Study of keyhole geometry for full penetration Nd-Yag CW laser welding

Abstract

The understanding of keyhole behavior is always a topic of great importance where many questions are still of concern. We have analyzed the keyhole dynamics in the case of a very simple configuration where we have used full penetration laser welding conditions. We will present the results of the study of these welding configurations, where experimentally a 4 kW Nd:YAG laser has been used, characterized with a 0.4 mm spot diameter and a "top-hat" intensity distribution