Effect of laser on the welding process of short-circuiting transfer MIG welding of aluminum alloys

In this paper, the effect of laser on the welding process in metal inert gas (MIG) welding of aluminum alloys was studied exploiting high-speed imaging and welding electrical signals collecting. Bead-on-plate welding experiments were conducted using conventional short-circuiting transfer MIG welding and laser-short-circuiting transfer MIG hybrid welding. The obtained results point out that it took less time to strike the arc in laser-MIG hybrid welding, and the stability of arc striking was increased. When the laser was introduced into the arc atmosphere, the arc was compressed, and the welding energy was more concentrated. The arc cathode spot was fixed to the laser beam impinging spot, so the arc could burn stably. In laser-MIG hybrid welding, the droplet short-circuiting transfer stability and the weld appearance were improved significantly. Moreover, an analysis method of judging droplet transfer stability which bases on statistical techniques was proposed. By this method, it can be concluded that the short-circuiting transfer process became more stable in laser-MIG hybrid welding.