Effect of Beam Energy on Weld Geometric Characteristics in Nd:YAG Laser Overlapping Spot Welding of Thin AISI 304 Stainless Steel Sheets

Weld geometric characteristics in laser overlapping spot welding of 0.6-mm AISI 304 stainless steel sheets were investigated. A pulsed Nd:YAG laser with maximal average power of 150 W was used for welding experiments with different laser beam energies in the range of 3.5 J to 6.2 J, keeping all other processing parameters constant. The main objective of these experiments was to study the effect of energy changes and to identify the welding mode in dependency on the beam effective peak power density. Each weld surface and its cross section were analyzed using a laser scanning confocal microscope. The spot diameter on the specimen, weld width, and penetration depth were measured. Three-dimensional surface reconstruction was realized to describe the effect of energy changes on weld surface properties.