Electrical current assisted laser welding of 2060 aluminum-lithium alloy with filler wire

In order to improve the weld structure of 2060 Al-Li alloy laser weld and further improve the mechanical properties of the joints, a new method named current-assisted laser welding was used. In this paper, the effect of an additional direct current on the weld formation, solidified structures and joint mechanical properties were investigated in fiber laser welding of 2060-T8 Al-Li alloy thin sheet with 5087 filler wire. The electrical current was introduced into the weld pool through thefiller wire.It was found that the bead ripples become much finer with theaddition of direct current, indicating that the stability of the welding process was improved. The equiaxed dendrites were slightly refined in the weld and thethickness of the equiaxed grain zone (EQZ)near the fusion line was reduced. The tensile strength of the welded joints increases about 5.8% compared to that of the laser welded joint without assisting current.