Characteristics of laser pulsed welding at intersected points of Zircaloy-4 alloy

A study on intersected points of Zircaloy-4 alloy is carried out by using pulsed Nd: YAG laser. The effects of laser parameters on the intersected points are analyzed from the appearances, depth-to-width ratio and mechanical properties. The results show that the protrusion of the weld beads can not meet the demand because the convex platform fails to be molten amply with the improper parameters. With the peak power increasing and the pulse width decreasing, or the number of shots increasing when the single pulse energy remains unchanged, the protrusion of the weld beads decreases, and the depth-to-width ratio of the weld beads increases. The maximum tensile loads of the intersected points are proportional to the depth-to-width ratio.