Welding & Metal Fabrication: Laser/Electron Beam Welding & Cutting

Electron beam welding (EBW) is a welding process which produces coalescence of metals with the heat obtained from a concentrated beam composed primarily of high-velocity electrons impinging upon the surfaces to be joined. Laser beam welding (LBW) is a welding process which produces coalescence of materials with the heat obtained from the application of a concentrated coherent light beam impinging upon the surfaces to be joined. Thermit welding (TW) is a welding process which produces coalescence of metals by heating them with superheated liquid metal from a chemical reaction between a metal oxide and aluminum with or without the application of pressure.

Laser welding is at the frontier of welding technology and the use of keyhole welding has been adopted increasingly by various sectors of the manufacturing industry. The possibility of welding materials of varying thickness quickly, efficiently, and with resultant small heat affected zones continues to attract more and more industrial interest in laser welding.

Laser surface treatment techniques, including laser surface melting (LSM) and laser surface alloying (LSA), have been the subject of considerable interest as a means of enhancing the corrosion performance of aluminum and its alloys. Microstructural modification together with the incorporation of non-equilibrium concentrations of alloying elements resulting from relatively rapid rates of cooling compared with conventional surface treatment techniques provide the basis for property enhancement. Hereby the microstructural evolution in a range of laser surface treated aluminum alloys including LSM of Al-Cu, Al-Si, Al-Zn, Al-Fe and Al-transitional element alloy systems; LSA of Al-Ni, Al-Cr and Al-Mo is considered.