Parametric Study of Underwater Laser Welding on 304 Austenite Stainless Steel
The underwater laser welding assisted by a single-layer gas torch was carried out on the austenite stainless steel based on the underwater laser welding experimental platform. Butt welding experiments under shallow water were performed to investigate the effects of laser power, welding speed and defocusing distance on the underwater laser welding quality and optimized the process parameters. It was found that the ideal underwater laser weld can be obtained with the laser power of 2.0 kW, the welding speed of 2.0 m/min and the defocusing distance of 1 mm, demonstrating the self-developed single-layer gas-assisted drainage device could create working environment similar to onshore laser welding, by analyzing the metallographic structure and mechanical properties of underwater laser weld and in-air laser weld.