Abstract: By making use of the magnetohydrodynamic effect of electrical current,a new aspect of CO₂ laser beam welding of aluminum alloy with an electrical current addition was reported.During the laser beam welding,an electrical current was supplied to the weld pool via the filler wire.By connecting one pole of a DC power source with the filler wire and the other with the workpiece in the rear of the weld pool,a closed electric circuit was built.It is found that this new technique increases the welding efficiency and flexibility,and improves the process stability-the weld depth and area increase considerably and the bead ripples become finer and more uniform with the increase of the current.Further experimental results demonstrate that the resistive heating of the wire has less influence.Thus it can be concluded that the influence of the current on CO₂ laser beam welding of aluminum alloy results from the electromagnetic effect of current.