Effects of welding parameters on weld geometry of pulsed Nd:YAG laser/TIG hybrid welding process of 304 stainless steel

Effects of welding parameters on the weld geometry are investigated for pulsed Nd:YAG laser/TIG hybrid welding of 304 stainless steel plate. The results show that cross sectional area of hybrid weld is larger than the sum of cross sectional area of single laser weld and that of single TIG weld, which means synergetic effect occurs during hybrid welding process; weld width, weld depth, weld cross sectional area and heat transfer efficiency increase with the increase of laser power; when defocusing distance increase from -3 mm to 5 mm, weld width, weld depth, weld cross sectional area and heat transfer efficiency would increase and reach the maximum when defocusing distance is -1 mm, and then decrease with the further increasing of defocusing distance. With the decreasing of welding speed, weld width, weld depth and weld cross sectional area would increase, while heat transfer efficiency would decrease.