Heat treatable aluminum alloy components may be damaged during service to a point that they are no longer usable. For high value components, significant cost savings could be realized if the components could be refurbished and returned to service. Thermal repair processes are often difficult to utilize, since the heat input can significantly degrade the mechanical performance and corrosion resistance of the material. Additionally, several aluminum alloy systems are not amenable to thermal processing.
Laser beam welding has been shown to repair alloys that are considered unweldable by conventional techniques. A 3 kW Nd:YAG laser was used to evaluate the viability to repair manufactured defects representing observed damage in alloy 6061-T6 and 7075-T651 components. The series of samples representing a variety of processing parameters were evaluated. Samples were characterized to determine the optimum processing parameters to obtain the best performance for the intended application. Characterization included optical microscopy, microhardness testing, mechanical testing, fracture analysis, and corrosion testing.