Dissimilar Metal Welding - Different metals perfect joining by Fiber laser
As with any welding process, establishing a good fiber laser weld involves a lot of variables.
A material’s weldability is a factor. Most common materials in a fabrication shop that will be processed —be it carbon steel, stainless, or aluminum— have been successfully laser welded for years, using both continuous wave and pulsed modes. Lasers have performed dissimilar-metal welding, and specialized weld joint designs in galvanized material have even accounted for zinc outgassing. Moreover, our PhotonWeld Pro Serie fiber laser has been shown to successfully weld together even the most challenging of materials, including copper
DISSIMILAR METALS
Welding dissimilar metals is where most processes fall apart. You’re trying to join materials that expand at different rates, conduct heat differently, and form brittle intermetallic compounds if you’re not careful. It’s not just about melting two edges together. It’s about managing metallurgy at the fusion line.
I’ve seen people try to TIG aluminum to steel, copper to stainless, or titanium to nickel alloys. Almost always, you’re fighting against cracking, porosity, or joints that are just plain weak. You need transition layers. You need exotic filler metals. You need perfect gas coverage and post-weld heat treatment just to get something functional. And even then, it might not hold up under stress.
Laser welding changes what’s possible. With its pinpoint precision and low heat input, you can make solid dissimilar joints that traditional processes struggle with. Because the melt pool is so small and the energy so concentrated, you limit the size of the heat-affected zone. That reduces the chance of forming brittle intermetallic phases and keeps thermal stresses low.
One of the most powerful tools is beam wobble. By modulating the beam path slightly, you can better mix the two metals and manage the thermal profile at the fusion line. That technique has allowed us to create dissimilar welds that pass mechanical testing where other methods failed.
With our new PhotonWeld master and Lite we can even adapt 2 different power levels in one welding movement.
This isn’t entry-level work. It requires a deep understanding of material science, laser parameters, and real-world trial and error. But when it’s dialed in, laser welding opens doors that no other process can touch.