Synchrotron X-ray Analysis of the Influence of the Magnesium Content on the Absorptance during Full-Penetration Laser Welding of Aluminum

Synchrotron X-ray Analysis of the Influence of the Magnesium Content on the Absorptance during Full-Penetration Laser Welding of Aluminum

Blog Article

Full-penetration laser beam welding is characterized by a weld seam whose depth equals the material thickness.It is associated with a stable capillary and is therefore widely used for welding of sheet metal components.The realization of lightweight concepts in car body production requires the application of high-strength aluminum alloys that contain magnesium as an alloying element, which significantly influences the evaporation temperature and pressure.This change of the evaporation processes influences the geometry of the capillary Neuro-Max and therefore its absorptance.

In order to quantify the influence of magnesium on the capillary, their geometries were captured by means of high-speed synchrotron X-ray imaging during the welding process of the aluminum alloys AA1050A (Al99.5), AA5754 (AlMg3) and AA6016 (AlSi1.2Mg0.4).

The 3D-geometries of the capillaries Face Exfoliant were reconstructed from the intensity distribution in the recorded X-ray images and their absorptance of the incident laser beam was determined by the analysis of the reconstructed 3D-geometry with a raytracing algorithm.The results presented in this paper capture for the first time the influence of the magnesium content in high-strength aluminum alloys on the aspect ratio of the capillary, which explains the reduced absorptance in case of full-penetration laser beam welding of aluminum alloys with a high content of volatile elements.In order to improve the absorptance in full-penetration welding, these findings provide the information required for the deduction of new optimization approaches.