13 October
Differences between arc welding and laser welding
The arc and the weld pool
In traditional welding processes, heat is generated by the arc burning between the workpiece and a consumable electrode or wire. The size of the weld pool is largely determined by the dimensions of the area where the arc acts on the base material. Compared to laser welding, this weld pool is much larger. This has the advantage that larger gaps can be bridged, as the liquid weld metal neatly fills the gap. On the other hand, this larger weld pool also has the disadvantage that a lot of energy is required. As a result, material distortion is often clearly visible. For stainless steel products, this is often significant. Stainless steel will also show considerably more discoloration. Due to the longer duration and the larger weld pool, there is more opportunity for oxygen to react with the liquid weld metal or the hot base material.Compared to traditional welding processes, laser welding is easy to learn. Since the welding gun is usually only pulled in a straight line along the longitudinal seam, it is especially important for the welder to develop a good feel for the correct welding speed.
Welding with filler material
In traditional welding processes, a significantly larger amount of weld metal can be added. Creating fillet welds with an a-dimension can be carried out very effectively with MIG/MAG welding or TIG welding.Laser welding can also be performed with filler material. In most cases, this filler is used to ensure that the weld appearance meets the required standards. A small gap can be welded more easily with a laser when filler material is used.In the laser welding process, the weld pool is created by very high energy focused on a small point on the material. The weld pool is not much larger than the laser spot. Since this can result in a weld pool that is too small, it is possible to make the laser spot rotate or oscillate quickly. This movement is often referred to as “wobble”. The wobble can be adjusted on the welding gun, both in terms of shape (rotating/oscillating) and width. The use of a welding gun with wobble has made manual laser welding easier to apply.
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