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Induction-assisted laser welding taking into account phase changes

Václav Kotlan (Department of the Theory of Electrical Engineering, University of West Bohemia, Plzen, Czech Republic)
Roman Hamar (University of West Bohemia, Plzen, Czech Republic)
Ivan Alexandrovich Smolyanov (Department of Electrical and Electrotechnological System, Ural’skii Federal’nyi Universitet Imeni Pervogo Prezidenta Rossii B N El’tsina, Ekaterinburg, Russian Federation)
Ivo Doležel (Department of Theory of Electrical Engineering, University of West Bohemia, Plzen, Czech Republic)

COMPEL - The international journal for computation and mathematics in electrical and electronic engineering

ISSN: 0332-1649

Article publication date: 25 June 2019

Issue publication date: 14 August 2019

105

Abstract

Purpose

The paper aims to describe the modeling of the induction-assisted laser welding process taking into account the keyhole effect and phase changes in the material.

Design/methodology/approach

A sophisticated mathematical model of the above heat treatment process is presented, taking into account the above phenomena and all available nonlinearities of the material. Its numerical solution is carried out using the finite element method incorporating algorithms for the deformation of geometry and solution of the flow field.

Findings

Unlike various simplified models solved in the past, this approach incorporating a sophisticated model of heat transfer and flow of melt is able to reach a very accurate solution, differing only by a small error (not more than 8 per cent) from the experiment.

Research limitations/implications

The presented model does not consider several subtle phenomena related to the evaporation of metal after irradiation of the material by a laser beam. In fact, at the heated spot, all three phases of the material coexist. The evaporated metal forms a capillary leak off and forms a cloud above the spot of irradiation. Due to the absorption of laser power in this cloud, the process of heating decelerates, which leads to a decrease in the process efficiency.

Practical implications

The presented model and methodology of its solution may represent a basis for design of the process of laser welding.

Originality/value

The main value is the proposal of numerical model for solution a complex multiphysical model with respecting several physical phenomena whose results are available in a short time and still with a good agreement with the experimental verification.

Keywords

Acknowledgements

This research has been supported by the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports of the Czech Republic under the RICE – New Technologies and Concepts for Smart Industrial Systems, project No. LO1607 and project TACR No. TH03020130.

Citation

Kotlan, V., Hamar, R., Smolyanov, I.A. and Doležel, I. (2019), "Induction-assisted laser welding taking into account phase changes", COMPEL - The international journal for computation and mathematics in electrical and electronic engineering, Vol. 38 No. 4, pp. 1357-1371. https://doi.org/10.1108/COMPEL-10-2018-0422

Publisher

:

Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2019, Emerald Publishing Limited

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