The role of process gases in laser welding

Laser welding requires process gases in order to obtain stable and high quality welds

Abstract

Using process gases can be rather difficult for some laser welding applications and give the user or the plant engineer some headaches. The currently very popular remote welding with lasers of high beam quality is such an application. Here, the laser beam is directed using scanner mirrors and can be positioned and moved nearly without inertia. Since these fast movements cannot be followed with process gas nozzles, the temptation is large to simply do away with the process gas. In this article, it is shown why process gases are necessary for welding metals and which risks are incurred, when one omits them.