Optimization of Nd:YAG Laser Welding of Aluminum Alloy to Stainless Steel Thin Sheets Via Taguchi Method and Response Surface Methodology (RSM)
J. Yang, H. Zhang and Y-L. Li
The experimental study was conducted for AA6061-T6 aluminium alloy and 316L stainless steel thin dissimilar sheets with the lap joint configuration using pulsed Nd:YAG laser welding. The joints were photographed using optical microscopy, and then the cross-sections of laser welded samples were measured by image processing technology. Taguchi method was employed to optimize pulsed laser welding parameters on weld bead profile of the aluminium alloy and steel hybrid joints. The analysis of variance (ANOVA) method was used to study the significance of the welding parameters. Furthermore, the second order model for predicting weld bead dimensions was developed using the response surface methodology (RSM). Confirmation experiments were conducted under optimum conditions to verify the validity of the proposed methods, which indicates that the methods can be effectively applied to enhance and optimize the welding performance in pulsed Nd:YAG laser welding.
Keywords: Nd:YAG laser, welding, aluminium alloy, AA6061-T6, stainless steel, 316L, parameter optimization, Taguchi method, response surface methodology (RSM), weld defect