Study of laser transmission welding process using a volumetric heat source model and experimental analysis

Abstract

In this paper, the laser transmission welding of polycarbonate is studied via numerical modeling and experimental investigation. A 3-dimensional transient heat transfer model is developed and experimentally validated. The developed model is able to predict the transient temperature field and weld pool size. It is found from the sensitivity analysis of boundary conditions that the effect of heat conduction is predominant on temperature field distribution during laser transmission welding. Temperature results from the numerical model and the experimentally measured of weld strength results are used as responses for parametric analysis. It is seen that the peak temperature reaches when the laser power is maximum and welding speed and beam diameter are at minimum values. However, the maximum welding strength is obtained when the laser power and beam diameter are at maximum values and welding speed is minimum. It is further noticed that, the maximum value of welding strength corresponds to the peak temperature of 595 °C, which is just above the decomposition temperature of the parent material.