Hybrid laser-MIG welding of aluminum alloys: The influence of shielding gases

In this paper, laser-GMAW hybrid welding technologies of light metals are investigated by focusing particularly on shielding gas related problems such as distribution on the welding zone, mixtures and flow. In particular, a Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) software was used with the aim to investigate the effect on gas distribution and contamination of the adoption of an isolation chamber surrounding the welding zone. In particular, the turbulent flow model adopted was a standard k–ɛ one. A simple parallelepipedal geometry for the isolation chamber was adopted whose width and depth were fixed, while the height was set as a variable. A simulation activity was carried out in order to evaluate the relationship among chamber height, flow rates and inlet angle inclinations. The simulated welding environment was simplified without considering the presence and the effect of the laser induced plasma plume and of the electric arc. The main results concern the influence of isolation chamber height, gas flow rate and gas inlet inclination on the shielding gas contamination and distribution in a zone near the heat sources–material interaction zone. These results underline that there are particular values of the chosen variables which optimize the gas distribution around the welding zone allowing to achieve an even and reliable shielding effect.