Depth Dependence and Keyhole Stability at Threshold, for Different Laser Welding Regimes

Depending of the laser operating parameters, several characteristic regimes of laser welding can be observed. At low welding speeds, the aspect ratio of the keyhole can be rather large with a rather vertical cylindrical shape, whereas at high welding speeds, low aspect ratios result, where only the keyhole front is mainly irradiated. For these different regimes, the dependence of the keyhole (KH) depth or the keyhole threshold, as a function of the operating parameters and material properties, is derived and their resulting scaling laws are surprisingly very similar. This approach allows us to analyze the keyhole behavior for these welding regimes, around their keyhole generation thresholds. Specific experiments confirm the occurrence and the behavior of these unstable keyholes for these conditions. Furthermore, recent experimental results can be analyzed using these approaches. Finally, this analysis allows us to define the aspect ratio range for the occurrence of this unstable behavior and to highlight the importance of laser absorptivity for this mechanism. Consequently, the use of a short wavelength laser for the reduction of these keyhole stability issues and the corresponding improvement of weld seam quality is emphasized.