in laser beam direction was furthermore observed via sandwich analysis, allowing a detailed view into the laser–matter interaction area through a borosilicate glass sheet clamped in front of a processed sample. This setup was found to be a cost-effective method for obtaining further information about the keyhole formation mechanism and melt dynamics under comparative boundary conditions.