By: Mohamed Wahba, Masami Mizutani, Yousuke Kawahito, Seiji Katayama
Central Metallurgical Research & Development Institute, Egypt
Graduate School of Engineering, Osaka University, Japan
Joining and Welding Research Institute, Osaka University, Japan
Currently, the automotive industry is facing an increasing demand to increase fuel economy and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Therefore, the trend is moving toward an increase in the percentage of components made of lightweight structural materials such as magnesium alloys. In order to implement these materials, it’s critical to have the ability to produce defect-free welds with reproducible high quality. Laser welding, owing to its versatile advantages, is very promising in this regard. Moreover, the recent development of fiber and disc laser sources with excellent beam quality has increased the capability and enhanced the performance of the laser welding process. Compared to Nd:YAG and CO2 laser sources, the superior beam quality can be utilized to obtain higher welding speeds, and deeper penetration, longer distance to the work piece and lower cost can be realized.