Abstract
Laser welding of T-joint transmitting from the face plate to the core is commonly used in the sandwich structure preparation. Minor gaps between the face and the core plate are inevitably present after several beads on the sandwich structure welding due to the thermal deformation. The effects of gap presence on fluid flow from the face to the core plate are rather significant, where the gas can be easily entrapped into the pool and form the pores. To this end, three-dimensional transient simulations based on VOF (volume of fluid) method were conducted to explore and ascertain the effect of fluid flow inside the pool on the pore formation due to the gap presence. It was found that minor gap within 0.2 mm will not reduce the welding quality. Under the effects of gravity and surface tension, the fluid from the face sheet will drop down to the core, which removes all the air out of the gap and the laser goes through the fluid of the gap and then shines on the core, which prevents the air from being entrapped into the pool. While the laser goes though gap, the wall of keyhole opens and closes continuously. The vibrating time of keyhole is approximately 0.029 s. After finishing the vibration, the welding is stable, which is the same as common unfull penetration. Finally, the simulated results are well verified through observing the plasma oscillating frequency in the gap and comparing to the pore-free bead profile. This paper supplies evidence that minor gap presence during laser transmitting welding on sandwich structure has nothing to do with pore formation.