Laser beam welding of thick titanium sheets in the field of marine technology

The ever larger requirements of the material selection in the range of maritime 'industry, necessitate the application of high-tech materials. Titanium because of its excellent mechanical properties at low weight is an attractive alternative for the construction of ships. The goal of this investigation was to design a welding method for joining samples of 16 mm thick Ti3Al2.5V. The welding experiments with a 20 kW Yb-fiber laser source and varying combinations of parameters were intended to qualify the laser beam welding process. The welding results were analyzed by non-destructive and destructive testing. In addition, the welding tests were recorded with two high-speed cameras to observe the weld pool and the vapor plume. The evaluation of the high-speed images in correlation with the results of non-destructive testing shows, that a significant improvement of process stability and weld quality can be achieved by the suppression of the vapor plume. (C) 2014 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V.