Prediction of Weld-Section Geometry in Pulsed Laser Welding Using Different Thermal Models for Thin Stainless Steel Sheets

Pulsed laser welding have a wide application in welding of thin sheet because of high intensity of its localized heat source. In the current study, 3 experimental tests with low, medium, and large level of energy and also, the 3D finite element simulation of Nd:YAG pulsed laser welding in thin sheet AISI316L have been done. Thermal analyzes were done with ABAQUS software in transient heat transfer. In order to increase the accuracy of thermal model, heat losses were considered as convection, radiation, and thermal conduction. 3 thermal models with different heat flux distribution as Gaussian surface, Gaussian volume, and conical volume were used. The main aim of this study is the selection of best thermal model between 3 mentioned thermal models to estimate the melt pool geometry with high accuracy. In addition, with defining and applying the shape factor in 3 thermal models, the finite element analyses were carried out in order to enhance the precision of estimated melt pool geometry. After thermal analysis, the melt pool geometry dimensions are extracted for each of the mentioned thermal models and compared with experimental results. Results show that thermal analysis with Gaussian surface model have the melt pool geometry accurately just in welding with low energy. Also, the conical model could estimate the melt pool geometry in all levels of energy with acceptable accuracy. Therefore, the pyramidal thermal model can be selected as the most suitable model for simulating pulsed laser welding in thin steel sheets.