Optics & Laser Technology 85 (2016) 75–84

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Optics & Laser Technology

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/optlastec

Full length article

Comparison between hybrid laser-MIG welding and MIG welding for

the invar36 alloy
Xiaohong Zhan a,n, Yubo Li a, Wenmin Ou a, Fengyi Yu a, Jie Chen b, Yanhong Wei a
a
College of Materials Science and Technology, Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Nanjing 210016, China
b
Shanghai Aircraft Manufacturing Co., Ltd., Shanghai 200436, China

art ic l e i nf o a b s t r a c t

Article history: The invar36 alloy is suitable to produce mold of composite materials structure because it has similar
Received 2 June 2015 thermal expansion coefficient with composite materials. In the present paper, the MIG welding and laser-
Accepted 1 June 2016 MIG hybrid welding methods are compared to get the more appropriate method to overcome the poor
Available online 22 June 2016
weldability of invar36 alloy. According to the analysis of the experimental and simulated results, it has
Keywords: been proved that the Gauss and cone combined heat source model can characterize the laser-MIG hybrid
Invar36 alloy welding heat source well. The total welding time of MIG welding is 8 times that of hybrid laser-MIG
Hybrid laser-mig welding welding. The welding material consumption of MIG welding is about 4 times that of hybrid laser-MIG
MIG welding welding. The stress and deformation simulation indicate that the peak value of deformation during MIG
Simulation
welding is 3 times larger than that of hybrid laser-MIG welding.
& 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction Ag-Cu-Ti brazing filler metal. However, their process is relatively

Composite materials are widely used in aviation products due
to its high strength, low proportion etc [1–3]. It requires surface
quality and dimensional accuracy to produce composite material
parts used in aviation. So the quality of mold has a great influence
on composite materials parts’ properties. Owing to the similar
coefficient of thermal expansion with composite materials, the
invar36 alloy becomes one of the best choices to make mold for
composite materials [4]. What is more, it also makes welding of
invar36 alloy become a challenge. There will be some defects in
the invar36 alloy welding process with traditional welding
methods, such as thermal crack, welding porosity etc [5]. Fur-
thermore the mold steel is so thick that the welding material
consumption and welding efficiency are also important factors
which should be considered.
With traditional single heat source welding method, it is hard
to acquire good weldment of Invar alloy. Ji [6] welded the het-
erogeneous invar alloy and obtained welding joint with good
mechanical properties and low expansion coefficient. Phenomen-
on of Austenite grain coarsening in the welded invar plates was
found by Wu [7,8] used Nd: YAG pulsed laser. Grains coarsening in
the heat affected zone and boundary migration were predicted by
Jose [9] with fair accuracy by using a diffusive model. Zhao [10]
brazed quartz fiber compound materials and invar36 alloy with
n
Corresponding author.
E-mail address: nuaa_zhanxiaohong@126.com (X. Zhan).
complex that keeping the compound materials with 1173 K tem-
perature for 10 min. Chen [11] studied the laser welding develop
history and predicted the application prospect. Zhao et al. [12]
proposed that the mechanical properties of welds were slightly
reduced by using friction stir welding. They attributed this re-
duction to the larger average grain size and uniform grain struc-
ture compared with the base material. According to their work, it
can be concluded that the mechanical properties were reduced
even by using FSW. They [13] also investigated the temperature
and force response during friction stir welding of Invar 36 alloy. It
is found that a narrower temperature distribution was obtained
compared with those of the other materials. Bharat et al. [14]
studied the mechanical properties of friction stir welded Invar by
PCBN and W-Re pin tools and concluded that tensile strength, and
microhardness of the welds were invariant from the base material.
However, the elongation of the base metal was 52% and that of
welds made with W-Re and PCBN pin tools were 30% and 37%
respectively.
As a result, in order to get less defects and high quality joints of
Invar36 alloy, many researchers tended to utilize the laser-arc
hybrid welding method. Hybrid laser-arc welding methods mainly
include hybrid laser-TIG welding, hybrid laser-MIG welding and
hybrid laser- plasma welding [15]. The laser-arc hybrid welding
combines the arc and low power laser together to improve the
depth of fusion [16]. Moriaki [17] studied on hybrid laser-arc
welding, found that arc voltage tended to be stable and the arc
attracted and compressed by laser owing to the interaction of laser
and arc. Matsuda [18] acquired the weld joints with few welding

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.optlastec.2016.06.001
0030-3992/& 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
76 X. Zhan et al. / Optics & Laser Technology 85 (2016) 75–84

porosity and undercutting by using 5 kW laser with 300 A TIG arc,

furthermore the depth of fusion is 1.3–2.0 times of 5 kW laser
beam welding. Xu [19] investigated the formation and interfacial
WC dissolution behavior of WC-Co/Invar laser-TIG welded joint. It
was found that WC dissolution led to formation of cellular mi-
crostructure, transition layer and columnar crystal under the effect
of tungsten arc and laser beam. The laser-MIG hybrid welding can
improve the metallurgical property and microstructure of weld
line by filling welding wires [20,21]. It is usually used for welding
medium and heavy plates. Blundell [22] welded 0.16 mm thick
galvanized sheets by hybrid laser-MIG welding and found that the
electric arc was very stable even the weld speed was up to 90 m/
min, while the electric arc was not stable when the speed was
48 m/min during laser beam welding. The hybrid laser-plasma
welding has high rigidity, high temperature and good direction. Li
[23] compared the microstructure, coefficient of thermal expan-
sion, mechanical properties of laser weld and hybrid weld metal
based on a welding investigation of Invar 36 alloy.
In this paper the 19.05 mm thick invar36 alloy were welded by
the hybrid laser-MIG welding according to contrastive analysis.
The laser power and welding current are regarded as the most
important parameters to make the experimental design. Finally, to
get the more suitable welding method, the metal inert-gas (MIG)
welding and laser-MIG hybrid welding are compared according to
the welding efficiency, welding material consumption and
deformation.

2. Welding experiment

2.1. Equipment

The hybrid laser-MIG welding configuration is shown in Fig. 1.

The laser-MIG hybrid welding experiments were conducted by a
YLS-6000 laser source and TPS-5000 Fronius welding machine.
The equipment was attached to a KUKA (KR30HA) welding robot
to implement the simultaneous moving. The MIG welding ex-
periments were carried out by Panasonic integral welding robot,
which is shown in Fig. 2. Fig. 2. The equipment used for MIG welding.

Fig. 1. Schematic diagram of laser-MIG hybrid welding. (a) KUKA welding robot (KR30HA) (b) Fronius welding machine (TPS-5000).
 X. Zhan et al. / Optics & Laser Technology 85 (2016) 75–84 77

Table 1
Chemical composition of invar36 alloy.

Ni C Si Mn P S Cr Co Fe

35.5–36.5 r 0.01 r 0.2 0.2–0.4 r0.007 r 0.002 r 0.15 r 0.4 The Rest

Fig. 3. Cross section of work piece.

Table 2 Table 3
Operational parameters of hybrid laser-MIG welding. Operational parameters of MIG welding.

Laser power (W) Current (A) Weld speed (mm/s) Voltage (V) Current (A) Weld speed (mm/s)

1 1st pass 5000 240 16 1st pass 22 250 6

2nd pass 2000 250 6 2nd pass 20 200 3
3rd pass 2000 300 6 3rd pass 20 200 3
4th pass 20 200 3
2 1st pass 5500 240 16
2nd pass 2000 220 6
3rd pass 2000 300 6

3 1st pass 6000 240 16 experiments are shown in Tables 2 and 3.

2nd pass 2000 250 6
3rd pass 2000 280 6

2.3. Measurement of welding deformation

2.2. Materials
In order to ensure the reliability of the FE model, the weld
The chemical composition of invar36 alloy is listed in Table 1 deformation of the invar plates after hybrid laser-MIG welding and
[24]. The experimental materials were cut into MIG welding were measured with the experimental measure-
200 mm  50 mm  19.05 mm plates and V grooves. The cross ments. The welding distortions considered in this research are
sections of work piece are shown in Fig. 3. To investigate the schematically shown in Fig. 4. H represents the weld deformation.
quality of welding, three typical weld parameters used in the
78 X. Zhan et al. / Optics & Laser Technology 85 (2016) 75–84

Fig. 4. Welding deformation measurement diagram.

Fig. 5. Combined heat source model.

3. Numerical models

The commercial finite element software package MSC. Marc is

used to perform the simulation for the hybrid welding. The filling
element heat source is loaded by weld filler as well as the com-
bined heat source is loaded into the software by a subroutine
named as “uweldflux.f”. The finite element equations are con-
structed and solved by MSC. Marc.

3.1. Heat source model

The hybrid laser-MIG welding consists of laser welding and

MIG welding. So Combined heat source consists of laser's partial
Fig. 6. Double ellipsoid heat source model.
and MIG's partial. Cone-shaped heat source represents the laser

Fig. 7. The geometric model of invar plates.

 X. Zhan et al. / Optics & Laser Technology 85 (2016) 75–84 79

Fig. 8. The thermal physical parameters and mechanical parameters of the invar36 alloy.

Fig. 9. The comparisons between the experimental and simulated cross section.

welding and Gauss heat source represents the MIG welding. The The Gauss heat source model can be determined by:
combined heat source models of heat source are shown in Fig. 5.
The cone-shaped heat source model can be determined by: αQ p ⎡ α (x2 + y2 ) ⎤
Q s (x, y) = exp ⎢ − ⎥
9Q 0 1 ⎛ 3r 2 ⎞ πrs2 ⎣ rs2 ⎦ (2)
QV = ⋅ ⋅exp ⎜ − 2 ⎟
π 1 − e−3 ( z e − zi ) ( re2 + re ri + ri2)
( ) ⎝ rc ⎠ (1)
Among them, α means heat concentration factor, Q p means surface
Q 0 means the net heat flux and Q 0 = ηP . rc represents the heat heat power, rs means the effective radius.
z −z
distribution coefficient and rc = f (z ) = ri + (re − ri ) z −zi . The heat source of MIG welding is double ellipsoid heat source
e i
Among them, P means laser beam energy, η means efficiency model, whose model is shown in Fig. 6.
value, ze means the maximum radius, zi means the minimum radius. The double ellipsoid model can be determined by:
80 X. Zhan et al. / Optics & Laser Technology 85 (2016) 75–84

Fig. 10. The cross section of MIG welding.

cell was used to mesh the model. The grid size was dense in the
weld to guarantee a more accurate simulation, while the grid size
far away from the weld was much coarser to save computing time.

3.3. Materials properties and boundary conditions

The material near the weld has experienced heating, melting,

solidification and cooling. The thermal physical parameters and
mechanical property parameters of material are changing with the
temperature, such as thermal conductivity, yield strength, Young's
modulus and specific heat. Material parameters must be added to
get more accurate results in the simulation process. The thermal
physical parameters and mechanical property parameters of in-
var36 alloy are shown in Fig. 8.
The thermal convection and the thermal radiation were con-
sidered as the thermal boundary conditions, and the ambient
temperature was 20 °C. The mechanical boundary condition is
used to fix the displacement of model. One point on the bottom
Fig. 11. Measurement of weld width and penetration depth.
surface is made fixed displacement of X, Y, and Z direction, which
ensures that the workpiece does not move too much. The other
Table 4
Weld width, Weld width and depth to width ratio of MIG and laser-MIG welding. three points on the bottom surface are made fixed displacement of
Z direction to make the plates free enough to release stress.
Weld width Penetration depth (px) Depth to width
(px) ratio

MIG welding 39 42 1.08 4. Results and discussion

laser-MIG welding 24 71 2.96
4.1. Comparison of weld cross section

6 3 ff Q 2/ c 2 2 2 2 2 The cross sections of the component were fully penetrated in

qf (x, y , z, t ) = e−3x f e−3x / a e−3x / b
cf abπ π (3) Fig. 9(a). The etched cross section has obvious appearance of each
weld pass, the heat affected zone and the fusion lines are also in
good shape. Comparing the simulation and experimental results
6 3 fr Q −3x2 / c 2 −3x2 / a2 −3x2 / b2
qr (x, y , z, t ) = e be e (shown in Fig. 9(b)), the simulation of fusion lines is similar to the
cb abπ π (4)
experimental results.
As shown in Fig. 6, Q is the heat input of the double ellipsoid For the MIG welding, the operation is analogical as hybrid la-
heat source and cf , cb, a, b are constant. ser-MIG welding in Fig. 10. The comparisons preliminary de-
termine the applicability of the welding process parameters, so it
3.2. Geometric model can be concluded that the simulation using heat source modes are
suitable in the present work.
Hybrid laser-MIG welding of Invar is three passes while MIG The weld width and penetration depth measured by screen
welding is four passes. The geometric models according to the ruler are shown in Fig. 11. Depth to width ratio of laser-MIG
welding methods are shown in Fig. 7. There are 20,643 nodes and welding and MIG welding are calculated respectively listed in
18,464 elements in the mesh model of hybrid laser-MIG welding Table 4. From Table 4 we can conclude that the depth to width
plates. Similarly, there are 45,358 nodes and 41,792 elements in ratio of laser-MIG welding is larger than that of MIG welding. This
the mesh model of MIG welding plates. The structured hexahedral is because on one side the arc contributes to the formation of laser
 X. Zhan et al. / Optics & Laser Technology 85 (2016) 75–84 81

Fig. 12. Validation of predicted and measured deformation fields of the invar plates. (a) Deformation fields of the invar plates after hybrid laser-MIG welding (b) Deformation
fields of the invar plates after MIG welding.

Fig. 13. Residual stress fields of invar plates after hybrid laser-MIG welding (Mises stress).

Fig. 14. Residual stress variation in the X direction after hybrid laser-MIG welding.

Fig. 15. Residual deformation fields of invar plates after hybrid laser-MIG welding.

hole, on the other side the laser improves the stability of arc,
which leads to the energy density of laser-MIG welding bigger
than that of MIG welding.
4.2. Comparison of residual stress and deformation
To ensure the reliability of the FE model, the weld deformation
of the invar plates after hybrid laser-MIG welding and MIG
welding were validated with the experimental measurements. The
deformation fields of the invar plates from the numerical simu-
lation for hybrid laser-MIG welding and MIG welding were vali-
dated as shown in Fig. 12. It can be observed that the experimental
and the predicted FE results match well for the MIG welding.
However the simulation results are slightly higher than the mea-
sured result of the laser-MIG welding. This difference between
experiments and simulations could be due to the different heat
losses between experiments and simulations.
82 X. Zhan et al. / Optics & Laser Technology 85 (2016) 75–84

Fig. 16. Residual deformation variation in the X direction after hybrid laser-MIG welding.

Fig. 17. Residual stress and deformation fields of invar plates after MIG welding.

Fig. 18. Residual stress and deformation variation in the X direction after MIG welding.

Fig. 19. Stress Comparison of MIG welding and hybrid laser-MIG welding. Fig. 20. Deformation Comparison of MIG welding and hybrid laser-MIG welding.
 X. Zhan et al. / Optics & Laser Technology 85 (2016) 75–84
Based on the suitable simulation results, the three components
with different welding parameters (shown in Table 2 ) can be si-
mulated to study residual stress and deformation. The simulation
result of residual stress fields of the three components after hybrid
laser-MIG welding are shown in Figs. 13 and 14. The stress zone is
very small, mainly concentrates in the weld zone, and the peak
value of stress ranges from 170 MPa to 190 MPa. The value is far
below the yield strength of invar36 alloy, which means that the
welded components can meet the strength demand for aviation
dies manufacture.
The simulation result of the weld deformation fields of the
three components after hybrid laser-MIG welding are shown in
Figs. 15 and 16. The peak value of deformation ranges from 0.5 mm
to 0.7 mm. Considering the dimensions of the components, this
deformation is acceptable.
The corresponding parameters point out that the first pass laser
welding power takes a significant role to affect the residual and
deformation. The 5000 W laser power can produce lower residual
deformation, the reason may be that the heat input of the 5000 W
is the smallest, and the deformation is the smallest, so the de-
formation depends more on heat input. However, the lowest re-
sidual stress occurs with 5500 W laser power, it can indicate that
the residual stress depends on not only the heat input but also the
constraint condition.
The residual stress fields and weld deformation fields of the
components after MIG welding are shown in Figs. 17 and 18.
Compared with the hybrid laser-MIG welded components, the
stress zone is much larger than the former and almost covers the
entire components. The peak value of weld deformation is up to
2.3mm, more than 3 times that of the hybrid laser-MIG welding.
The length of the experimental component is 200mm while the
length of actual mold is up to several meters. The value of weld
deformation will be very high if using MIG welding in actual
process.
Stress and deformation are the main concern of welding. Based
on the simulation results, Fig. 19 shows the comparison of stress of
different weld methods. The specimens are separated into three
regions. RegionⅠand region Ⅲ symmetrically distribute on the edge
of the weld seam. In these regions, the stress of MIG welding is
much higher than hybrid laser-MIG welding. In general, the stress
distribution of normal welded joint should be large stress value in
the middle region and small stress value in the other regions.
However, in this analysis, MIG welded joint has high stress values
in the region Ⅰand region Ⅲ. The reason may be that there is larger
restriction produced in MIG welding process than that in the hy-
brid laser-MIG and the stress fluctuation zone of MIG welded joint
is bigger than that of hybrid laser-MIG joint. As a result, the heat
affect zone(HAZ) of MIG welding effect is much bigger than hybrid
laser-MIG welding. Region Ⅱ is the weld seam. The difference value
ΔE is about 80 MPa, and it is quite a large value. It indicates that
the hybrid laser-MIG welding significantly affect the weld seam,
for the heat input of hybrid laser-MIG welding is much more
concentrated than MIG welding. The stress fluctuation in region Ⅱ
is observed in MIG welding, which means the MIG welding is not
so stable as hybrid laser-MIG welding.
As for deformation, the distinctions between laser-MIG welding
and MIG welding are showed in Fig. 20. Alike the stress, the de-
formation is also separated into three region. The saltation of de-
formation appears in the region Ⅱ(weld seam), so the weld width
can be evidently observed in the figure. The saltation of MIG
welding is much higher than that of laser-MIG welding, this may
be caused by the increasing layers and passes in MIG welding. So
the deformation of MIG welding is also much bigger than that of
hybrid laser-MIG welding.
The welding efficiency is very important in the actual produc-
tion process. During the hybrid laser-MIG welding, the speed of
83
root weld is 16 mm/s and the speed of cosmetic welding is 6 mm/
s. The total time of welding is 76 s. While the speed of root weld
and cap welding are 6 mm/s and 3 mm/s in MIG welding process.
The total time of MIG welding is 608 s, which is 8 times that of
hybrid laser-MIG welding.
In summary, the hybrid laser-MIG welding has lower dis-
placement and higher efficiency.
5. Conclusion
In the present work, the following conclusions can be obtained:
1. The fusion line of simulation and experiment is similar, which
reflects that the Gauss and cone combined heat source model
can be used as the characterization of hybrid laser-MIG welding.
2. The peak value of residual deformation of hybrid laser-MIG
welding and MIG welding are respectively 0.7 mm and 2.3 mm.
The latter value is over 3 times that of the former.
3. The 19.05 mm thick invar plates are welded by MIG welding
with four multi passes and hybrid laser-MIG welding with three
multi passes. The total welding time of MIG welding is 8 times
that of hybrid laser-MIG welding. So the hybrid laser-MIG
welding is more efficient.
Acknowledgements
The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support of the
project from the National Commercial Aircraft Manufacturing
Engineering Technology Research Center Innovation Fund of China
(Grant no. SAMC14-JS-15-057) and the Project Funded of the
Priority Academic Program Development of Jiangsu Higher Edu-
cation Institutions (PAPD).
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