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ABSTRACT. Weld metal porosity is a most weight and cost savings in the use addition, turbulent flow in the weld pool
major concern during laser beam weld- of automotive alloys, tailor-welded (Ref. 11) has also been linked with poros-
ing of magnesium alloys. This study seeks blanks are widely used in the auto body. ity formation. However, in a recent study,
to identify both the mechanism of pore Laser beam welding is a preferred Pastor, et al. (Ref. 12), found keyhole sta-
formation and a remedy for this problem method in the manufacture of tailor- bility played a major role in porosity for-
during continuous-wave Nd:YAG laser welded blanks due to its high speed, low mation during continuous-wave Nd:YAG
beam welding of die-cast magnesium heat input and low weldment distortion. laser beam welding of aluminum alloys
alloy AM60B. Preexisting pores in the Increasing the use of aluminum and mag- 5182 and 5754. Furthermore, they
base metal coalesced and expanded dur- nesium alloys in tailor-welded blanks showed segregation of hydrogen played
ing welding of this alloy and, as a result, will require improved technology to fab- an insignificant role in the formation of
large pores were commonly present in ricate structurally sound and defect-free large pores in the welds.
the weld metal. Unlike laser beam weld- welds easily and reproducibly. Although the mechanism of pore for-
ing of aluminum alloys, the stability of One of the major concerns during mation during welding of aluminum al-
the keyhole was not a major factor in welding of magnesium and aluminum al- loys is better understood than magne-
pore formation during laser beam weld- loys is the presence of porosity in the sium alloys, there are some similarities
ing of alloy AM60B. The porosity in the weld metal that can deteriorate mechan- between the welding of these two types
fusion zone increased with the increase ical properties, particularly tensile of alloys. Both aluminum and magne-
in heat input, i.e., increase in the laser strength and elongation (Refs. 1–3). sium have significantly higher hydrogen
power and decrease in the welding However, pore formation during welding solubility in liquid than in solid. For mag-
speed. It was found that well-controlled of magnesium alloys has not been sys- nesium, this difference in the hydrogen
remelting of the fusion zone led to re- tematically studied. In contrast, the solubility can be observed from Fig. 1
moval of gas bubbles and reduced poros- mechanism of porosity formation during (Ref. 13). Mikucki and Shearouse (Ref.
ity in the fusion zone. welding of aluminum alloys has received 14) found the amount of porosity in the
considerable attention (Refs. 4–12). Pore solidified magnesium alloy AZ91 was
Introduction formation has been attributed to hydro- proportional to the dissolved hydrogen in
gen rejection from the solid phase during the alloy. They also found that the rejec-
Magnesium and aluminum alloys are solidification (Refs. 4–7) and imperfect tion of hydrogen from the Mg17Al12 in-
finding increased use in the automotive collapse of the keyhole (Refs. 7–10). In termetallic compound assisted in the nu-
industry because of their excellent spe- cleation and/or growth of microporosity
cific strength, good elongation and during the last stages of solidification of
toughness. The specific strength, i.e., the alloy AZ91 (Ref. 15). The difference in
ratio of tensile strength and specific grav- the solubility between the solid and liq-
ity, of die-cast magnesium alloy AM60B, uid phases and the results of previous so-
KEY WORDS
122 MPa, far exceeds that of low-carbon lidification studies (Refs. 14, 15) indicate
steel, which is 45 MPa. The use of these hydrogen rejection needs to be consid-
lightweight alloys can help automakers Magnesium Alloys ered as a possible cause of porosity for-
improve fuel economy and reduce Porosity mation during solidification of magne-
greenhouse gas emissions. To make the Lasers sium alloys (Refs. 14, 15).
Laser Beam Welding Haferkamp, et al. (Ref. 16), observed
Die-Cast Magnesium more porosity in the fusion zone of non-
H. ZHAO and T. DEBROY are with the De- Automotive vacuum die-cast alloy AM60B than vac-
partment of Materials Science and Engineer-
uum die-cast alloy AZ91D, which had
ing, The Pennsylvania State University, Uni-
less gas inclusions in the base metal.
versity Park, Pa.
1 mm 500 µm
Pore Coalescence and Expansion cates significant coalescence of the pre- expansion due to coalescence of the pre-
existing pores during welding. The aver- existing pores needs to be considered.
Figure 5 shows the typical number age pore radius, number density and When the base metal is melted, pressure
densities of pores of various sizes in the area-percent porosity measured in the in the pores tends to equal the sum of the
base metal and weld metal. It is observed base metal and weld metal for different surface tension pressure and the pressure
that the pore radii in the fusion zone are welding speeds are given in Table 1. It is in the surrounding liquid. Since surface
more than one order of magnitude larger observed that the area-percent porosity tension pressure decreases with an in-
than those in the base metal, while the in the weld metal was about 11 to 17 crease in pore radius and the pressure in
pore number densities in the weld metal times that in the base metal depending on the surrounding liquid is almost constant,
are nearly two orders of magnitude welding speed. the pressure inside a small pore is larger
smaller. The reduction in the number of To understand the increase in area- than that in a large pore. If several small
pores per unit area of fusion zone indi- percent porosity in the weld metal, pore pores coalesce to form a large pore, there