Improvement of laser on metal transfer in pulsed MIG welding

304 stainless steel was welded by the method of pulsed metal inert gas (MIG) welding, and electrical signals and high speed camera pictures were acquired synchronously in the experiment in order to study the metal transfer. It was found that the projected spray mode of one droplet per pulse could be achieved when the wire feed speed was appropriate. When the wire feed speed was too high, some instantaneous short circuiting transfer mixed in the welding process, and duration time was less than 1 ms, which had a negative effect on the stability of the welding process. The instantaneous short circuiting transfer could be improved by using the method of laser-pulsed MIG hybrid welding. The number of the instantaneous short circuiting transfer decreased with increasie of the laser power, which contributed to improving unfavorable phenomenon. When the laser power reached a certain threshold value, the instantaneous short circuiting transfer could be completely eliminated to achieve the transfer mode of one droplet per pulse, and the welding process was stable. That is, the addition of laser made the welding quality improve and the efficiency increase.