Laser welding of boron steels for light-weight vehicle applications

Abstract: Laser beam welding has gained a significant interest during the last two decades. The suitability of the process for high volume production has the possibility to give a strong advantage compared to several other welding methods. However, it is important to have the process in full control since various quality issues may otherwise occur. During laser welding of boron steels quality issues such as imperfections, changes in local and global geometry as well as strength reduction can occur. The aspects that need to be considered are strongly depending on alloy content, process parameters etc. These problems that can occur could be fatal for the construction and the lowest level of occurrence is wanted, independent of industry.The focus of this study has been to investigate the properties of laser welded boron steel. The study includes laser welding of boron alloyed steels with strengths of 1500 MPa and a recently introduced 1900 MPa grade. Focus has been to investigate weldability and the occurrence of cracks, porosity and strength reducing microstructure that can occur during laser welding, as well as distortion studies for tolerances in geometry. The results show that both conventional and 1900 MPa boron alloyed steel are suitable for laser welding.Due to the martensitic structure of welds the material tends to behave brittle. Cracking and porosity do not seem to be an issue limiting the use of these steels. For tolerances in geometry for larger structures tests has been done simulating laser welding of A-pillars and B-pillars. Measurements have been done with Vernier caliper as well as a more advanced optical method capturing the movements during the welding sequence. Results from the tests done on Ushaped beams indicates that depending on the geometry of the structure and heat input distortions can be controlled to give distortions from 1 to 8 mm, at a welding length of 700 mm. This means that important geometry points can be distorted several millimeters if the laser welding process not is controlled.