Solid-state laser beam sources offer the possibility of generating high-brilliance laser beams with low expansion and high usable intensity at the focal point. New approaches include beam shaping with the use of core and ring fiber and, therefore, variable power distribution in the laser beam focal point and material interaction area. Particularly, high-power laser beam welding benefits from beam shaping because of the stabilizing effect on the weld pool. Furthermore, the technical progress achieved with regard to beam quality also allows one to achieve high Rayleigh lengths and, therefore, a more uniform beam diameter over the whole material thickness. In this study, investigations on high-power laser beam welding with a 24 kW disk laser beam source are conducted for three different materials (mild steel, aluminum alloy, and copper), which are of high interest for welding in different sectors. The influence of power distribution between the core and the ring as well as welding speed on weld geometry (depth and width), weld pool stability, and the resulting weld seam quality is investigated. It is shown that the welding process cannot just be scaled up in comparison with welding with lower laser beam power but has its own challenges. It is possible that high welding depths (12 mm for copper, more than 12 mm is possible for aluminum, and 25 mm for mild steel) could be achieved in one pass. To achieve this, aluminum needs the lowest energy per unit length per mm of sheet thickness and copper the highest.

1.
S.
Katayama
,
M.
Mizutani
,
Y.
Kawahito
, and
D.
Sumimori
, “
Fundamental research of 100 kW fiber laser welding technology
,” in
Lasers in Manufacturing Conference 2015
, Munich, June 22–25,
2015
.
2.
E. A.
Shcherbakov
,
V. V.
Fomin
,
A. A.
Abramov
,
A. A.
Ferin
, and
D. V.
Mochalov
, “
Industrial grade 100 kW power CW fiber laser
,” in
Advanced Solid-State Lasers Congress
, Paris, October 27–November 1,
2013
.
3.
Y.
Kawahito
,
H.
Wang
,
S.
Katayama
, and
D.
Sumimori
, “
Ultra high power (100 kW) fiber laser welding of steel
,”
Opt. Lett.
43
,
4667
4670
(
2018
).
4.
M.
Sokolov
,
A.
Salminen
,
M.
Kuznetsov
, and
I.
Tsibulskiy
, “
Laser welding and weld hardness analysis of thick section S355 structural steel
,”
Mater. Des.
32
,
5127
5131
(
2011
).
5.
O.
Seffer
,
S.
Nothdurft
,
A.
Hilck
,
M.
Hustedt
,
J.
Hermsdorf
, and
S.
Kaierle
, “
Investigations on laser beam welding of thick steel plates using a high-power diode laser beam source
,”
J. Laser Appl.
34
,
042031
(
2022
).
6.
Y.
Li
,
S.
Geng
,
L.
Shu
,
Y.
Li
, and
P.
Jiang
, “
Ultra-high-power laser welding of thick-section steel: Current research progress and future perspectives
,”
Opt. Laser Technol.
167
,
109663
(
2023
).
7.
O.
Bocksrocker
,
N.
Speker
,
M.
Beranek
, and
T.
Hesse
, “
Reduction of spatters and pores in laser welding of copper Hairpins using two superimposed laser beams
,” in
Lasers in Manufacturing Conference 2019
, Munich, June 24–27,
2019
.
8.
F.
Nagel
and
P.
Kallage
, “
Increasing the process window of copper welding applications by adapting the power density distribution
,” in
11th CIRP Conference on Photonic Technologies [LANE 2020]
, September 7–10,
2020
.
9.
M.
Mohammadpour
,
L.
Wang
,
F.
Kong
, and
R.
Kovacevic
, “
Adjustable ring mode and single beam fiber lasers: A performance comparison
,”
Manuf. Lett.
25
,
50
55
(
2020
).
10.
E.
Punzel
,
F.
Hugger
,
T.
Dinkelbach
, and
A.
Bürger
, “
Influence of power distribution on weld seam quality and geometry in laser beam welding of aluminum alloys
,”
Procedia CIRP
94
,
601
604
(
2020
).
11.
L.
Wang
,
M.
Yao
,
X.
Gao
,
F.
Kong
,
J.
Tang
, and
M. J.
Kim
, “
Keyhole stability and surface quality during novel adjustable-ring mode laser (ARM) welding of aluminum alloy
,”
Opt. Laser Technol.
161
,
109202
(
2023
).
12.
M. R.
Maina
,
Y.
Okamoto
,
A.
Okada
,
M.
Närhi
,
J.
Kangastup
, and
J.
Vihinen
, “
High surface quality welding of aluminum using adjustable ring-mode fiber laser
,”
J. Mater. Process. Technol.
258
,
180
188
(
2018
).
13.
L.
Wang
,
M.
Mohammadpour
,
X.
Gao
,
J.-P.
Lavoie
,
K.
Kleine
,
F.
Kong
, and
R.
Kovacevic
, “
Adjustable ring mode (ARM) laser welding of stainless steels
,”
Opt. Lasers Eng.
137
,
106360
(
2021
).
14.
J.-P.
Weberpals
, “
Nutzen und Grenzen guter Fokussierbarkeit beim Laserschweißen” (“Benefits and limits of strong focusability in laser welding”)
,
Dissertation, University of Stuttgart
,
2010
.
15.
R.
Fabbro
, “
Developments in Nd-Yag laser welding
,” in
Handbook of Laser Welding Technologies
, edited by
S.
Katayama
(
Woodhead Publishing Limited
,
Oxford
,
2013
).
16.
S.
Li
,
G.
Chen
, and
C.
Zhou
, “
Effects of welding parameters on weld geometry during high-power laser welding of thick plate
,”
Int. J. Adv. Manuf. Technol.
79
,
177
182
(
2015
).
17.
V.
Ploshikhin
,
A.
Prikhodovsky
,
A.
Ilin
,
M.
Makhutin
,
C.
Heimerdringer
, and
F.
Palm
, “
Influence of the weld metal chemical composition on the solidification cracking susceptibility of AA6056-T4 alloy
,”
Weld. World
50
,
46
50
(
2006
).
You do not currently have access to this content.