Product Code: ICAL06_1906

Continued Experimental Analysis of Practical Aspects of Hybrid Welding Thick Sections
Authors:
Edward Reutzel, Laser Processing Division, Applied Research Lab, Pennsylvania State University; State College PA USA
Jay Tressler, Laser Processing Division, Applied Research Lab, Pennsylvania State University; State College PA USA
Ludwig Kern, Laser Processing Division, Applied Research Lab, Pennsylvania State University; State College PA USA
Presented at ICALEO 2006

Laser-Gas Metal Arc (GMA) hybrid welding is fast making the transition from laboratory to production, in industries as diverse as shipbuilding to automobile manufacture. However, many aspects of hybrid laser welding are not well understood. This work presents a summary of our continued experimental explorations into various practical aspects of hybrid welding, such as joint design, gap tolerance, welding through conventional tack welds, weld overlap for circumferential pipe welding, and others. An assortment of analyses are run, including metallurgical analysis using scanning electron microscopy and radiographic testing, weld bead geometry, mechanical properties evaluations using tensile and bend testing, and process analysis using high speed imaging.