Fraunhofer-Institut für Produktionsanlagen und Konstruktionstechnik IPK

Filters

8
Reset filters

Settings
Now showing 1 - 8 of 8
  • Publication
    Joining 30 mm Thick Shipbuilding Steel Plates EH36 Using a Process Combination of Hybrid Laser Arc Welding and Submerged Arc Welding
    ( 2022-08-04)
    Gook, Sergej
    ;
    Midik, Ahmet
    ;
    Biegler, Max
    ;
    Gumenyuk, Andrey
    ;
    Rethmeier, Michael
    This article presents a cost-effective and reliable method for welding 30 mm thick sheets of shipbuilding steel EH36. The method proposes to perform butt welding in a two-run technique using hybrid laser arc welding (HLAW) and submerged arc welding (SAW). The HLAW is performed as a partial penetration weld with a penetration depth of approximately 25 mm. The SAW is carried out as a second run on the opposite side. With a SAW penetration depth of 8 mm, the weld cross-section is closed with the reliable intersection of both passes. The advantages of the proposed welding method are: no need for forming of the HLAW root; the SAW pass can effectively eliminate pores in the HLAW root; the high stability of the welding process regarding the preparation quality of the weld edges. Plasma cut edges can be welded without lack of fusion defects. The weld quality achieved is confirmed by destructive tests.
  • Publication
    Hybrid laser-arc welding of laser- and plasma-cut 20-mm-thick structural steels
    ( 2022)
    Üstündag, Ömer
    ;
    Bakir, Nasim
    ;
    Gook, Sergej
    ;
    Gumenyuk, Andrey
    ;
    Rethmeier, Michael
    It is already known that the laser beam welding (LBW) or hybrid laser-arc welding (HLAW) processes are sensitive to manufacturing tolerances such as gaps and misalignment of the edges, especially at welding of thick-walled steels due to its narrow beam diameter. Therefore, the joining parts preferably have to be milled. The study deals with the influence of the edge quality, the gap and the misalignment of edges on the weld seam quality of hybrid laser-arc welded 20-mm-thick structural steel plates which were prepared by laser and plasma cutting. Single-pass welds were conducted in butt joint configuration. An AC magnet was used as a contactless backing. It was positioned under the workpiece during the welding process to prevent sagging. The profile of the edges and the gap between the workpieces were measured before welding by a profile scanner or a digital camera, respectively. With a laser beam power of just 13.7 kW, the single-pass welds could be performed. A gap bridgeability up to 1 mm at laser-cut and 2 mm at plasma-cut samples could be reached respectively. Furthermore, a misalignment of the edges up to 2 mm could be welded in a single pass. The new findings may eliminate the need for cost and time-consuming preparation of the edges.
  • Publication
    Method for defect-free hybrid laser-arc welding of closed circumferential welds
    ( 2021)
    Gook, Sergej
    ;
    Üstündag, Ömer
    ;
    Gumenyuk, Andrey
    ;
    Rethmeier, Michael
    This paper presents investigation results of a process for defect-free hybrid laser arc welding (HLAW) of closed circumferential welds. The process aims to avoid weld imperfections in the overlap area of a HLAW circumferential weld. A process control strategy for closing the circumferential weld was developed to achieve a defect-free overlap region by controlling the solidification conditions at the end of the weld. The controlled heat flow is achieved by adjusting the parameters of both welding processes involved, the laser beam as well as gas metal arc welding (GMAW) process. Experimental investigations were carried out on 12 mm to 15 mm thick tube sections. The influence of process parameters such as the laser power ramp, the change in magnification scale and the defocusing of the laser beam on the solidification conditions at the end of the circumferential weld was investigated to find an optimum strategy for ramping out the process energy. Within the framework of the experimental studies, it was demonstrated that defocusing the laser beam in the range between 60 mm and 100 mm over a short run-out area of the weld of approximately 15 mm led to a significantly better weld formation in the overlap area. A favorable cup-shaped weld shape could be achieved without a tendency to crack. The laser optics with a motor-driven lens system made it possible to increase the laser beam diameter without changing the position of the GMAW arc relative to the component surface.
  • Publication
    Hybrid laser-arc welding of thick-walled pipe segments with optimization of the end crater
    ( 2020)
    Üstündag, Ömer
    ;
    Gook, Sergej
    ;
    Gumenyuk, Andrey
    ;
    Rethmeier, Michael
    The study deals with the application of the high-power hybrid-laser arc welding process on up to 15 mm thick pipe segments with the intention to avoid end crater imperfections during closing of the circumferential welds, where the pipes were turned during welding in 1G- and 2G-positions. Different techniques such as laser power ramp-down, abrupt switch-off of the laser power and change of the magnification of the laser spot diameter and defocusing of the laser beam relative to the workpiece were tested to remove the laser energy from the process. It could be shown that a high defocusing of the optic system above 40 mm with a resulting beam diameter > 2.9 mm in a short overlap length of approx. 20 mm leads to the formation of a cup-shaped weld seam, which is preferred for avoidance of cracks and pores in the end crater. A laser optics with motor-driven lens system was used for the welding experiments to defocuse the laser beam without changing the position of the arc.
  • Publication
    Hybrid laser arc welding of thick high-strength pipeline steels of grade X120 with adapted heat input
    ( 2020)
    Üstündag, Ömer
    ;
    Gook, Sergej
    ;
    Gumenyuk, Andrey
    ;
    Rethmeier, Michael
    The influence of heat input and welding speed on the microstructure and mechanical properties of single-pass hybrid laser arc welded 20 mm thick plates of high-strength pipeline steel X120 were presented. The heat input was varied in the range of 1.4 kJ mm-1 to 2.9 kJ mm-1, while the welding speed was changed between 0.5 m min-1 and 1.5 m min-1. A novel technique of bath support based on external oscillating electromagnetic field was used to compensate the hydrostatic pressure at low welding velocities. A major advantage of this technology is, that the welding speed and thus the cooling time t8/5 can be variated in a wide parameter window without issues regarding the weld root quality. The recommended welding thermal cycles for the pipeline steel X120 can be met by that way. All tested Charpy-V specimens meet the requirements of API 5 L regarding the impact energy. For higher heat inputs the average impact energy was 144 ± 37 J at a testing temperature of -40 °C. High heat input above 1.6 kJ mm-1 leads to softening in the weld metal and heat-affected-zone resulting in loss of strength. The minimum tensile strength of 915 MPa could be achieved at heat inputs between 1.4 kJ mm-1 and 1.6 kJ mm-1.
  • Publication
    Mechanical Properties of Single-pass Hybrid Laser Arc Welded 25 mm Thick-walled Structures Made of Fine-grained Structural Steel
    ( 2019)
    Üstündag, Ömer
    ;
    Gook, Sergej
    ;
    Gumenyuk, Andrey
    ;
    Rethmeier, Michael
    The presented study deals with the performing and mechanical testing of single pass hybrid laser-arc welds (HLAW) on 25 mm thick plates made of steel grade S355J2. One of the challenges have to be solved at full penetration HLAW of thick plates is the drop formation occurring due to the disbalances of the forces acting in the keyhole and on the melt pool surface. Such irregularities mostly limit the use of high-power laser beam welding or HLAW of thick-walled constructions. To overcome this problem, an innovative concept of melt pool support based on generating Lorentz forces in the weld pool is used in this work. This method allows to perform high quality welds without sagging even for welding of 25 mm thick plates in flat position at a welding speed of 0.9 m min-1. For the obtain of full penetrated welds a laser beam power of 19 kW was needed. A high V-impact energy of up to 160 J could be achieved at the test temperature of 0 °C. Even at the most critical part in the weld root an impact energy of 60 J in average could be reached. The tensile strength of the weld reaches that of the base material. An introduce of the HLAW process with electromagnetic support of the melt pool in the industrial practice is an efficient alternative to the time- and cost-intensive arc-based multi-layer welding techniques which are established nowadays for joining of thick-walled constructions.
  • Publication
    Hybrid laser-arc welding of thick-walled ferromagnetic steels with electromagnetic weld pool support
    ( 2018)
    Üstündag, Ömer
    ;
    Fritzsche, André
    ;
    Avilov, Vjaceslav
    ;
    Rethmeier, Michael
    ;
    Gumenyuk, Andrey
    The hybrid laser-arc welding (HLAW) process provides many advantages over laser welding and arc welding alone, such as high welding speed, gap bridgeability, and deep penetration. The developments in hybrid laser-arc welding technology using modern high-power lasers allow single-pass welding of thick materials. This technology can be used for the heavy metal industries such as shipbuilding, power plant fabrication, and line-pipe manufacturing. The obvious problem for single-pass welding is the growth of the hydrostatic pressure with increasing thickness of materials leading to drop-out of molten metal. This phenomenon is aggravated at slow welding velocities because of increasing weld seam width followed by a decrease of Laplace pressure compensating the hydrostatic pressure. Therefore, weld pool support is necessary by welding of thick materials with slow welding velocities. The innovative electromagnetic weld pool support system is contactless and has been used successfully for laser beam welding of aluminum alloys and austenitic and ferromagnetic steels. The support system is based on generating Lorentz forces within the weld pool. These are produced by an oscillating magnetic field orientated perpendicular to the welding direction. The electromagnetic weld pool support facilitates a decrease in the welding speed without a sagging and drop-out of the melt thus eliminating the limitations of weldable material thickness.
  • Publication
    Study of gap and misalignment tolerances at hybrid laser arc welding of thick-walled steel with electromagnetic weld pool support system
    ( 2018)
    Üstündag, Ömer
    ;
    Fritzsche, André
    ;
    Avilov, Vjaceslav
    ;
    Gumenyuk, Andrey
    ;
    Rethmeier, Michael
    The hybrid laser arc welding (HLAW) process provides many advantages such as improved gap bridgeability, deep penetration and misalignment of edges, that is why the process is used increasingly in industrial applications e.g. shipbuilding, power plant industry and line-pipe manufacturing. The obvious encountered problem for single pass welding in flat position is the gravity drop-out at low welding velocities. With the usage of an electromagnetic weld pool support system, which is based on generating Lorentz forces within the weld pool, wide seams followed by reduced welding velocities could be achieved in this study leading to the realization of a gap bridgeability up to 1 mm, misalignment of edges up to 2 mm and a single pass weld up to 28 mm thickness with a 20-kW fibre laser. These developments expand the boundaries of the HLAW process for different industrial applications. As a result, less accurate preparation of the edges would be sufficient, which saves time for manufacturing.