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Case Study on:

Laser Welding and its Application in Automotive Industries

J Component Project
For
Welding Engineering
(MEE2022)
WINTER SEMESTER 2018-19
Submitted by

Udayan Kumar Debnath 16BME0273


Aritra Guha Ray 16BME0279
Param Devidas Mapari 17BME0942

of

F2 Slot

under the guidance of

Prof. Arivazhagan N

School of Mechanical Engineering

VIT University, Vellore

Tamil Nadu - 632 014


1. Abstract:
As a result of new policies related to global warming announced by the European Union,
avoiding unnecessary energy waste and reducing environmental pollution levels are
becoming a major issue in the automotive industry. Along with more eco-friendly methods of
joining metals, companies also aim to reduce the weight of the automotive components to
achieve high production efficiency and component performance. Accordingly, the lap
welding of Zn-coated steels process, which is commonly used for producing car doors, has
been gradually developed to lap welding of Zn-coated steel to light materials, such as Al
alloy, Mg alloy and composite materials, in order to reduce the vehicle weight effectively. In
certain part of car manufacture, organic glues are used to temporally join the Zn-coated steels
and Al alloys before permanent welding takes place. The stability of such temporary joining
by glues needs improving. Laser ‘‘stitching” or low strength welding could be considered as
an alternative. Laser-beam welding offers the possibility to manufacture joints of all possible
light metals and their combinations. However, challenges exist in joining Zn-coated steel on
Al alloy by laser welding, due to significant differences of material properties between the
two welding materials. Porosity, spatter and intermetallic brittle phases are readily produced
in the weld. In this study, the effects of welding speed, laser power, number of the welding
passes and type of shielding gas in gap-free welding of Zn-coated steel on Al alloy were
investigated using a 1 kW single mode continuous wave fibre laser. Results show that a weld
with higher shear strengths in the laser stitching application and less intermetallic phases
could be obtained when nitrogen gas was used as the shielding gas. The corrosion resistance
and the surface finish of the weld could be improved in double pass welding, especially when
argon gas was used as the shielding gas.

2. Introduction:
Laser welding of dissimilar materials is considered as a relatively complicated process in
comparison with laser welding of similar materials, the demand for dissimilar materials
welding has increased rapidly in industry due to the requirement for improving the flexibility
in designing new generation products. The main issues with welding of dissimilar materials
are differences of material properties leading to large stresses and the formation of
intermetallic brittle phases that readily occur within the weld for certain alloys. Not only the
presence of porosity in the weld, but the formation of intermetallic brittle phases in the laser
welding of dissimilar materials process can induce the cracking in the weld and therefore
reduce the weld strength.
The main issues addressed in this study are the main issues in laser welding of Zn-coated
steel on Al alloy i.e. the formation of porosity, spatter and intermetallic brittle phases.
An unstable melt pool resulting from Zn vaporisation readily occurs in laser welding of
Zn-coated steel on Al alloy because the boiling point of Zn (907℃) is lower than the melting
point of Fe (1538 ℃) and the boiling point of Al (2520 ℃). Besides, intermetallic phases can
easily form within the welds due to the poor solid solubility of the Fe element in Al alloy.
Amongst the intermetallic phases, FeAl and Fe3Al are considered as ductile phases while
FeAl2 , Fe2Al5 and FeAl3 are recognised as brittle phases. For reducing porosity in laser lap
welding of Zn-coated steels, a number of approaches have been applied. These include the
use of a bi-focal hybrid laser systems, pre-drilling vent holes along the welding line and
keeping a gap between welding materials to allow Zn vapour to escape from the keyhole.
Adding a filler material between welding materials has been used to improve the weld quality
in laser lap welding of un-coated steel to Al alloy.
In laser welding, shielding gas is another important factor that influences the weld quality.
One of its roles is to protect the melt pool from oxidation. Theoretically, an inert shielding
gas with a higher density can provide better protection over the melt pool. Four shielding gas
factors are usually involved in laser welding: physical properties, chemical composition, flow
rate and distribution of the shielding gas. With regard to physical properties of shielding
gases, thermal conductivity and density have been found to be more important than the
ionisation potential in the high energy density laser welding process. In the viewpoint
of metallurgy, using nitrogen shielding gas had the potential to reduce the formation of
porosity in laser welding of material with a low boiling point, such as aluminium alloy. It was
because the Al vaporisation occurring in laser welding could easily reacted with nitrogen gas
and hence produced the AlN phase in the weld. Corrosion performances of the weld can be
different from the parent material owing to micro-segregation, the formation of intermetallic
phases, defects and loss of alloy elements. For example, corrosion resistance in the heat
affected zone can deteriorate because of intergranular corrosion and segregation
or the formation of a secondary phase. Therefore, producing a weld with a smooth and
defect-free surface has been considered as an important factor to improve the corrosion
resistance of the welds.
The purpose of this study is to investigate the feasibility and characteristics of using laser
welding of Zn-coated steel and Al alloys as a ‘‘stitching” method to replace organic glues
currently used in the automotive industry. The relationship between the welding quality and
processing parameters, such as welding speed, laser power, number of the welding passes and
type of the shielding gas, has been investigated, in laser lap welding of Zn-coated steel
on Al alloy using a single mode continuous wave fibre laser. A series of analyses including
metallurgical evaluations, mechanical and corrosion tests were carried out. A focus of the
study was to achieve a sound weld that can meet the industrial requirement for ‘‘stitching”
applications, in terms of weld strength, surface finish and corrosion properties.

The main problem of thermal joining of dissimilar metals is the formation of intermetallic
phases. Typically, these phases are characterized by their extreme hardness and therefore,
brittleness and their presence in a joint will decrease the usability of the joint. The key to
overcome this problem is to control the diffusion process which is the basis for the formation
of intermetallic phases.
The recent developments aim to overcome this problem by the use of high-powered laser
beams combined with high joining speeds to achieve an overall low energy input, resulting in
high temperature gradients for heating and cooling.

Cross-section of Aluminium to Steel joint Overview of Aluminium(bottom)-Magnesium(top) joint


3. Methodology and materials:
The materials used for the experimental setup are 1 mm thick plates of DX54 Zn coated steel
plates and EN-AW-5754 Al alloy plates. The aluminium alloy plate is kept at the bottom of
the lap joint to prevent the reflectance of the laser beam. The Zn coating is 10 microns thick
and is applied on both sides of the steel. An IPG YLR-1000-SM ytterbium-doped single
mode fibre laser with a wavelength of 1070 nm and a single axis high speed liner motor-
controlled stage was used for this application. The materials were cleaned with acetone
before being welded and then were clamped together in a special fixture.
The shielding gas that was used were N2 and Ar, they were supplied co-axially at a constant
rate of 25l/min. The parameters used in the study were the laser power, number of passes, the
welding speed and the shielding gas. The detailed experimental results of single and double
passes are provided in the following table that was made after confirming the results thrice.

Comparative study was done with both the double and single pass methods with separate
shielding gasses. Firstly, the effect of welding power was investigated under the constant
speed of 100 mm/s in single pass Secondly, three combinations of the first pass welding
Conditions with a focused laser beam were chosen and then a defocused laser beam was used
in the second pass. The laser power of the second pass varied form 150 W to 250 W the
welding speed and the f.p.p were kept to 75mm/s and 2 mm above the Zn coated steel. The
spot size of the laser beam was 81 microns.
Then the specimen was examined with an optical microscope and a scanning electron
microscope with energy –dispersive spectrometer. Welds were then inspected cut and ground
to 3-micron diamond slurry. Then it was etched with Nital for Zn coated iron and Keller’s
reagent for the aluminium alloy. The weld geometry and the pore dimensions were estimated
by optical microscopy. Hardness profiles were measured at three depths of 250,750 and 1100
microns with a micro hardness tester having a 50gm load and 10s testing time. The tensile
testing was done at room temperature according to the BS EN 10002-1: 2001 standard and
using the INSTRON 4507 universal tensile testing machine with a crosshead speed of 1mm/s.

The specimen has dimension of 212mmX38mm with each material being 125mm long and
the overlapping joint being 38 mm long. After the Fracture, the interface was examined with
SEM equipped with EDS. The corrosion resistance was evaluated by polarisation in 3.5 %
NaCl solution. Only 1 cm2 of the surface was exposed to the surface while the rest was sealed
off with Lacquer. Each sample was scanned at _15 mVSCE of open circuit potential with a
scanning rate of 0.7 mV/s until 1.0 VSCE. After the corrosion tests, samples were ultrasonic
cleaned in acetone for 3 min again. The surface topology of the corroded area was observed
with an SEM.

4. Results
Weld beam geometry:
A clear relationship between weld depth and the laser power was found. The weld depth
increased with increasing laser power with both N2 and Ar gas. However, at each condition a
slightly deeper weld was obtained in respect to the use of N2 than the use of Ar. In double
pass welding the welds of N2 and Ar are shown and are nearly parallel on the steel side and
the fusion zone on the Al alloy side are significantly wider than those on the steel side.
Compared with the fusion zone in the Al alloy side, not only the smaller fusion area, but the
mixing materials were clearly obtained when Ar gas was used.

The main problems in laser welding Zn-coated steel on Al alloy are the formation of spatter,
porosity and intermetallic brittle phases in the weld. Due to the boiling point of Zn being
significantly lower than the boiling point of Al and the melting point of Fe. Zn vaporisation
can easily occur and induce an unstable melt pool, spatter and porosity in the weld. Because
the unstable melt pool is difficult to avoid in gap-free laser welding of Zn-coated steel on Al
alloy, using a second pass welding with a lower power defocused laser beam to modify the
top appearance of the weld has been shown to be an effective method in improving the weld
appearance without clearly changing of mechanical properties. Furthermore, it allows better
corrosion resistance of welds due to the surface roughness of welds is another factor in
determining the degree of corrosion resistance.
In a rapid heating and cooling process, such as laser welding, the intermetallic phases of
FeAl3 and Fe2Al5 are easily produced in the weld resulting in increasing hardness in the weld.
For this reason, a higher hardness can be obtained deep in the fusion zone where intermetallic
phases are easily produced. Regarding to the formation of crack in the weld, it is in the direct
proportion to the content of intermetallic brittle phases with or around the interfacial reactive
layer in the laser welding of dissimilar materials process. Therefore, all micro-cracks were
found near the interfacial reactive layer in the weld.
In laser keyhole welding, the shielding gas has more opportunities to interact with the
keyhole especially when the melt pool is relatively unstable. When laser keyhole welding is
carried out with a higher thermal conductivity shielding gas, the increasing cooling rate can
decrease the weld penetration depth and reduce the molten phase time in the weld. The
degree of heat flow and the activity of diffusion in the melt pool can reduce. Therefore, the
number of intermetallic phases in the weld can decrease.
Except for controlling the cooling rate in the weld, different metallurgical effects in the weld
can also be observed using different shielding gases according to their reactivity. The
reactivity of shielding gas can be another important factor in influencing the weld quality,
particularly in laser keyhole welding.
The density of shielding gas can also influence the formation of porosity and the efficiency of
melt pool protection. Shielding gas with a high density has been pointed out to have a higher
possibility of being trapped in the keyhole and in the weld after solidification. However, the
relationship between the type of shielding gas and the occurrence of porosity in the weld was
not clear in the current work. Regarding to the melt pool protection, a melt pool can be easily
avoided from oxidation with a higher density shielding gas in laser welding. Therefore, the
degree corrosion can reduce when a higher density shielding gas is used. For this reason,
welds produced with Ar gas have shown better corrosion resistance than the use of N2 gas.

Welds produces from single (welding parameters: 650 W, 100 mm/s, f.p.p. of 0 mm) and double pass welding
(first pass welding parameters: 650 W, 100 mm/s, f.p.p. of 0 mm and second pass welding parameters: 200 W,
75 mm/s, f.p.p. of +2 mm) with different shielding gases: (1) Top appearance from single pass welding with Ar
gas; (2) Top appearance from single pass welding with N2 gas; (3) Top appearance from double pass welding
with Ar gas; (4) Backscattered electron image of cross section from double pass welding with Ar gas.

5. Conclusions
The feasibility of fibre laser lap welding of Zn-coated steel on Al alloy was evaluated. The
sound welds with the narrower affected zone could be carried out using a single mode fibre
laser. In double pass welding, the weld appearance and its corrosion resistance could be
improved compared with single pass welding. Results also predicted that the shielding gas
played an important role in deter-mining the weld quality in the fibre laser welding of Zn-
coated steel on Al alloy process. Welds with less hardness variation and greater shear
strength were obtained when N2 gas was used as the shielding gas in both single and double
pass welding. A better corrosion resistance weld was obtained when Ar gas was used as the
shielding gas. Thus, the welds produced by double pass welding with N2 gas have exceeded
the industrial requirements in terms of shear strengths for automotive applications.

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