《High power NdYAG laser welding in manufacturing of》.pdfVIP

Fusion Engineering and Design 69 (2003) 349/ 353 /locate/fusengdes High power Nd:YAG laser welding in manufacturing of vacuum vessel of fusion reactor Tommi Jokinen a,*, Veli Kujanpaa b,1 ¨ ¨ a VTT Industrial Systems, P.O. Box 17021, FIN 53851 Lappeenranta, Finland b Lappeenranta University of Technology, P.O. Box 20, FIN 53851 Lappeenranta, Finland Abstract Laser welding has shown many advantages over traditional welding methods in numerous applications. The advantages are mainly based on very precise and powerful heat source of laser light, which change the phenomena of welding process when compared with traditional welding methods. According to the phenomena of the laser welding, penetration is deeper and thus welding speed is higher. Because of the precise power source and high-welding speed, the heat input to the workpiece is small and distortions are reduced. Also, the shape of laser weld is less critical for distortions than traditional welds. For welding thick sections, the usability of lasers is not so practical than with thin sheets, because with power levels of present Nd:YAG lasers depth of penetration is limited up to about 10 mm by single-pass welding. One way to overcome this limitation is to use multi-pass laser welding, in which narrow gap and filler wire is applied. By this process, thick sections can be welded with smaller heat input and then smaller distortions and the process seems to be very effective comparing ‘‘traditional’’ welding methods, not only