TWI Industrial Member Report Summary 764/2003
G Verhaeghe
Background
Increased international competition has encouraged aerospace companies to investigate new approaches to aircraft design and manufacturing methods to provide reliable and competitively priced products. In a particular initiative in this field, a programme named CEMWAM (Cost Effective Manufacture: Welding of Aerospace Materials) was set up between a number of leading UK industrial companies and Research and Technology Organisations (RTOs). The work described in this report was part of the CEMWAM programme and focused on Nd:YAG laser welding of 3.2mm thickness 2024 aerospace aluminium alloy.
Objectives
- To produce process conditions for producing fully penetrating, square-edge butt joints in 3.2mm thickness 2024 aluminium alloy using a high power Nd:YAG laser.
- To evaluate the effect of parent material and filler wire cleanliness, shielding gas delivery and laser beam energy distribution on the presence of porosity in 3.2mm thickness laser welded 2024 aluminium alloy.