Austenitic stainless steel of thickness 6 mm has been welded by using an Nd:YAG laser with power level of 3 kW, with the addition of filler wire of diameter 0.8 mm. A butt joint and groove were used in all cases. The wire feed rate was adjusted in order to fill the groove. The width of the air gap was varied to study its effect on the welding speed, and on the geometry and quality of the weld. Filler wire parameters were also varied, and some reflection tests were made with laser beam and filler wire in order to define amount of reflected laser beam.
High quality welds could be made by using Nd:YAG laser welding with filler wire additional Narrow welds were produced. In welds made using parameters that were not optimum incomplete penetration, excessive weld bead face metal, or bead sagging were observed. No pores, cracks or other metallurgical defects were found in any of the welds.