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Mechanical Properties of Laser-Welded Sheet Aluminum
Technical Paper
1998-25-0060
Sector:
Event:
ISATA 1998
Language:
English
Abstract
The increasing pressure of environmental organizations has forced the automotive industry to look into all available options to reduce significantly a fuel consumption of vehicles manufactured. One of the most exercised options is utilizing light materials, like sheet aluminum, which application significantly reduces vehicle's weight, and consequently its fuel consumption. This paper presents some results of a study on laser application to weld sheet 5XXX aluminum alloy. Butt welds were considered in this paper, only. Two fundamental methods of welding were studied: autogenous welding and welding with an addition of filler metal. The latter one was found superior to the autogenous one from the monotonic properties point of view. Failure always occurred in the base metal for all filler-metal-welded specimens tested monotonically. Also, an addition of filler metal to the welding zone increased the fatigue strength of butt welds approximately 20% in comparison with autogenous butt weldments.