Factors affecting the welding efficiency of laser welding machines

Factors affecting the welding efficiency of laser welding machines

Laser welding technology is an advanced material connection technology that uses a high-energy-density laser beam as a heat source to melt materials and achieve welding. During the welding process, there are also some factors that affect the efficiency of laser welding.

Laser welding efficiency is affected by many factors, and the following is a detailed introduction:

Laser power

Principle: Laser power refers to the energy intensity output by the laser. Higher laser power can provide more energy for melting welding materials, thereby speeding up welding. For example, when welding thicker metal materials, a sufficiently high power is required to fully melt the material and form a good weld.

For example: If a laser with a power of 1000W is used for welding, the welding speed may reach 2m/min for a stainless steel plate with a thickness of 2mm; when the power is increased to 2000W, the welding speed may be increased to 3.5m/min under the same welding quality requirements.

Spot diameter

Principle: The spot diameter determines the distribution density of laser energy in the welding area. A smaller spot diameter means that the energy is more concentrated, the energy density per unit area is high, and the material can be melted faster, improving welding efficiency. However, too small a spot diameter may cause the welding pool to be unstable.

Example: When welding tiny solder joints of electronic components, a laser beam with a smaller spot diameter can be used to quickly and accurately complete the welding, and due to the concentrated energy, the welding time can be shortened to the millisecond level.

Welding speed

Principle: The welding speed refers to the moving speed of the laser welding head relative to the welding workpiece. Within a certain range, appropriately increasing the welding speed can improve the welding efficiency. However, if the welding speed is too fast and the laser acts on the material for too short a time, it may cause quality problems such as insufficient welding penetration and discontinuous welds.

Example: In the welding of automobile body frames, when welding thin plate materials, a reasonable welding speed can speed up the production line and improve the production efficiency of the whole vehicle. However, if the speed is not well controlled, weld defects will appear too fast, affecting the quality of the vehicle body.

Material properties

Principle: Different materials have different absorption and reflection characteristics of lasers, which will affect the efficiency of laser welding. For example, the higher the absorption rate of the material, the more effectively the laser energy can be used to melt the material, and the higher the welding efficiency. The surface state of the metal material (such as roughness and oxidation degree) will also affect its absorption of the laser.

For example: Aluminum alloy materials have a relatively low absorption rate for lasers. Before welding, their surfaces usually need to be treated (such as anodizing, etc.) to improve the absorption rate and achieve better welding efficiency; while carbon steel has a relatively strong absorption capacity for lasers, and the welding efficiency may be higher.

Welding joint design

Principle: The form of the welding joint (such as butt joint, lap joint, corner joint, etc.) and the size of the gap will affect the efficiency of laser welding. Appropriate joint design can better concentrate the laser energy in the welding area and reduce energy loss. A smaller joint gap is conducive to the effective transmission of laser energy and avoids the loss of laser energy in the gap.

For example: In pipeline welding, if a butt joint is used and the pipe mouth is processed very flat, and the gap is controlled within a small range, the energy during laser welding can effectively penetrate and melt the pipe wall material, and the welding efficiency will be significantly higher than when the gap is larger.