Hot cracking in autogenous welding of 6061-T6 aluminum alloy by rectangular pulsed Nd:YAG laser beam

Due to high hot crack susceptibility of Al-Mg-Si alloys, autogenous welding by rectangular pulsed laser beam has not been generally successful in the removal of cracks. In this research, the effect of pulsed Nd:YAG laser parameters and preheating on the creation of hot cracks in the 6061-T6 aluminum alloy was investigated. The sample that was fabricated by the laser parameters including 1 Hz, 0.12 mm/s, 10 ms, and without preheating exhibited the highest cooling rate and the smallest dendrite arm spacing but no hot crack was observed. The tensile test specimens of this sample fractured at a point far from the weld metal and a decrease in the precipitation of silicon and magnesium in the inter-dendritic space and the reduction of thermal stresses resulted in the elimination of hot cracks. However, according to macro-scale models for the creation of hot cracks, preheating decreased the tensile stresses in the BTR (brittle temperature range), but increasing the preheating temperature led to increasing rather than decreasing the hot crack length. In this case, the formation of hydrogen porosity, the segregation of silicon and magnesium, and the creation of low melting point compounds were the important parameters affecting the hot crack initiation and growth.