WELDING ENGINEERING MEE2011

PROJECT REPORT: REVIEW PAPER

Slot F1
HIMANSHU KHANDELWAL
16BME0897

A Review of the development and application of laser and laser-arc

hybrid welding in Shipbuilding

ABSTRACT
The use of lasers in the shipbuilding industry is in its infancy. In 1992, the European
shipbuilding industry initiated work to look at the use of CO2 lasers and the information that
would be necessary to gain approval from the commercial regulatory bodies, i.e. the ship
classification societies. At that time, only one yard had industrial experience of such
techniques and only for the manufacture of pre-fabricated panels intended for cruise liner
decks and internal walls. The research investigated applications on panel lines, both for butt
and fillet welds. The driving force was an expected major reduction in distortion which
would, in turn, make possible a main reduction in the amount of re-work, currently
estimated to be as much as 15-30% of the total labour cost for new ship construction. The
work resulted in the publication of guidelines for procedures for the approval of CO 2 laser
welding in ship construction in 1996 by the European ship classification societies. Further
work since that date has moved to laser-arc hybrid processes, employing both CO2 and
Nd:YAG lasers with MAG/GMAW, and culminating in two further revisions of the guidelines.
This paper briefly describes the successes and pitfalls that have occurred over this 10-year
period and the philosophies behind the guidelines.

INTRIDUCTION
Exceptionally few dispatch development yards utilize laser welding so it is clear that in
shipbuilding the innovation is still in its earliest stages. In June 1992, the European
shipbuilding industry distributed a possibility ponder concerning the utilization of laser
welding in shipbuilding. [1] At that time, as it were one yard - Meyer Werft in Germany -
had mechanical encounter of such strategies and indeed at that point as it were for
the fabricate of pre-fabricated box boards expecting for non-
structural journey dispatch decks and inner dividers. The starting ponder raised a number of
issues that would require to be overcome some time recently laser welding innovation could
be utilized in generation. The primary obstruction was seen to be unbending necessities of
the administrative specialists (in the case of shipbuilding, classification social orders such as
Lloyd's Enlist), who distribute an arrangement of rules and controls, guidelines.
This research work about this was completed in 1996 and one of the major results was
the distribution of rules for methods for the endorsement of CO2 laser welding
in dispatch development by the European classification social orders and afterward by
Lloyd's Enlist. [3] Advance European-funded work beneath the acronym SHILWACQ [4] at
that point looked at the more extensive issues of quality control and non-destructive
examination of laser welding in shipbuilding. Other inquire about activities looked
for case at Nd:YAG lasers, [5] the bar of which can be conveyed at the workpiece
through adaptable fiber optic cables. In any case, these lasers were restricted to
lower person control (~4kW) than so distant utilized with the CO2 lasers, in spite of the fact
that tests where the yield of up to three lasers was combined optically were too examined.
In the meantime, advancement in industry was moving amazingly rapidly and due to
the issues of accomplishing fit-up exactness, in specific crevice estimate, required for
autogenous laser welding, the industry has moved into laser-arc crossover welding, where
a conventional circular segment welding handle and a laser pillar are combined in a single
weld pool. Encourage EU6 and secretly supported investigate has looked at these
applications and the innovation lessons learnt have come about in encourage corrections of
the classification social orders rules, [7] which are still in drive nowadays. This paper
briefly portrays the advances connected, the victories and pitfalls that have happened over
the 10-year period, and the reasoning fundamental the distributed rules.

FUNDAMENTALS OF LASER WELDING

1.1 Use of high-power lasers for welding

Rapidly after the great acknowledgment of

Einstein's hypothesis of invigorated emanation was accomplished in the to begin
with laser in the 1960s, lasers were being utilized as vitality sources
for diverse materials handling applications such as penetrating, cutting and
welding. Particular benefits of the utilize of lasers for these sorts of
applications incorporate the reality that the laser vitality, which can be from milli-watts
to different kilowatts in control, can be concentrated in a spot of regularly less than
a millimetre in distance across, giving a exceptionally tall control thickness.
When utilizing lasers for welding applications in metals,
this tall vitality thickness permits the so-called keyhole welding component to
be utilized, which is shown in figure 1.
 In this mechanism, the focused laser energy in effect drills a vapour column in the
workpiece. This keyhole is surrounded by molten metal flowing around it as the laser
beam and thereby the keyhole are traversed along the workpiece. When the keyhole
has passed, the molten metal solidifies, creating the weld. With this mechanism, welds
of a very high depth-to-width ratio can be made with a very low heat input, leading to
much narrower heat-affected zones and less distortion than is common with traditional
conduction limited welds.
In spite of the fact that initially primarily connected to lean areas (i.e. up to a couple
of millimeters in thickness), as the accessible laser powers expanded,
the intrigued in utilizing lasers for welding of
thicker areas normally expanded, especially since with the keyhole instrument, the
laser could possibly figure it out in a single pass what would have to be done in a multi-
pass method utilizing conventional (circular segment) welding procedures. This would
not as it were render benefits in terms of diminished warm input and twisting, but
for case moreover in terms of simpler weld arrangement (e.g. straight edges for a butt
weld), diminished or disposed of require for filler
metal expansion and expanded efficiency. Actually, as welding is
the fundamental development procedure in the shipbuilding industry, a
few shipbuilders have looked at laser welding as it implies of picking up (a few of) these
benefits.

1.2 Laser-arc hybrid welding

Indeed with the higher laser powers accessible,
it demonstrated less clear than anticipated to expand the application of lasers to
welding of thicker and thicker segments. The primary challenges for these applications
were to get the joint fit-up great sufficient for (autogenous) laser welding (meaning a
joint crevice restricted to a couple tenths of millimeters greatest), as well
as accomplishing satisfactory weld properties, indeed at the tall cooling rates in
thicker areas. One way of overcoming these issues is through the utilize of filler
wire expansion, but this for the most part leads to a impressive lessening in the
achievable travel speed and/or entrance, as a huge portion of
 the accessible laser vitality is utilized to liquefy the filler wire, making
the handle less productive.
Another improvement, to begin with examined in the late 1970s, but of
much reestablished intrigued since the late 1990s, is laser-arc half breed welding. In
this cross breed prepare, the laser bar is combined with an bend welding handle in a
single weld pool. In spite of the fact that numerous variations are doable (for case with
GTAW, GMAW and PAW), of most intrigued is the utilize of GMAW (MAG) in
a crossover course of action, since with this variation, expansion of liquid filler metal to
the weld pool is characteristic to the handle. A schematic of this handle is delineated in
Figure 2. The primary benefits of laser-arc cross breed welding over laser welding tend
to be in terms of the expanded resilience to joint fit-up (joint holes up to around 1mm
can be adapted with) through the expansion of liquid filler wire (when GMAW
is utilized). In expansion, higher travel speeds and joint completion rates can now and
then be figured it out, as well as changes to weld quality and properties through
the bigger, more gradually setting weld pool.

1.3 High-power laser sources

There are a few sorts of laser sources that have the control levels required for welding
the sort of thicknesses common in shipbuilding (ordinarily 6mm and over).
The fundamental one, which has been the workhorse of the laser industry
for numerous a long time, is the CO2 laser, in which vaporous CO2 is the laser medium.
Its benefits incorporate great unwavering quality, sensible electrical effectiveness (in
comparison to other lasers), the relative ease with which tall powers can
be accomplished (sources up to 45kW in control have been figured it out, in spite of the
fact that commercially promptly accessible sources right now go up to a few 20kW
in control) and their great pillar quality, which implies a little centered spot can
be figured it out at a sensible stand-off separate from optics to workpiece.
The fundamental impediment connected to the CO2 laser is the truth that the bar (at
 the essential wavelength of 10.64µm, i.e. in the infra-red) needs to be guided to the
workpiece through mirrors, which frequently limits its utilize to frameworks based on
Cartesian, gantry-driven operation.
The other primary high-power laser source utilized in industry at the minute is the
Nd:YAG laser, in which the laser medium is for the most part a bar of yttrium-
aluminium-garnet (YAG), doped with neodymium (Nd) iotas. These lasers
are regularly accessible up to 6.5kW in control, in spite of the fact that the commercial
standard is 4kW. Primary advantage of these lasers is that due to their 10-times shorter
wavelength (at 1.064µm still in the infra-red), the bar can be
guided through a adaptable fibre-optic cable, making mechanical, three-
dimensional handling more effortlessly achievable. Primary impediment is
their restricted control and their destitute proficiency, in spite of the fact that this can
be moved forward with the utilize of diodes Or maybe than streak lights for pumping.
The most later expansion to the high-power laser family is the Yb fiber laser, which - in
spite of the fact that not however utilized in industry - is
being examined at distinctive investigate organizing at control levels up to 17kW. In
these lasers, the bar is created in long, lean glass filaments with
a reasonable dopant, more often than not Yb for tall powers. The wavelength at
~1.070µm is exceptionally near to that of an Nd:YAG laser, and it can moreover be
guided through fibre-optic cable. In expansion, it benefits from
a tall electrical effectiveness, great pillar quality and simple adaptability.

PROPERTIES OF LASER WELDS

2.1 Strength and Ductility
Laser keyhole welds are limit welds when compared with typical, conduction-
limited bend welds. The thinness of laser welds makes troubles in the estimation of the
mechanical properties of the weld zone. For case,
standard bend welding method capability tests [8] and classification society rules [9] require
an all-weld metal malleable test to decide the quality and ductility of the weld metal.
Clearly, with such a limit weld zone in laser welds, a standard all-weld
metal ductile example would test a more prominent extent of parent and heat-affected
zone fabric or maybe than weld metal. This makes the comes about at
best troublesome to decipher and at most exceedingly bad completely insignificant. In any
case, ductile quality can be evaluated from hardness for which great relationships exist.
Subsequently, the genuine issue that required tending to at the begin of
the improvements for application in transport development was the ductility of laser welds
and how to degree it. Inside a standard bend weld, a cross twist test
is frequently utilized to degree ductility but indeed for these, issues emerge with laser
welds. The moo warm input and the limitation related with the weld deliver welds
of tall hardness; in the event that a standard root or confront twist test is
performed over such a weld, yielding would take put specially next to the weld in the
lower quality parent fabric and no misshapening of the weld would take put. Thus, the
ductility of the weld zone is not decided. To overcome this issue, a longitudinal twist test
was created where the previous breadth is adequate to
supply the least required rate stretching in the external surface of the twist example.
The assurance of the weld metal surrender properties was a
more troublesome issue to unravel. Examinations were carried out into
the utilize of limit pliable tests and large-scale longitudinal pliable tests, but these fizzled to
supply a viable reply. In any case, inside the ventures it before long got to be self-
evident that the utilize of autogenous laser welding was not
a commonsense suggestion in dispatch development, since of the greatest joint hole that
can be endured (of the arrange of a couple tenths of a millimeter) some time recently an
underfilled weld comes about. The utilize of filler wire was in this way found fundamental,
which expanded the intrigued in laser-arc half breed welding. A move to laser-
arc crossover welding too implied that existing consumable endorsement strategies,
as utilized for bend welding, could be used.

2.2 Macro- and micro-structure

The macro-section in Figure 3a shows a typical autogenous CO2 laser butt weld and that
in Figure 3b an Nd:YAG laser-MAG hybrid weld. Three distinctive zones can be seen in both
pictures:
 weld metal/fusion zone
 heat-affected zone (HAZ)

 parent plate
Fig. 3. Macro-sections of a) an autogenous CO2 laser weld b) an Nd:YAG laser-MAG hybrid
weld
Depending on the chemical composition of the materials being welded, high cooling rates
associated with low heat input and/or high travel speed produce hard microstructures,
whereas slower cooling rates associated with higher heat inputs and/or slower travel speeds
give softer and generally tougher microstructures. With laser welds, the weld metal is
typically in a molten state for a very short period of time and then solidifies and cools
rapidly. As a result, the weld zone microstructure can be very hard and strong compared to
the surrounding plate material. For steels with carbon contents in excess of 0.12% - that is
most steels used in ship construction - the microstructure, when rapidly cooled, is fully
martensitic. Although not always the case, generally such hard microstructures are
associated with a relatively low toughness and are therefore unacceptable in ship
construction.
A further result of such hard microstructures is that the weld is considerably overmatched in
strength when compared to the surrounding parent material. In fact, it is not unusual for
such overmatch to be of the order of a factor of two. However, this hard zone is very
narrow; in Figure 3a the weld metal zone has an average width of approximately 1.5 mm. It
is now generally believed that strength overmatching can be beneficial as it promotes
failure in the parent plate which may be lower in strength but higher in toughness, due to
the crack driving force being higher in the lower strength material. Cracks initiated in weld
metal of an overmatched weld do normally deviate into the softer and tougher base metal.
Such behaviour is known as Fracture Path Deviation (FPD), which can be seen in Figure 4 in a
Charpy V-notch impact specimen. It should, however, be recognised that it is possible for
cracks to propagate through weld metal and not undergo FPD in the event of truly brittle or
defective welds.

The expansion of filler wire (as for illustration in laser-GMA crossover welding) can offer
assistance to progress the weld metal durability through alloying increases. With
thick segment laser-arc crossover welding, two unmistakable zones can in some
cases be distinguished in the weld metal (cf. Figure 3b); the upper zone close the weld
cap primarily related with the bend welding handle and the lower zone close the weld
root basically related with the laser welding handle. Distinctive microstructures
are watched in these zones. The upper zone of the weld frequently has a
microstructure overwhelmed by grain boundary ferrite, acicular ferrite, bainite and
Widmannstätten ferrite. An case of the microstructure in this zone is seen in Figure 5a. The
lower zone of the weld is regularly overwhelmed by martensite and grain boundary ferrite;
an illustration is appeared in Figure 5b. In differentiate to the weld metal, the HAZ has the
same microstructure in the upper and the lower zone. Near to the combination line, the
HAZ microstructure is martensitic with some grainy boundary ferrite.
Figure 5c is typical of the microstructure in the HAZ close to the fusion line.
Fig. 5. Microstructure in the a) upper weld zone (near the weld cap) b) lower weld zone
(near the weld root) c) heat-affected zone

2.3 Hardness
Current shipbuilding guidelines [8] limit weld zone hardness levels for bend welds in
constructional steels to a most extreme of 350HV5, which
was too considered appropriate to laser welds. Clearly, be that as it may, with
the moo warm input and tall cooling rates of laser welds, control of the hardness inside this
level can be troublesome. The hardness of the weld zone is basically decided by the steel
composition and the cooling time. For the last mentioned it is
commonly acknowledged to utilize the cooling time from800°C to 500°C ( Δt 8-5 ) as
a degree. Based on this suspicion, it is conceivable to gauge the hardness
from different models, which ordinarily are based on tests with a number of steels taken
after by relapse examination; the taking after employments the demonstrate by Terasaki.
Obviously, the prediction of the models gives an estimate of the hardness only. As an
example, the influence of the travel speed on the hardness (through its effect on the cooling
rate) is shown in Figure 6.
Practically, for a given welding process, there are two ways in which the weld zone hardness
can be controlled, namely through the hardenability of the material, and through the
cooling rate. In practice, this gives three methods that can be used:
1. Limit the travel speed and thereby cooling rate, so that the microstructure and
consequently also the hardness become acceptable for the relevant steel
composition.
2. Control the chemical composition and thereby hardenability, so that the hardness is
acceptable at all travel speeds.
3. Apply preheat, in order to decrease the cooling rate and thus the hardness.
To permit the greatest advantage to be determined from the moo warm input, quick laser
welding prepare, control of the chemical composition past that concurred for bend welding
is most suited. Standard composition limits for
steels utilized in dispatch development permit for carbon levels up to 0.21%, but indeed at
0.12% carbon, a completely martensitic microstructure as may result from
a moo warm input laser weld will display a hardness level of 400HV5.
The effect of the carbon content on hardness is illustrated in Figure 7.

The compositional controls agreed3 for laser welding steels are shown in Table 1. Two steels
are specified, designated L24 for normal strength ship steel applications and L36 for higher
tensile ship applications. The mechanical properties are those shown in the Rules.
Indeed with laser-arc cross breed welding, in spite of the fact
that it consolidates an bend and for the most part filler wire expansion, control of weld zone
hardness still can be a challenge, since of the moo warm input and tall travel speed.
In expansion, when utilizing laser-arc crossover welding, frequently a crave exists
to utilize a common auxiliary steel composition appropriate for circular segment welding,
which permits higher levels of carbon and the carbon comparable esteem than the
levels suggested by the classification social orders ( Table 1) for laser welding. In those
cases, the utilize of pre-heat may be the as it were alternative to restrain the hardness.
The impact of pre-heating may too be calculated utilizing the prescient models; for case,
applying a pre-heat of the arrange of 120°C is considered vital to restrain the hardness to
380HV5 at a speed of 2m/min for a steel with 0.12% C. Be that as it may, preheat
is frequently not the favored alternative as it is expensive and time devouring and
can restrain the picks up achievable in the decrease of twisting; control of the steel
composition as described above (with the effect illustrated in Figure 7) then may provide a
more sensible approach.

2.4 Charpy V-notch impact properties

It was clear from the begin of the advancements that a standard Charpy V-
notch affect test test taken with the indent found in the middle of a laser weld did not give a
result really agent of the properties of the weld metal. This comes about from
a marvel known as Break Way Deviation (FPD), which was as of
now specified and outlined in Figure 4. Since the quality of the weld metal
is profoundly overmatching when compared with that of the encompassing parent fabric,
a break running through such a contract locale will naturally go astray into
the milder encompassing fabric. A Charpy affect example showing FPD
will subsequently degree the sturdiness of a blend of the weld zone and the parent fabric, in
this way giving what could be considered an invalid result, since the genuine durability of
the weld metal was hence not decided. Investigate did, in any case, recommend that
a break durability Split Tip Opening Uprooting Test (CTOD) could (in the event that the weld
metal has moo toughness test.
Subsequent research [11] suggested, however, that the standard Charpy test is suitable to
determine if the weld metal has acceptable toughness This research was carried out on laser
welds that were artificially made brittle. It showed that in the case of a low toughness weld,
the crack during the Charpy test would propagate through the weld, and FPD would not
occur ( Figure 8). This was found to be the case where the energy value was below that
required by the Rules. Therefore, the Charpy test with all its failings is still considered the
only suitable test, and FPD must be recorded, but is not automatically considered an invalid
result.

2.5 Fatigue performance

A impressive body of information relating to the weariness quality of laser welds in
steel presently exists. [12] The comes about are empowering as in
no substantial estimation has the continuance been less than the plan perseverance for
a comparative sort of bend welded joint (cases can be seen in Figures 9 and 10 for butt and
T-butt joints, separately). In any case, a word of caution is in put since a number of the tests
carried out were on examples that were as well little to
contain practical leftover stretch levels and in this way the perseverance in the test is likely
to have overestimated the execution of the joint geometry in a structure. Furthermore, as it
were three joint geometries have been examined so distant specifically, butt joints, T-butt
joints and cruciform joints. Moreover, all welds were made beneath ideal conditions, which
is not fundamentally agent of genuine applications.
Nonetheless, on the basis of the information generated to date, although insufficient to
produce design rules for laser welded joints, it is reasonable to assume that the design
principles established for arc welded butt and T-butt joints can be applied with confidence.

Although much of the work reported on has been for butt welds, by far the greatest part of
the total weld length in ship construction consists of fillet welds. The design strength of a
fillet weld is calculated from the throat thickness (or by conversion from the leg length).
These parameters are specified in classification rules and can be easily confirmed non-
destructively by the surveyor during construction. Fillet welds can also be made with lasers,
but because of the deep penetration of the laser, the majority of the weld throat is then
within the confines of the thickness of the material being joined, making it impossible to
externally confirm the adequacy of the minimum design throat thickness (this difference is
schematically illustrated in Figure 11).

For this reason, all laser T-joint welds were initially made as full penetration T-butt welds,
since T-butt welds can be ultrasonically tested to confirm penetration. However, with
experience, with the advent of wider hybrid welds and with automated control and
recording of weld parameters, the confidence and assurance needed to accept (partial
penetration) laser fillet welds was reached. An example of such a joint can be seen in Figure
12.

COMMON WELD PROBLEMS

As with all combination welding forms, there are a number of flaws that
can shape amid laser welding. Full portrayals of conceivable blemishes (both inner and at
surface) and their acknowledgment levels
are satisfactorily secured inside the Universal standard ISO 13919-1:199713 and are as it
were briefly specified here.
The methods of examination for imperfections in laser welds require careful consideration.
Firstly, visual examination is used to assess laser welds for external imperfections. The
standard imperfections that can thus be detected are:
 Surface-breaking cracks and porosity
 Lack of penetration (in the case of a full-penetration weld)
  Undercut
 Excess weld metal and excessive penetration (excessive root reinforcement)
 Drop through and sagging
 Linear misalignment

 Incompletely filled groove

 Root concavity shrinkage groove
Routine radiography or ultrasonics by and large frame a bottleneck in generation due to
the tall speed of the laser prepare. The reply would appear to lie in the genuine time control
and recording of key parameters utilized in the prepare. Deviations exterior the
qualified run would be hailed for a afterward, more customary review. Radiography and
ultrasound may at that point be utilized to look at laser butt welds for inner defects.
(Radiography is not compelling at observing inside absconds in T-joints. For this reason only
ultrasound inspection is required for T-joints.) The standard imperfections that can thus be
detected are:
 Cracks
 Porosity and gas pores

 Shrinkage cavities
 Solid inclusions

 Lack of fusion
 Lack of penetration

The defects listed above can also be found in conventional arc welds. However, the early
work on CO 2 laser welding highlighted what is the major problem with laser welding of thick
section ship steels, namely that of solidification flaws.Solidification flaws are internal crack-
like flaws formed at the weld centreline ( Figure 13). The causes of such flaws have been
attributed to steel composition, heat input and plate thickness. As a result, careful control of
these parameters (and in particular of the composition) is required to avoid them during
production.
Fig. 13. Solidification flaw in a) a CO2 laser weld in 15 mm plate b) an Nd:YAG laser-MAG
hybrid fillet weld

Hardening imperfections were too experienced in the early advancement of the

electron bar welding of steels. This issue was found to be emphatically connected to
the sulfur and phosphorous substance of the
steel. Observational connections were created as a direct to illustrate the steel compositions
that were promptly weldable and those that would be inclined to
the event of cementing imperfections. The relationship, known as a breaking record, gave a
number based on the composition and it would have
to surpass a indicated esteem in arrange to be acknowledged for electron bar welding. In
any case, the observational connections set up for electron bar welding are
not substantial for laser welding. In fact to date, no correct connections for laser welds have
been found. The best two so far are listed below (however, it would be unsafe to try and
determine an acceptable steel composition from either of the equations):

C x [10Mn - 200S - 400P] - 12Zn + 0.3 = Cracking Index F 1 (1)

50C + 5Mn + Si + 7Cu - 100S - 200P + 1 = Cracking Index F 2 (2)

A more commonsense strategy was created inside the SHILWACQ extend, [4] where
the vulnerability of a specific steel composition to
the event of cementing blemishes was decided by developing a weldability flap as portion of
the welding method. A weldability projection is built by making globule on plate welds at a
number of diverse combinations of welding powers and travel speeds. The coming
about welds are at that point surveyed outwardly and by radiography and categorised
as satisfactory, flawed (i.e. containing hardening imperfections) or as appearing drop-
through or deficient infiltration. These parameter combinations are at that point plotted
as appeared in Figure 14.

The weldability flap shows the welding conditions beneath which welds free
from cementing blemishes are to be anticipated for a specific steel composition. In any case,
welding beneath conditions that have been appeared to be free
from hardening imperfections does not evacuate the require to examine generation welds.
It does, be that as it may, permit the thought of steel compositions exterior those given in
the unique Classification Society Direction Notes.

CASE STUDIES AND DEVELOPMENTS IN METHODS

3.1 INTRODUCTION

The primary reason for utilizing lasers for shipbuilding applications tends to be
the expanded fabricating exactness that can be figured it out, primarily coming about from
a lessening in warm twisting. This can have a coordinate money
related advantage amid gathering, through a decreased require for revamp and fixing,
the taken a toll of which has been evaluated to be as tall as 15 to 30% of the work costs
for modern dispatch body generation. [13-16] Still, nowadays, there are as it
were almost a modest bunch of shipbuilders around the world utilizing lasers
in generation. A few of these utilize laser or laser-arc cross breed welding as
a coordinate substitute for a
more conventional welding prepare, though others utilize the particular characteristics
and openings of lasers, for illustration coming about from the keyhole welding component,
to permit unused plans or more slender materials to be utilized. Besides, in a few shipyards
the laser is not fair utilized for welding, but moreover for other
materials preparing procedures such as cutting, checking and preliminary evacuation.

3.2 Meyer Werft

Meyer Werft of Papenburg, Germany, practices in expansive journey vessels, as well
as waterway cruisers and cargo ships, and is without question the yard making
most seriously utilize of lasers for welding applications. [17-24] Firstly, there are the so-
called I-Core TM boards, which are metallic sandwich boards, in which
the inside hardening is given by person metallic braces at right points to the cover plates.
Welding is performed utilizing a keyhole stake weld through the cover plates into the
stiffeners, coming about in exceptionally level boards and hence simple ensuing utilize in
their ships. Meyer Werft begun creating I-Core in 1994 and set up a isolated welding shop
for these boards, right now prepared with two 12kW CO2 lasers. The I-Core
sandwich boards are for illustration utilized in decks, dividers, bulk heads and
staircase arrivals in their voyage ships, but they
are too finding expanded application exterior the shipbuilding industry,
for case for railroad rolling stock, stop houses and tipper.

3.3 Blohm+Voss
Blohm+Voss specialise in building frigates, corvettes, fast cruise liners and large yachts, and
therefore much of the steels it welds are only 4-5mm in thickness. In 2000 - after more than
10 years of research - they introduced a line for laser welding of butt and T-joints of
'traditional' panels at its yard in Hamburg, Germany. [15,25-27] The separate panel line was
introduced as part of a drive towards precision manufacturing and a streamlining exercise of
the shipyard, and is equipped with two 12kW CO2 lasers.

Blohm+Voss uses its lasers as a 'flexible tool', meaning that they can be used for welding,
cutting, marking and primer removal. At the moment, a laser is used for cutting and then
laser butt welding of panels of up to 12m in length(in thickness typically 3 to 8mm),
although laser-GMA hybrid welding is being investigated for the butt welds, because of the
increased tolerance to joint gaps. For welding of T-joints for stiffener attachment, it uses a
simultaneous double-sided autogenous laser welding procedure. To prevent underfilling,
the underside of the stiffeners is milled flat to give a tight fit-up. With this approach, the
yard can create a full-penetration, double-sided T-butt weld in stiffeners of between 5 and
12mm in thickness.

3.4 Odense Steel Shipyard

Odense Steel Shipyard (OSS) close Odense, Denmark, is basically dynamic in
the advertise for non-passenger ships, such as expansive holder ships and tankers.
Its examinations into the utilize of lasers started in the late 1980s, driving to a pilot
cell preparing sub-elements, prepared with a 12kW CO2 laser in the 1997. [14,28-
29] Comparable to Blohm+Voss, the laser is utilized for
cutting, checking, preliminary expulsion and welding (primarily of T-joints). From 2000
onwards, OSS begun examining laser-GMA crossover welding, the improvement of which
was quickened in2003, when it overhauled and expanded the utilize of its laser cell for
welding sub-assemblies for a few little naval force back vessels.
In addition, OSS has been involved with development projects looking at the suitability of
using flexible optical fibre-delivered Nd:YAG laser beams for robotic welding of more
complex components. There are plans to introduce Nd:YAGlasers in a production cell.

3.5 Other yards and activities

Fincantieri begun its improvements for laser welding at its shipyard in Monfalcone, Italy,
where it builds expansive journey vessels. [30,31] There,
it introduced a crease welder prepared with a 17kW CO2 laser as portion of
the conventional board line. At first, it was conceived to autogenously laser weld butt weld
the processed plates on the board line, but due to variety in joint fit-up, filler
wire expansion was consolidated. A advance alter into laser-GMA cross breed welding is
being explored.
Other yards where laser and laser crossover welding have been intensely investigated, or
are near to being utilized in generation incorporate the Aker Kvaerner Masa yard in Helsinki,
Finland, where a laser-hybrid welding framework is being joined on an
existing board line framework. [32] So also, the Aker Warnow Werft close Rostock,
Germany, is retro-fitting two 4.4kW diode-pumped Nd:YAG lasers onto an gathering plant.
[33] This is in line with the expanded intrigued in adaptable fibre-delivered solid-state
lasers since of the simpler bar direction and subsequently expanded openings for three-
dimensional preparing. Other yards are moreover looking at solid-state (fiber or Nd:YAG)
lasers incorporate Meyer Werft, IZAR and others.

CONCLUSIONS AND FUTURE ASPECTS

It is clear from all the development that has taken place over the years that laser and laser-
arc hybrid welding have applications within the shipbuilding industry. The benefits that can
be realised are primarily in the area of improved joint completion rates and reduction of
thermal distortion, particularly in thinner sheets. Early involvement of the regulatory bodies
and the classification societies in this development has helped to ease the path of
introduction.
For effective presentation, the characteristics of the moo heat-input keyhole
welding prepare raises certain necessities. For case, great joint fit-up and dimensional
control are fundamental, in spite of the fact that these necessities can be loose to some
degree by the work of laser-arc cross breed welding, Or maybe than laser alone.
In expansion, the quick cooling rates figured it out in the weld zone and the limit weld
profile put certain imperatives on the admissible chemical composition of the
materials utilized.
Nonetheless, successful introduction has been realised by some yards in Europe. To help
facilitate further introduction, the Classification Societies have produced rules/guidelines
that allow the approval and successful introduction of laser welding into commercial
shipbuilding.

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