Evaluating study for laser-based welding for aluminum alloys using CFD modeling
Author(s):
Ismail Ibrahim Marhoon, Mohammed Ali Abdulrehman, Ali Abed Salman
Affiliation(s):
Materials Engineering Department, College of Engineering, Mustansiriyah University, Baghdad-Iraq
Corresponding Author Email:
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Most recent thermal models show that parameters, such as scanning velocity, spot diameter, and power of laser beams have significant effects on weld pools of laser formation. Model laser welding helps to improve the understanding of laser-material interactions for different materials and laser configurations. Therefore, it provides information to identify sources of defects such as lack of fusion or porosity as well as to design process windows and welding schedules. An accurate prediction of the solidification microstructure of the weld pool is essential for the weld metal and requires kinetics and thermodynamics consideration. This work discusses the fluid flow and heat transfer to compare the graphical representation using computational fluid dynamics (CFD). A transient 3D model showing the solidification and formation of the weld pool is presented. The simulation results demonstrate the transient dynamics of weld pool features such as length, width, and depth during laser welding along with laser power, scanning velocity, and spot diameter. The agreement between the simulation and the related previous results showed reasonable reliability for the studied model and the findings of this work provide acceptable prediction ranges of weld variables to obtain the required welding geometry.