What Types of Material Can be Welded with our PhotonWeld laser welding machines?
Lasers can weld many different types of materials together.
Stainless steel, titanium,nickel, aluminum, molybdenum, and Inconel are just a few of the metals that are well-suited to laser welding.
What is important to note, however, is that not all metal combinations are weldable.
Aluminum, for example, can be laser welded. However,only dissimilar grades of aluminum can be welded together due to a high probability of cracking.
This is one area where laser welding differs from conventional welding. In conventional welding, the metals don’t bond directly with one another, but rather with the filler material being used. This can be a major factor in determining whether or not a particular application lends itself to laser welding.
Which metals can be welded with a fiber laser welding machine?
Laser Weldable Materials - Material selection
Selecting a material that satisfies both part functionality and manufacturability is fundamental to a successful laser welding process. The most common material used for micro welding is 300 series stainless steel, along with aluminum alloys and titanium. This contrasts with penetration welding, where many forms of carbon steel are welded. Next table summarizes the weldability of the most common materials used.
| Material | Comments |
| Aluminum | 1050, 3003 and 6061 to 4047 are OK. Continuous wave welding increases weldability of alloys such as 5052 and 5082. Aluminum alloys should be tested thoroughly for crack sensitivity |
| Beryllium copper | Good welds. Potential safety hazard exists from the beryllium oxide fumes |
| Carbon steel | Good welds. Carbon content should be less than 0.12% for pulsed welding, up to 0.2% for continuous wave welding |
| Copper | Good welds. High energy levels required to overcome surface reflectivity unless 532 nm wavelength welding laser used. |
| Nickel alloys | Good welds, especially with alloys such as Hastelloy-X, Inconel 600 and 718 |
| Nitinol | Good welds. Care needed to avoid brittleness |
| Phosphor bronze | Good welds |
| Stainless steel | 304 and 304L produce excellent welds 316 and 316L are OK provided Cr/Ni ratio is greater than 1.7 303 is not recommended due to cracking tendencies. Can be matched with friendlier materials such as 304. A CW laser can be used to increase weldability. 400 series require testing for crack sensitivity. |
| Titanium | Good welds |
| Tungsten | Brittle welds |
Experience has shown that certain metals and alloys are suitable for laser welding.
The welding behavior of metals is governed by their metallurgical properties.
Next Table shows a comparison of the laser weldability of various metals. A value of 10 represents excellent weldability and a value of 0 represents very poor weldability. Some metals that have a metal constituent with a low boiling point (such as brass) have weldability problems because the low temperature component tends to boil off rapidly. This behavior may lead to porosity and poor-quality welds .
| Metal | Laser weldability | Comments |
|---|---|---|
| 3-series stainless steel | 10 | Excellent metallurgy |
| Low-Carbon Steel | 9 | Good metallurgy |
| Nickel | 8 | Needs clean Surface |
| Inconel 625 (nickel alloy) | 8 | Porosity in deep welds |
| Titanium | 8 | Needs low oxigen and nitrogen |
| 410- Stainless steel | 7 | May crack |
| High Carbon Steel | 6 | Cracking at high carbon Content |
| Aluminium | 6 | Very reflective |
| 440c Stainless steel | 3 | Needs heat treatment to reduce cracking |
| 6061 Aluminium alloy | 2 | Magnesium may boil off |
| Brass | 2 | Zink boil-off causes porosity |
| Galvanized steel | 1 | Zink boil-off causes porosity |
| Copper | 1 | Excessive reflectivity |
| Gold | Excessive reflectibity |