Optics and Laser Technology 94 (2017) 296–309

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Optics and Laser Technology

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Full length article

Study on laser welding of austenitic stainless steel by varying incident

angle of pulsed laser beam
Nikhil Kumar a,⇑, Manidipto Mukherjee b, Asish Bandyopadhyay a
a
Mechanical Engineering Department, Jadavpur University, Kolkata 700032, India
b
Mechanical Engineering Department, C.V. Raman College of Engineering, Bhubaneswar 752 054, India

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: In the present work, AISI 304 stainless steel sheets are laser welded in butt joint configuration using a
Received 14 August 2016 robotic control 600 W pulsed Nd:YAG laser system. The objective of the work is of twofold. Firstly, the
Received in revised form 2 April 2017 study aims to find out the effect of incident angle on the weld pool geometry, microstructure and tensile
Accepted 9 April 2017
property of the welded joints. Secondly, a set of experiments are conducted, according to response sur-
face design, to investigate the effects of process parameters, namely, incident angle of laser beam, laser
power and welding speed, on ultimate tensile strength by developing a second order polynomial equa-
Keywords:
tion. Study with three different incident angle of laser beam 89.7 deg, 85.5 deg and 83 deg has been pre-
Laser welding
Response surface methodology
sented in this work. It is observed that the weld pool geometry has been significantly altered with the
Modeling and optimization deviation in incident angle. The weld pool shape at the top surface has been altered from semispherical
Microstructure or nearly spherical shape to tear drop shape with decrease in incident angle. Simultaneously, planer, fine
Mechanical properties columnar dendritic and coarse columnar dendritic structures have been observed at 89.7 deg, 85.5 deg
and 83 deg incident angle respectively. Weld metals with 85.5 deg incident angle has higher fraction
of carbide and d-ferrite precipitation in the austenitic matrix compared to other weld conditions.
Hence, weld metal of 85.5 deg incident angle achieved higher micro-hardness of
280 HV and tensile
strength of 579.26 MPa followed by 89.7 deg and 83 deg incident angle welds. Furthermore, the predicted
maximum value of ultimate tensile strength of 580.50 MPa has been achieved for 85.95 deg incident
angle using the developed equation where other two optimum parameter settings have been obtained
as laser power of 455.52 W and welding speed of 4.95 mm/s. This observation has been satisfactorily val-
idated by three confirmatory tests.
Ó 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
Austenitic stainless steel has a wide range of applications in
nuclear structural fabrication, valve bodies and vessel internals
because of their excellent mechanical properties. Joining process
is required for this and laser welding is such a joining process.
Laser welding has several advantages when compared to the con-
ventional welding. It is non-contact type and its localized and nar-
row heat zone can create high quality result. Common re-working
and after-work procedures are no more required. Laser welding has
been widely applied in various industries including automotive,
microelectronics, aerospace, medical, optoelectronics, microsys-
tems etc. Kuryntsev and Gilmutdinov [1] have studied the laser
welding of type 321 stainless steel and have found that the defo-
⇑ Corresponding author.
E-mail addresses: nikhilju2013@gmail.com (N. Kumar), m.mukherjee.ju@gmail.
com (M. Mukherjee), asishbanerjee@yahoo.com (A. Bandyopadhyay).
cused laser beam has increased the volume of weld pool that in
turn to reduce the requirement for preparation of edge and gap
between workpieces. Yan et al. [2] have investigated the
microstructure and mechanical properties of tungsten inert gas,
laser and laser-TIG hybrid welded 304 stainless steel. They have
found that laser welded sample has highest tensile strength and
smallest dendrite size than all other. Experimental investigation
on dissimilar pulsed Nd:YAG laser welding of AISI 420 stainless
steel to kovar alloy has been reported in [3] and they have found
that the start of solidification in the kovar side of weld zone has
occurred by means of epitaxial growth. In the work of Ai et al.
[4] a defect-responsive optimization method for the fiber laser butt
welding of dissimilar materials has been investigated. The genetic
algorithm (GA) is applied to solve the model. The dissimilar laser
welding of AISI 316L stainless steel to Ti6-Al4-6V alloy via pure
vanadium interlayer has been studied by Tomashchuk et al. [5].
The effects of laser power, scanning speed, defocus distance,
beam incident angle and line energy on weld bead geometry and

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.optlastec.2017.04.008
0030-3992/Ó 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
 N. Kumar et al. / Optics and Laser Technology 94 (2017) 296–309
shearing force of laser welded dissimilar AISI 304L and AISI 430
stainless steel has been investigated in [6]. An investigation has
been made by Keskitalo et al. [7] to study the laser welding of
duplex stainless steel with nitrogen gas as shielding gas. The result
suggests that nitrogen increases austenite levels in the weld metal
and improved toughness levels. A study of simulation of laser butt
welding of AISI 316L stainless steel sheet using various heat
sources has been performed and experimental validation also has
been done in [8]. The simulated thermal cycles, residual stress
and distortion has been validated by experiments. In the research
of Chen et al. [9], the influence of processing parameters on the
characteristic of stainless steel/copper laser welding has been stud-
ied. Hao et al. [10] have investigated the effects of beam oscillating
parameters on the weld morphologies. They have found that the
difference in cross-section width from top to the lower gradually
has reduced to disappear with the increase in oscillating frequency.
An attempt has been made to improve the quality of the weldment
between nickel titanium (NiTi) and AISI 316L stainless steel wires
in [11]. A pulsed wave Nd:YAG laser system has been used for the
welding of CP Ti and stainless steel sheets and the effect of pulse
profiles used in laser welding on weld appearance, weld geometry,
microstructure, hardness variation, joint strength and failure mode
of weld have been investigated in [12]. Tan and Shin [13] have
studied the multi-scale modeling of solidification and microstruc-
ture development in laser keyhole welding process for austenitic
stainless steel. The model predictions are validated with the exper-
imental results and the effects of the welding parameters are ana-
lyzed based on numerical and experimental results. Optimization
of CO2 laser welding of DP/TRIP steel sheets using statistical
approach has been conducted in [14]. In the article of Matsunawa
et al. [15] the observation of keyhole as well as weld pool dynamics
and their related phenomena to reveal the mechanism of porosity
formation and its suppression methods have been studied. A
numerical simulation model has been developed by Cho et al.
[16] to study the temperature profile characteristics of weld bead
and molten pool dynamics of high power disk laser welding pro-
cess. Numerical and experimental study of molten pool formation
during continuous laser welding of AZ91 magnesium alloy has
been reported in [17]. A mathematical model has been developed
by Zhou et al. [18] to analyze the heat transfer, fluid flow and key-
hole dynamics during pulsed keyhole laser welding. A numerical
and experimental investigation of laser welding of titanium alloy
(Ti6Al4V) for modeling the temperature distribution to predict
the heat affected zone, depth and width of the molten pool has
been analyzed in [19]. Shanmugarajan et al. [20] have studied
the effect of process parameters such as laser power, welding
speed, shielding gas and laser beam mode on microstructure and
mechanical properties of laser welded sample of type 304B4
borated stainless steel. Torkamany et al. [21] have analyzed the
pulsed Nd:YAG laser welding of pure niobium plate to titanium
alloy Ti-6AL-4V sheet in butt joint. The effect of pulsed Nd:YAG
laser welding parameters and subsequent post-weld heat treat-
ment on microstructure and hardness of AISI 420 stainless steel
have been studied by Baghjari and Mousavi [22]. In the research
of Chen et al. [23] the effect of laser-beam offsetting on microstruc-
tural characteristics and fracture behaviour of the laser butt joint of
titanium alloy have been studied. An experimental procedure has
been developed by Atabaki et al. [24] to join thick advance high
strength steel plates by using the hybrid laser/arc welding (HLAW)
process. An investigation has been made by Sun et al. [25] to ana-
lyze the laser butt joint of Al/steel dissimilar materials.
Within scope of literature review, it has been observed that
almost limited or no information is available on the effect of laser
incident angle on the mechanical and microstructural properties of
pulsed laser welding of AISI 304 stainless steel sheets in a butt joint
configuration. It is one of the important parameter that may be co-
297
related with responses. This research aims to find the optimum
incident angle for which the laser optic lens will be protected
and also to understand the physical mechanisms responsible for
the joint quality of the laser beam butt welding process of stainless
steel plates. In the present work, 3 factors-5 levels experiments
have been planned using response surface methodology (RSM)
design matrix and analyzing the responses of interest by developed
mathematical models based on experimental results. The second
order mathematical equations have been developed for predicting
the desired weld quality. In addition to statistical evaluation of the
welded joints, metallurgical and mechanical analyses have been
carried out on laser welded three specimens with incident angle
89.7 deg, 85.5 deg and 83 deg incident angle. A 3-D responses sur-
face and contour plots have been developed to find the combined
effect of input parameters on responses.
2. Response surface methodology
Response surface methodology is a useful design of experiment
method that is gaining popularity. This includes a review of basic
experimental designs for fitting linear response surface models,
in addition to a description of methods for the determination of
optimum operating conditions. The steps of response surface
methodology are:
(i) Developing experimental strategy for selecting independent
variables.
(ii) Statistical modeling to build an approximate relationship
between the response and process variables.
(iii) Optimization for finding values of process variables produc-
ing desirable values of the response.
When all the independent variables are measurable, control-
lable and continuous during experiments, response surface, y can
be expressed with negligible error by:
y ¼ f ðxÞb þ

0
ð1Þ
where
x = (x1, x2, . . ., xk).
0
f ðxÞ = a vector function of p elements.
b = a vector of p unknown constant coefficients.

= a random experimental error assumed zero mean.
In RSM, an approximate model is needed to develop for the true
response surface. The approximated model is constructed utilizing
observed data from the process or system. Multiple regression
analysis is commonly used for this. Usually, a second-order polyno-
mial equation is used in RSM, which is given by
X
k XX X
k
y ¼ b0 þ bi xi þ bij xi xj þ bii x2i þ e ð2Þ
i¼1 i¼1
where parameters b0 bi, bij, bii are called regression coefficient for
i = 0, 1, . . ., k and j = 0, 1. . .k.
2.1. Desirability function analysis
It is an approach in which, individual responses are transformed
to corresponding desirability values. Desirability value depends on
acceptable tolerance range as well as target of the response. Unity
is assigned, as the response reaches its target value, which is most
desired situation. Beyond acceptable limit, desirability value
assumes zero. In this study, individual desirability function posses
one of the following two characteristics:
298 N. Kumar et al. / Optics and Laser Technology 94 (2017) 296–309

For goal of maximum, the desirability ðdi Þ will be defined by

8
>
> 0; if responseðyi Þ 6 low v alueðLi Þ
< wi
di ¼ yi Li
; as responseðyi Þ v aries from lowðLi Þ to highðHi Þ
>
>
Hi Li
:
1; if responseðyi Þ P high v alueðHi Þ
ð3Þ
For goal of minimum, the desirability will be defined by
8
>
> 1; if responseðyi Þ 6 low v alueðLi Þ
< wi
di ¼ Hi yi
; as responseðyi Þv aries from lowðLi Þ to highðHi Þ
>
>
Hi Li
:
0; if responseðyi Þ P high v alueðHi Þ
ð4Þ
A weight (w) can be assigned to a goal to emphasize the partic-
ular desirability function. Weights can be varied between 0.1 and
10. A weight greater than 1 gives more emphasis to the goal, while
weights less than 1 give less emphasis. The simultaneous objective
function, D, is a geometric mean of all transformed responses:
Fig. 1. Schematic diagram of laser welding process and joint configuration.
! 1r
 r r r 
1 Y
n
r
R
i
D ¼ d11  d12  . . .  d1n Rri ¼ di i ð5Þ
i¼1 top to bottom in the weld using Vickers’s microhardness testing
machine (Make: LECO Co., USA; Model: LM248AT) at 50 gf load
where n is the number of responses in the measure. Each response with 15 s dwell time. The measurement of tensile strength of
can be assigned an importance relative to the other responses. welded samples has been conducted on Instron (Model-8801) as
Importance ðr i Þ values varies from 1, the least important, to 5, the per ASTM E8 standard with strain rate of 2.8  104 s1. The sche-
most important [26]. matic view of the tensile test specimen as per ASTM E8 with
dimension is shown in Fig. 4.
3. Experimental set up and procedure
4. Results and discussions
AISI 304 type stainless steel has been chosen for experimental
work, the dimensions of workpieces before welding
The measured response is listed in Table 3. Design-Expert v10
100 mm  20 mm  1.5 mm. The chemical composition of the
software has been applied for analyzing the measured response
material is shown in Table 1. The schematic diagram of laser weld-
and determining the mathematical model with best fit. The fitted
ing process is shown in Fig. 1 and h indicates the incident angle. All
quadratic polynomial model for response is statistically significant
the experiments have been conducted on JK600HP Nd:YAG laser
for the prediction within working range of welding parameters.
generator (GSI, UK) integrated with ABB IRB 1410 robotic control.
Therefore, they will be used for further analysis. The maximum
The welding of work piece has been conducted in pulse width of
and minimum ultimate tensile strength are observed for sample
5 ms and repetition rate of 25 Hz. Experimental set-up is given in
no. 5 (P = 450 W, S = 5 mm/s and A = 85.5 deg) and sample no. 10
Fig. 2. Samples are butt jointed and during welding technically zero
(P = 425 W, S = 5.5 mm/s and A = 83 deg) respectively. The metal-
gap between two sheets is maintained in each case. An argon gas
lurgical characteristics along with mechanical properties like hard-
jet emerges from the side nozzle which makes a fixed angle with
ness and tensile strength of weld sample no. 5, 10 and 16 have
the laser beam to avoid any external atmospheric contamination
been presented in the following section. In general the laser weld-
during welding. The laser beam has a spot size 0.75 mm. The
ing is being performed with an incident angle of 89.7 deg, hence a
ranges of input parameters are selected on the basis of trial exper-
comparison has been made between the sample no. 5 and 16 and
iments conducted by using one factor at a time approach. The cho-
sample no. 10 and 16. Since sample no 16 has been welded with
sen process parameters and their limits are given in Table 2.
an incident angle 89.7 (
90 deg).
Eighteen experiments have been conducted as per central compos-
ite rotatable design (CCD) including 4 center points. Statistical soft-
ware Design-Expert v10 has been applied to establish the design 4.1. Development of mathematical model
matrix. Fig. 3 shows a weld sample in butt joint configuration.
Samples for the metallographic examinations have been prepared The adequacy of the developed model is tested using the
by polishing successively in 80, 120, 220, 320, 400, 1200, 1600, sequential f-test, lack-of-fit test and analysis-of-variance (ANOVA)
2000 grade emery papers to remove the scratches. The composi- technique using the Design-Expert v10 software to obtain the best-
tions of the etchant are 2.4 gm. of CuCl2, 10 ml of 99% C2H5OH fit model. The ANOVA tables also show the other adequacy mea-
and 10 ml of 40% HCl. Furthermore, micro-hardness survey has sure R2, adjusted R2, adequacy precision R2 and predicted R2 for
been made on flat metallographic specimen across the joints and response is given in Table 3. The adequate precision compares

Table 1
Chemical compositions (wt.%) of AISI 304 stainless steel.

Type Chemical composition

C% Si% Mn% P% S% Cr% Ni% Mo% Cu% Nb% Al% N%
304 SS 0.079 0.2858 1.8 0.032 0.0194 18.56 8.20 0.265 0.292 0.0281 0.0063 –
 N. Kumar et al. / Optics and Laser Technology 94 (2017) 296–309 299

Fig. 2. Robotic control laser welding set-up.

Table 2
Process control parameters and their limits.

Parameters with units Notation Levels

2 1 0 +1 +2
Power, W P 407 425 450 475 492
Scanning speed, mm/s S 4.16 4.50 5.00 5.50 5.84
Incident angle, deg A 81.29 83.00 85.50 88.00 89.70

model terms are significant. The ‘‘lack-of-fit F-value” of 6.88

implies there is a 7.10% chance that a ‘‘lack-of-fit F-value” this large
could occur due to noise. The ‘‘Predicted R2” of 0.9235 is in reason-
able agreement with the ‘‘adjusted R2” of 0.9724 (i.e., the differ-
ence is less than 0.2). ‘‘Adequate precision” measures the signal
to noise ratio. A ratio greater than 4 is desirable. The value of ade-
Fig. 3. Top view of welded sample in butt joint configuration.
quate precision of 25.13 indicates an adequate model. The model
can be used to navigate the design space.
The mathematical models for ultimate tensile strength, which
can be used for prediction within same design space, are shown
below:

(a) In term of coded factors

UTS ¼ 575:434 þ 28:67P  15:135S þ 15:28A  26:10PA

Fig. 4. Laser welded sample for tensile test as per ASTM E8.
the range of predicted value at the design points to the average
predicted error [27]. The associated p-value of less than 0.05 for
the model (i.e., p-value < 0.05, at 95% confidence level) indicates
that the model terms are statistically significant. The lack-of-fit
value of the model indicates non-significant, as this desirable.
The ANOVA indicates that for the ultimate tensile strength model
(Table 4), the laser power (P), welding speed (S), incident angle
(A), interaction effect of laser power and incident angle (P  A),
welding speed and incident angle (S  A), the quadratic effect of
the laser power (P2 ), welding speed (S2 ), incident angle (A2 ) are
the significant model terms. The interaction effect of laser power
and welding speed (P  S) is not significant and thus, eliminated
by backward elimination process to improve model adequacy.
The ANOVA result for reduced quadratic model is shown in
Table 5. The model F-value of 75.98 implies the model is signifi-
cant. There is only a 0.01% chance that an F-value this large could
occur due to noise. Values of ‘‘prob > F” less than 0.05 indicate
þ 13:52SA  55:71P2  83:83S2  22:69A2 ð6Þ
(b) In term of actual factors
UTS ¼ 64732:16 þ 117:08P þ 2398:25S þ 760:81A
 0:41PA þ 10:81SA  0:08P2  335:31S2  3:63A2 ð7Þ
4.2. Validation of the developed model
The developed response surface equation, derived from multi-
ple regression analysis has been validated by conducting confirma-
tory tests. Three confirmatory experiments have been conducted
and welding conditions have been chosen randomly. The tested
results of experiments are presented in Table 6. It is obtained from
Table 6 that there is a small error percentage between experimen-
tal and the predicted values form developed regression equation,
which shows that the developed model can yield nearly accurate
results. Fig. 5 shows the relationship between the actual and pre-
dicted values of responses. This figure also indicates that the devel-
oped model is adequate and predicted results are in good
agreement with measured data.
300 N. Kumar et al. / Optics and Laser Technology 94 (2017) 296–309

Table 3
Central composite design for actual factors and measured experimental results.

Experiment no. Power, W Welding speed, mm/s Incident angle, deg Ultimate tensile strength, MPa
1 450 5.00 85.5 577.81
2 425 4.50 88.0 443.82
3 492 5.00 85.5 466.94
4 450 5.84 85.5 334.00
5 450 5.00 85.5 579.26
6 475 4.50 88.0 429.66
7 475 5.50 83.0 408.23
8 450 5.00 85.5 578.42
9 425 5.50 88.0 404.30
10 425 5.50 83.0 308.64
11 450 5.00 85.5 565.23
12 425 4.50 83.0 369.48
13 475 5.50 88.0 432.23
14 475 4.50 83.0 492.48
15 450 5.00 81.2 491.16
16 450 5.00 89.7 537.28
17 450 4.15 85.5 348.60
18 407 5.00 85.5 374.70

Table 4
ANOVA for the fitted quadratic polynomial model for UTS of welded samples (before elimination).

Source Sum of squares Df Mean square F value p-value Prob > F Remark
Model 1.327E+005 9 14741.39 61.42 <0.0001 Significant
P 11222.45 1 11222.45 46.76 0.0001 Significant
S 3125.26 1 3125.26 13.02 0.0069 Significant
A 3190.65 1 3190.65 13.29 0.0065 Significant
PS 43.62 1 43.62 0.18 0.6811 Not significant
PA 5450.72 1 5450.72 22.71 0.0014 Significant
SA 1461.78 1 1461.78 6.09 0.0388 Significant
P2 39262.43 1 39262.43 163.59 <0.0001 Significant
S2 88886.75 1 88886.75 370.35 <0.0001 Significant
A2 6512.97 1 6512.97 27.14 0.0008 Significant
Residual 1920.05 8 240.01
Lack of fit 1786.99 5 357.40 8.06 0.0581 Not significant
Pure error 133.06 3 44.35
Cor total 1.346E+005 17
Standard deviation = 15.49 R2 = 0.9857
Mean = 452.35 Adjusted R2 = 0.9697
Coefficient of variance = 3.42 Predicted R2 = 0.8911
Predicted residual error of sum of squares (PRESS) = 14655.52 Adequate precision = 22.79

Table 5
ANOVA for the fitted quadratic polynomial model for UTS of welded samples (after backward elimination).

Source Sum of squares Df Mean square F value p-value Prob > F Remark
Model 1.326E+005 8 16578.62 75.98 <0.0001 Significant
P 11222.45 1 11222.45 51.44 <0.0001 Significant
S 3125.26 1 3125.26 14.32 0.0043 Significant
A 3190.65 1 3190.65 14.62 0.0041 Significant
PA 5450.72 1 5450.72 24.98 0.0007 Significant
SA 1461.78 1 1461.78 6.70 0.0293 Significant
P2 39262.43 1 39262.43 179.95 <0.0001 Significant
S2 88886.75 1 88886.75 407.39 <0.0001 Significant
A2 6512.97 1 6512.97 29.85 0.0004 Significant
Residual 1963.67 9 218.19
Lack of fit 1830.61 6 305.10 6.88 0.0710 Not significant
Pure error 133.06 3 44.35
Cor total 1.346E+005 17
Standard deviation = 14.77 R2 = 0.9854
Mean = 452.35 Adjusted R2 = 0.9724
Coefficient of variance = 3.27 Predicted R2 = 0.9235
Predicted residual error of sum of squares (PRESS) = 10289.67 Adequate precision = 25.13

4.3. Effect of incident angle on weld pool geometry
The macro view (at nominal magnification) of typical fusion
zones (FZ) of 304 SS after pulsed Nd:YAG laser welding at
89.7 deg, 85.5 deg and 83 deg incident angle has been presented
in Fig. 6. The incident angles have been considered as per the
DoE (Table 3) and sample no. 5, 10 and 16 have been selected for
analysis on the basis of obtained tensile strength responses of
304 SS weld joints (Table 3). Weld metals having maximum and
minimum UTS have been considered along with one sample having
 N. Kumar et al. / Optics and Laser Technology 94 (2017) 296–309 301

Table 6 maximum angle of incidence (with tensile strength between max-

Optimization validation test results. imum and minimum) for the analysis and it is also assumed that
the rest should have properties in between these extreme limits.
Exp. no Welding condition UTS (MPa)
Fig. 6 clearly pointed out typical variation in surface depression
P (W) S (mm/s) A (deg)
and three distinguishable regions marked as fusion zone 1 (FZ1),
1 450 4.5 85.5 Actual 519.20 fusion zone 2 (FZ2) and fusion zone 3 (FZ3) extended from fusion
Predicted 506.00
boundary (FB) to the weld center. These distinguishable fusion
jError%j 2.50
zones have been experienced probably due to the periodic pulse
2 450 4.5 89.7 Actual 472.30
oscillation (on time and off time) of the pulsed Nd:YAG laser power
Predicted 445.70
jError%j 5.63 source where the base metal initially melts at the on time or the
high energy pulse duration and get partially solidified during the
3 475 5.0 83.0 Actual 439.30
Predicted 426.00 off time or low energy pulse duration. Periodic pulse oscillation
jError%j 2.95 (on time and off time) results in higher turbulence in weld pool
which may reduce the temperature in front of the solidifying inter-
face resulted in local undercooling [28]. The undercooling is a func-
tion of the dendrite tip radius and thus, as solidification growth
velocity increases (tip radius decreases) the local under cooling
of the tip also increases. The local undercooling can influence both
segregation and solidification mode and at high solidification
growth rates (critical growth rate), sufficient dendrite tip under-
cooling occurs to promote a shift in solidification mode from pri-
mary ferrite to primary austenite [29]. Despite the degree of
growth rate among the weld metals, it can be postulated that the
pulsed Nd:YAG laser welding is generally a rapid cooling process
and thus all the weld metals should experience a certain degree
of local undercooling and shift in solidification which ultimately
creates the separate solidification boundaries in the fusion zone
(Fig. 6). The dendritic structure growing from the FB has been
degenerated at the solidification boundaries and favours the
growth of new grains at the weld center in FZ2 and FZ3 (Fig. 6a).
The new grains have been found to be regularly oriented towards
the direction of higher thermal gradient (from FZ2 to FZ3) and gen-
erate finer grain structure at the FZ3 of weld metal produced at
89.7 deg incident angle [30].
However, Fig. 6(b) and (c) shows that the solidification struc-
ture and the weld pool geometry have been significantly altered
Fig. 5. Plot of actual vs. predicted of UTS results. with the deviation in incident angle. As the incident angle with

(a) (b)
FZ3

FZ2
FZ3
FZ1
FZ2

FZ1

(c)

FZ3
FZ2
FZ1

Fig. 6. Macrographs of 304 SS pulsed Nd:YAG laser welded joint cross-sections at (a) 89.7 deg, (b) 85.5 deg and (c) 83 deg, incident angle show solidification boundaries and
dendritic growth pattern.
302 N. Kumar et al. / Optics and Laser Technology 94 (2017) 296–309

(a) (b) Welding direction

Welding direction

(c)
Welding direction

Fig. 7. Macrographs of 304 SS pulsed Nd:YAG laser welded joint bead surface at (a) 89.7 deg, (b) 85.5 deg and (c) 83 deg, incident angle show variation in ripples.

Fig. 8. Schematic representations of weld pool geometry along the Y-Z and X-Y plane for different incident angle of laser beam.

the surface decreases to 85.5 deg (Fig. 6b), the overall weld pool
becomes wider and FZ3 acquires large overlapped area among
the fusion zones. Parallel epitaxial columnar dendritic growth from
the adjacent solidification boundary of FZ2 towards weld center
has been observed in the FZ3. Further decrease in incident angle
(83 deg) produces lack of penetration with high surface depression
and shift in weld center from the joint interface (Fig. 6c). These
variations in solidification patterns may be explained by the
change in weld pool shape and size incurred due to the deviation
in incident angle of laser beam.
In general, laser welding results in the formation of a deep and
narrow vapour cavity called keyhole at the joint interface due to
high energy density which creates strong evaporation of alloying
elements [31,32]. The material evaporates and the metal vapours
leaving the surface exert a recoil pressure on the weld pool surface.
When no material is added to the weld pool, the volume change
remains zero provided the average densities of the initial and the
final phases are similar, thus, the top surface deformation is
expected (Fig. 6). However, a large top surface deformation has
been observed for partial penetration of weld metal at low incident
angle (Fig. 6c) and this may be due to the volume expansion during
melting followed by rapid solidification. Furthermore, Fig. 6(a)–(c)
also show that the weld pool has a spread near the top and bottom
surface for full penetration welds and for partial penetration weld
narrow weld pool having only a wide spread near the top surface is
observed. The weld pool widens near the top surface as well as
near the bottom due to convective heat transfer or Marangoni con-
vection [33,34]. During melting liquid metal being pushed outward
from the weld center due to large Marangoni force creates a wide
spread weld pool. The rapid movement of concentrated heat source
along the weld line freezes the weld pool in its deformed state due
to shrinkage creating surface depression. The weld pool spread is
 N. Kumar et al. / Optics and Laser Technology 94 (2017) 296–309 303

(a) (b)

BM

(c) (d)

Fig. 9. SEM micrographs of (a) AISI 304 SS base metal; and fusion zones after pulsed Nd:YAG laser welding at (b) 89.7 deg, (c) 85.5 deg and (d) 83 deg, incident angle.

generally maximum at the top surface where the liquid metal growth. The lower incident angle predominantly pushed the mol-
flows outward from the keyhole and carries heat away from the ten liquid metal along the keyhole wall towards the top surface
center which creates a wide and elongated weld pool behind the which widens the weld pool width. However, comparatively higher
heat source (opposite to the welding direction) as shown in inclination of heat source against the welding direction reduces the
Fig. 7. Clear variation in solid-liquid interface boundaries or iso- effective heat distribution at the bottom of the keyhole, resulting in
therms (shown as yellow dotted line in Fig. 7) signifies the varia- partial penetration (Fig. 6c).
tion in weld pool shape/geometry among the weld metals. These
variations are schematically presented in Fig. 8. Weld pool shape
4.4. Microstructural analysis
along the Y-Z plane surround the keyhole varies significantly with
the decrease in incident angle. In general, the weld pool length
The microstructural analysis of base metal and three welded
decreases with distance from the top surface due to viscous effects
specimens (pulsed Nd:YAG laser welded for sample no. 5, 10 and
and the weld pool is increasingly influenced by conduction heat
16 with incident angle of 85.5 deg, 83 deg and 89.7 deg) have been
transfer. At the 89.7 deg incidence angle, the keyhole generated
carried out using scanning electron microscopy (SEM).
almost vertically and the isotherms are compressed in the front
Fig. 9(a) shows the typical microstructure of 304 SS base metal
of the heat source and elongated behind it due to the effect of mov-
mainly consisting fully austenitic structure along with few anneal-
ing heat source. The temperature within the keyhole is highest at
ing twins. The detail micrographs of fusion zones (FZ) welded at
the bottom and lowest near the top surface. This temperature gra-
89.7 deg, 85.5 deg and 83 deg have been given in Fig. 9(b)–(d)
dient along the keyhole surface drives liquid metal flow from the
respectively. Epitaxial columnar dendritic growth has been
hot keyhole bottom to the top, resulting in a fluid flow pattern in
observed in micrographs except FZ of 89.7 deg incident angle
the weld pool where hot liquid metal moves along the keyhole
where equiaxed grains or planar grain structure has been gener-
walls to the top, moving outward from there and finally coming
ated due to the decomposition of dendritic grains (Fig. 9b). Epitax-
back inward and down along the solid-liquid boundary [35].
ial columnar dendritic growth in other two FZs of 85.5 deg and
However, when incident angle decreases, an additional fluid
83 deg are generally begun at the initial stages of solidification
flow may be occurred in front of the heat source where a part of
from the fusion boundary towards the weld center
the hot liquid metal moves along the inclined keyhole wall
(Fig. 9c and d). Furthermore, FZs of 85.5 deg and 83 deg show
towards the top surface and is pushed forward due to the forward
higher fraction of lacy d ferrite at the dendrite core surrounded
movement of the heat source. Extension of weld pool, stretches the
by interdendritic c-phase compare to FZ of 89.7 deg incident angle
overall weld pool volume and forces to change the shape, thus,
which shows major proportion of vermicular and equiaxed d ferrite
with decrease in incident angle weld pool shape at the top surface
on the austenite matrix. The primary solidification mode (PSM) of
(X-Y plane) has been altered from semi-spherical shape to tear
all the weld metals is based on the Creq/Nieq ratios of the 304 SS
drop shape. At 85.5 deg incident angle, weld pool shape is elon-
base metal (i.e. 1.68) because no filler metal has been used in the
gated along the welding direction and compressed at the edges
study and can be generally categorised as FA mode [37–40]:
to become nearly elliptical probably due to the azimuthal oscilla-
tion of the heat source [36]. Elliptical weld pool facilitates straight
FA mode: L ? L + d ? L + d + c ? d + c ? c: 1.48 < Creq/
columnar dendritic grain growth during solidification (Fig. 6b). The
Nieq < 1.95
weld pool further changes to tear drop shape at 83 deg incident
angle due to higher welding speed and less power (Table 3), and The weld metals of 304 SS are generally solidified in FA mode of
it is associated with partially curved columnar dendritic grain solidification which signifies the precipitation of primary ferrite,
304 N. Kumar et al. / Optics and Laser Technology 94 (2017) 296–309

(b)
(a)

BM WM BM FZ3 FZ2 FZ1

(c)

Fig. 10. Micro-hardness plots of welded joints (a) across the fusion zone; (b) from top to bottom and (c) the average micro-hardness values of weld metals at different
incident angle.

Table 7
Tensile test results of base metal and welded joints.

Sample specification rYS (MPa) rUTS (MPa) eu (%) DrUTS-YS (MPa) n K (MPa) Location of fracture
BM 304 SS 352.06 632.67 49.77 280.61 0.338 253.9 BM
Sample no. 16 (89.7 deg) 324.42 537.28 35.87 212.86 0.397 176.10 FZ/HAZ
Sample no. 5 (85.5 deg) 321.86 578.42 47.25 256.56 0.469 142.88 FZ/HAZ
Sample no. 10 (83 deg) 240.41 308.65 3.83 68.24 0.327 137.52 FZ

rYS = yield strength; rUTS = ultimate tensile strength; eu = uniform elongation; DrUTS-YS = stress increment; n = strain-hardening exponent; K = strength coefficient.

plus three phase reaction (L + d + c) at the terminal solidification
stage, and d ? c continuing below the solidus line [41]. The com-
plexity of FA mode of solidification arises from the fact that, after
a certain amount of primary solidification as ferrite, austenite pre-
cipitation occurs through a peritectic/eutectic reaction (L + d ? L
+ d + c) and changes the direction of micro-segregations. Moreover,
the subsequent solid-state transformation of d ? c causes addi-
tional partitioning, altering the existing concentration profiles
[42]. Thus, the final microstructure of FZs after complete solidifica-
tion should consists of vermicular and lacy d-ferrite at the dendrite
core enveloped by an interdendritic layer of austenite.
The variation in morphologies in FZs can be explained by the
variation in weld pool shape and growth kinetics. The magnitude
and direction of the maximum thermal gradient change continu-
ously from the fusion line to the weld centreline in an elliptically
shaped weld pool (Fig. 8). Since the average growth direction dur-
ing solidification of a weld pool is approximately normal to the
solid-liquid interface along the maximum temperature gradient,
a particular columnar grain will not be favourably oriented during
the entire solidification process. Therefore, many unfavourably ori-
ented grains at the interface may become more favourably orien-
tated before they are completely eliminated and thus they may
survive and continue to grow towards the centerline, resulting in
a finer fusion zone grain structure (Fig. 9b and c). For a tear drop
shaped weld pool, there is almost an invariant direction of maxi-
mum thermal gradient at all points on the pool edge from the
 N. Kumar et al. / Optics and Laser Technology 94 (2017) 296–309
Fig. 11. True stress–true strain curves of (a) 304 SS base metal and weld metals and (b) tensile specimen after fracture shows the fracture path of sample of 85.5 deg incident
angle.
Fig. 12. Perturbation plot showing the effect of all factors on the UTS.
fusion boundary to the weld centreline which promotes coarse
columnar grain growth as a result of favourable and uninterrupted
grain growth towards the center (Fig. 9d).
Furthermore, degree of grain fineness, type of grain growth and
the thermal conditions in the immediate vicinity of the solid–liq-
uid interface controls the solute segregation process during solidi-
fication which ultimately controls the microstructures and finally
the properties. When the weld pool is nearly circular or semi-
spherical at the 89.7 deg incident angle, the grains grow epitaxially
from the fusion boundary in the direction of the extremely steep
thermal gradient at the weld center produced by the vertically
305
moving heat source. The extremely steep temperature gradient
associated with 89.7 deg incident angle at constant travel speed
may induce negligible constitutional supercooling at the solidify-
ing interface and produces planar weld metal grain structure [43]
as observed in Fig. 9(b).
The shape of the weld pool tends to become more elongated
with decreasing incident angle to 85.5 deg and therefore, the
columnar grains do not turn as much as in the case of a nearly cir-
cular weld pool and finally create an equiaxed grain structure at
the weld center because of the periodic pulse oscillation. The direc-
tion of maximum temperature gradient becomes perpendicular to
the weld interface, but because the weld pool is trailing a greater
distance behind the arc, the temperature gradient at the centerline
is no longer strongly directed towards the heat source which
slightly decreases the steepness of the temperature gradient for
constant travel speed. When the gradient is decreased slightly,
any protuberance of solid metal on the interface will grow faster
than the remaining planer interface because the solid is growing
into supercooled liquid; that is, the solid protuberance exists at a
temperature below that of the liquidus for that alloy. As a result,
a cellular substructure develops in each epitaxially grown grain
(Fig. 9c). The liquid ahead and alongside each cell contains greater
solute content than the cell core which may yield greater degree of
microsegregation during solidification than the planar structure
[43]. Higher microsegregation generally facilitates precipitation
of carbide and d-phase at the interdendritic spaces and weld
center.
Similar microsegregation should occur in weld metal of 83 deg
incident angle however in this case, the weld pool takes a nearly
teardrop shape due to the faster welding speed. The weld pool is
extremely elongated behind the heat source and the directions of
the maximum temperature gradient within the interface and cen-
terline should have changed slightly. As a result, the grains grow
from the fusion boundary and converge abruptly at the centerline
306 N. Kumar et al. / Optics and Laser Technology 94 (2017) 296–309
Fig. 13. (a) Contours plot and (b) response surface plot showing the effect of P and S
on the UTS at A = 85.5 deg.
of the weld with little change in direction which yields weaker
grain structure with possibilities of cracking.
4.5. Micro-hardness analysis
Micro-hardness profiles across the fusion zone (horizontal
direction), top to bottom (vertical direction) and the average hard-
ness values of 304 SS weld metals are shown in Fig. 10. The hard-
ness of weld metals is generally higher than that of the 304 SS base
metal (
200 Hv) (Fig. 10a and c). Among the weld metals at differ-
ent incident angle, highest micro-hardness value (
280 Hv) has
been observed with 85.5 deg and lowest micro-hardness value
(
210 Hv) has been observed with 83 deg. Weld metal of
89.7 deg incident angle has in between micro-hardness values
(Fig. 10a–c). The variation in hardness values among the weld met-
als can be explained from the relative microstructural differences.
Lower hardness of 83 deg weld metal resulted from stable and
higher fraction of c-phase formation along with lower d-ferrite
content and relatively coarse columnar grain structure. Whereas,
weld metals of 85.5 deg and 89.7 deg having relatively higher d-
Fig. 14. (a) Contours plot and (b) response surface plot showing the effect of P and
A on the UTS at S = 5 mm/s.
ferrite at the dendrite core and relatively finer grain structure,
resulting in higher hardness values. However, relatively higher
micro-hardness of weld metal 85.5 deg (Fig. 9a) is probably due
to higher alloy segregation which yields greater precipitation of
d-phase and carbide in the structure. Again, Fig. 9(b) shows the
micro-hardness distribution within the different fusion zones
(namely FZ1, FZ2 and FZ3) of the weld metals. FZ3 hardness is
slightly higher followed by FZ2 and FZ1. Comparatively fine grain
structure of FZ3 (due to shift in solidification and periodic pulse
oscillation) probably responsible higher hardness.
4.6. Tensile behaviour
Uniaxial tensile test results of base metals and different welded
joints of sample No. 5, 10 and16 are presented in Table 7. Further-
more, true stress vs. true strain curves has been considered to
understand the tensile test results of different weld metals and
given in Fig. 11(a). Tensile test of each welded joint have been car-
 N. Kumar et al. / Optics and Laser Technology 94 (2017) 296–309
Fig. 15. (a) Contours plot and (b) response surface plot showing the effect of S and A
on the UTS at P = 450 W.
ried out at constant cross-head speed of 0.5 mm/min (strain rate of
2.8  104/s) up to the fracture and the fracture has been generally
localized at the FZ-HAZ interface regardless of the welding condi-
Fig. 16. Optimization results of ultimate tensile strength.
307
tions except weld metal of 83 deg incident angle where failure
occurred from fusion zone. From Table 7 two major observations
have been deduced; in general, weld metals have lower yield
strength (rys), ultimate tensile strength (rUTS) and uniform elon-
gation (eu) values than the base metal. Secondly, among the weld
metals, weld metal of 85.5 deg incident angle has higher rys, rUTS
and eu values compare to other weld metals almost comparable
properties with base metal. The true stress-true strain relationship
(Fig. 11a) reveals the variation in strain hardening behaviour
among the weld metals which take place during uniform plastic
deformation (equivalent to true plastic strain). Strain hardening
behaviour can be understood from strain-hardening exponent (n)
of different weld metals which is expressed by a power law equa-
tion [44] defined as r = Ken, where r is the true stress, e is the true
strain, K is strength coefficient and n is the strain-hardening expo-
nent [45]. Strain-hardening exponent (n) for each weld metals
have been measured from the log-log plots of r-e and is presented
in Table 7. The results show that rUTS increases with increase in n-
value; whereas rys does not vary significantly with n-value and
ultimately demonstrates large strain hardening effect during uni-
form plastic deformation. Again, the stress increment (DrUTS-YS),
expressed as the difference between the values of rUTS and rys
(Table 7), reveals significant stress increment after yield during
plastic deformation of the weld metals due to negligible variation
in rys for the acceptable weld metals. Weld metals having higher
n-value show relatively higher DrUTS-YS and eu (Table 7) which
indicate large amount of energy absorption during plastic defor-
mation up to rUTS and enhancement of the strength. The energy
absorption during plastic deformation and significant strength
enhancement in weld metals of 89.7 deg and 85.5 deg affect the
fracture path and shifted the crack propagation towards the FZ-
HAZ interface (Fig. 11b). Weld metal of 83 deg incident angle show
drastic reduction in rUTS and according to Fig. 11(a) they have
instantaneous fracture after yield through the fusion zone. Weld
metal of 83 deg incident angle has natural notch (reduced fusion
zone area) at the fusion zone as shown in Fig. 6(c) where local
stress concentration is significantly high enough and may be the
reason of sudden failure unlike other weld metals. It is likely to
be mentioned here that the notch has been created due to the par-
tial penetration.
4.7. Effects of process parameters on response using response surface
and contour plots
Fig. 12 shows the perturbation plot, which determines the effect
of all the welding parameters at the center point in the design
space. It is found from this figure that the ultimate tensile strength
308 N. Kumar et al. / Optics and Laser Technology 94 (2017) 296–309
Table 8
Obtained single objective optimization results.
Optimum condition for UTS, MPa
Parametric condition
Power, W 455.52
Welding speed, mm/s 4.95
Incident angle, deg 85.96
first increases then decreases with increasing value of process
parameter. It is apparent from the figure that UTS increases with
laser power up to a threshold value and thereafter it starts decreas-
ing. The threshold value of laser power is related to the decompo-
sition temperature of the base metal. This indicates that increase in
the laser power, the UTS increases until the critical temperature of
decomposition (i.e., the temperature of a substance at which the
substance chemically decomposes) is reached. With increases of
incident angle, UTS first increases then decreases. It may be due
to the fact that near Brewster’s angle, absorption of laser light by
the plate surface will be maximum and that angle lies between 0
and 10 deg from the normal to the surface (i.e., lies between 80
and 90 deg from surface of the base metal) where the maximum
UTS will be achieved [46]. At low scanning speed heat input to
the plates will be high (overlapping of laser spots will be more)
and this may lead to decomposition of base metal, resulting in
low joint strength but at high scanning speed overlapping of laser
spots will be less and lack of heat input may occur resulting in low
joint strength. The results indicate that it is not recommended to
use very high or low level value of process parameters.
In term of interaction between the power and speed, as shown
in Fig. 13(a) and (b), the ultimate tensile strength is maximum at
medium values of laser power and scanning speed. This is due to
the fact that at low power, low power density is generated, result-
ing in lack of penetration and thus, causing a weak joint strength.
Further increasing the laser power towards the center value, the
ultimate tensile strength is improved as power density start
increasing and maximum strength is obtained at center value.
While increasing the laser power above the center limit, it results
in high power density. This causes decomposition of material
(overheating) and low joint strength is achieved. Similarly at lower
level value of scanning speed, overheating and decomposition of
material takes place. Hence low joint strength is measured and at
higher value of scanning speed lack of penetration, resulting low
ultimate tensile strength is obtained. Fig. 14(a) and (b) presents
the combined effect of laser power and incident angle on ultimate
tensile strength. It is evident from figure that joint strength is max-
imum at center value of laser power and incident angle. It is clear
that by increasing the incident angle up to the center limit with
laser power, the resulting ultimate tensile strength tends to
increase. A further increase in incident angle decreases the joint
strength. With very high power, overheating occurs and with very
low power lack of penetration occurs. As a result low UTS will be
achieved. Fig. 15(a) and (b) represent the interaction of welding
speed and incident angle on joint strength. In relation to interac-
tion of these two process parameters, the results indicate that
increase in welding speed up to center limit, ultimate tensile
strength increases. Further increase of welding speed decreases
the joint strength, while the incident angle does not show such a
significant effect.
5. Optimization of ultimate tensile strength using desirability
function analysis
The desirability function analysis is one of the most widely used
methods in industry for the optimization of responses processes.
Experimental result jError%j
UTS, MPa UTS, MPa
580.50 596.36 2.68
602.80 3.69
587.45 1.18
Single objective optimization analysis for laser welding of 304 SS
has been carried out and optimized results of ultimate tensile
strength are shown in Fig. 16. In optimization goal is set to maxi-
mize ultimate tensile strength, which is desired for good quality
weld. In order to get the desired responses, equal importance has
been given to the lower, the target and the upper bound of the lin-
ear desirability function. For linear desirability function (d), the
value of the weight is considered to be 1. In Fig. 16 each row of
the graph corresponds to a response variable (Eq. (7)) and each col-
umn corresponds to one of the process parameter. Each cell of the
graph shows how one of the response variables changes as a func-
tion of the of the process parameters, keeping other parameters
constant. The vertical line inside the graph indicates the optimum
parameter setting and horizontal dotted line represents the opti-
mized response values. The numbers displayed at the top of the
column show the upper and lower limit of process parameters set-
ting and the optimum parameter level setting. At the left side of
each row, goal of responses, predicted response (y) at the optimum
parametric setting, and individual desirability value (=1) are given.
MINITAB v17 software has been used for optimization of laser
welding process, the optimum ultimate tensile strength
(580.50 MPa) has been obtained at laser power of 455.52 W, scan-
ning speed of 4.95 mm/s and incident angle of 85.96. The value of
composite desirability factor (D) is 1.
5.1. Final validation experiments
The results of optimization obtained by desirability function
analysis, has been validated by conducting confirmatory tests.
Three confirmatory experiments have been conducted at optimum
parametric setting. The tested results of experiments at optimum
conditions are presented in Table 8. It is obtained from Table 8 that
there is a small error percentage between predicted and the exper-
imental values, which validate the applied optimization technique.
6. Conclusions
Based on the above experiments and analyses the following
conclusions are drawn:
1. Weld pool of 85.5 deg incident angle has elongated elliptical
shape with fine columnar dendritic structure. Whereas
89.7 deg and 83 deg incident angle yield nearly spherical and
tear shaped weld pool respectively along with planar and coarse
columnar dendritic structure.
2. Weld metal of 85.5 deg incident angle has higher fraction of car-
bide and d-ferrite precipitation in the austenitic matrix compare
to other weld metals.
3. Weld metal of 85.5 deg incident angle has highest avg. micro-
hardness (
280 Hv) and tensile strength (579.26 MPa) followed
by 89.7 deg and 83 deg incident angle weld metals.
4. The developed empirical model has been tested by analysis-of-
variance with a confidence level of 95%.
5. The error percent between the predicted and the confirmatory
experiment are found to be approximately
3.6%, which vali-
date the desirability function analysis. The results of ANOVA
 N. Kumar et al. / Optics and Laser Technology 94 (2017) 296–309
show that laser power is most significant factor affecting the
ultimate tensile strength followed by incident angle and weld-
ing speed.
6. It can be observed that the ultimate tensile strength increases
with the welding parameters until it reaches its center value,
then start to decrease with increase in welding parameters.
Acknowledgement
The authors are grateful to the CoE-TEQIP (Phase-II), Jadavpur
University (Grant no. P-1/RS/137/16), Kolkata, India for providing
the financial assistance for this research works.
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