Study on weld pool behaviors and ripple formation in dissimilar welding under pulsed laser

A three-transient numerical model is developed to study the dissimilar metal welding under pulsed laser. The melting, resolidification and vaporization inducing recoil pressure are considered in this model. Their effects on molten pool dynamic and the weld bead formation are studied. The similar metal welding and dissimilar metal welding under pulsed laser are respectively simulated by using this model. It is found that surface ripples are caused mainly by the periodical laser and molten pool solidification. In the first, this model is validated by the weld bead geometry comparison between the simulated and experimental results in similar metal welding. Then, this model is applied to simulate the dissimilar metal welding under pulsed laser. The results show that the distributions of the temperature, melt-flow velocity and surface ripples are asymmetric due to the differences in physical properties of the materials. The higher pulse overlapping factor decreases the solidification rate, leading to the more uniform penetration depths and the finer ripples. Good agreements between the experimental observations and simulation results are obtained by the proposed model. (C) 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.