Q-switch Nd:YAG laser welding of AISI 304 stainless steel foils

Conventional fusion welding of stainless steel foils (<100 μm thickness) used in computer disk, precision machinery and medical device applications suffer from excessive distortion, formation of discontinuities (pore, void and hot crack), uncontrolled melting (melt-drop through) and poor aesthetics. In this work, a 15 ns pulsed, 400 mJ Nd:YAG laser beam was utilized to overcome these barriers in seam welding of 60 μm thin foil of AISI 304 stainless steel. Transmission electron microscopy was used to characterize the microstructures while hardness and tensile-shear tests were used to evaluate the strengths. Surface roughness was measured using a DekTak profilometer while porosity content was estimated using the light microscope. Results were compared against the data obtained from resistance seam welding. Laser welding, compared to resistance seam welding, required nearly three times less heat input and produced welds having 50% narrower seam, 15% less porosity, 25% stronger and improved surface aesthetics. In addition, there was no evidence of δ-ferrite in laser welds, supporting the absence of hot cracking unlike resistance welding.