Abstract
The behaviors of YAG laser welding process of ferritic stainless steel with activating fluxes were investigated in this study. Some conventional oxides, halides and carbonates were applied in laser welding. The results showed that the effect of oxides on the penetration depth was more remarkable. Most activating fluxes improved the penetration more effectively at low power than that at high power. The uniform design was adopted to arrange the formula of multicomponent activating fluxes, showing that the optimal formula can make the penetration depth up to 2.23 times as large as that without flux, including 50% ZrO2, 12.09% CaCO3, 10.43% CaO and 27.48% MgO. Through the high-speed photographs of welding process, CaF2 can minimize the plasma volume but slightly improve the penetration capability.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Afshan S, Gardner L. Experimental study of cold-formed ferritic stainless steel hollow sections[J]. Journal of Structural Engineering, 2013, 139(5): 717–728.
Amuda M O H, Mridha S. Analysis of sensitization profile in medium chromium ferritic stainless steel (FSS) welds[J]. International Journal of Integrated Engineering, 2011, 3(1): 17–22.
Mohandas T, Reddy G M, Naveed M. A comparative evaluation of gas tungsten and shielded metal arc welds of a “ferritic” stainless steel[J]. Journal of Materials Processing Technology, 1999, 94(2–3): 133–140.
Hu Shengsun, Wang Yonghui, Shen Junqi et al. A-TIG welding of 430 ferritic stainless steel[J]. Journal of Tianjin University, 2013, 46(9): 831–835 (in Chinese).
Huang H Y. Research on the activating flux gas tungsten arc welding and plasma arc welding for stainless steel[J]. Metals and Materials International, 2010, 16(5): 819–825.
Zhang R H, Fan D, Katayama S. Electron beam welding with activating flux[J]. Transactions of JWRI, 2006, 35(2): 19–22.
Heiple C R, Roper J R, Stagner R T et al. Surface active element effects on the shape of GTA, laser, and electron beam welds[J]. Welding Journal, 1983, 62(3): 72–77.
Huang H Y. Effects of shielding gas composition and activating flux on GTAW weldments[J]. Materials & Design, 2009, 30(7): 2404–2409.
Kuo M, Sun Z, Pan D. Laser welding with activating flux[J]. Science and Technology of Welding and Joining, 2001, 6(1): 17–22.
Nakata K, Fan D, Tanaka M et al. Influence of flux and sulfur on YAG laser welding[J]. Journal of Gansu University of Technology, 2003, 29(4): 11–14.
Sun H, Song G, Zhang L F. Effects of oxide activating flux on laser welding of magnesium alloy[J]. Science and Technology of Welding and Joining, 2008, 13(4): 305–311.
Qin G L, Wang G G, Zou Z D. Effects of activating flux on CO2 laser welding process of 6013 Al alloy[J]. Transactions of Nonferrous Metals Society of China, 2012, 22(1): 23–29.
Shen J, Wang L Z, Zhao M L et al. Effects of activating fluxes on pulsed laser beam welded AZ31 magnesium alloy[J]. Science and Technology of Welding and Joining, 2012, 17(8): 665–671.
Xie J, Kar A. Laser welding of thin sheet steel with surface oxidation[J]. Welding Journal, 1999, 78(10): 343–348.
Liang Y Z, Fang K T, Xu Q S. Uniform design and its applications in chemistry and chemical engineering[J]. Chemometrics and Intelligent Laboratory Systems, 2001, 58(1): 43–57.
Fan D, Huang Y, Zhang R H et al. Application of the uniform design method in developing A-TIG activating fluxes for aluminum alloy[J]. Journal of Gansu University of Technology, 2003, 29(2): 5–7 (in Chinese).
Sahoo P, Debroy T, Mcnallan M J. Surface tension of binary metal-surface active solute systems under conditions relevant to welding metallurgy[J]. Metallurgical Transactions B, 1988, 19(3): 483–491.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Supported by the Research Institute, Baoshan Iron & Steel Co., Ltd.
Ma Li, born in 1981, male, doctorate student.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Ma, L., Hu, S., Hu, B. et al. Activating flux design for laser welding of ferritic stainless steel. Trans. Tianjin Univ. 20, 429–434 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12209-014-2243-5
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12209-014-2243-5