Three-Dimensional Heat Transfer Analysis of Laser-Arc Hybrid Welding Process

Laser-arc hybrid welding process employs a laser beam and a welding arc concurrently for the joining of thick plates at high welding speeds. Systematic quantitative studies to understand the role of welding conditions on the rate of heat input and weld pool profile are important but rarely reported for hybrid welding process. The current work presents a three-dimensional heat transfer analysis of hybrid welding process using finite element method. The computed results are validated using experimentally measured results that are reported in the independent literature. The model is used further to examine the effect of welding speed, laser and arc power, and the separation distance between laser beam and welding arc on the weld pool profile. The computed results show that the weld width will reduce with increase in welding speed and the separation distance while the penetration increases with the laser power.