Detailed Explanation of Laser Hybrid Welding Technology

1.Basic Concepts

Laser Hybrid Welding, as an advanced welding process, organically integrates high-energy laser and arc heat source (common ones are MIG - Metal Inert Gas Shielded Welding, MAG - Metal Inert Gas Shielded Welding and TIG - Tungsten Inert Gas Shielded Welding). During the welding process, these two heat sources are precisely coordinated in time and space dimensions. With its extremely high energy density, high-energy laser quickly melts the parent material and forms a pinhole effect; the arc heat source fully utilizes its strong penetration ability to fill and expand the molten pool. The two complement each other, greatly improving the welding quality and efficiency, breaking through the limitations of traditional single welding methods.  

2. Core Components  

Laser-arc heat source hybrid welding system

（I）Laser

•Fiber laser: It has outstanding advantages such as high efficiency, good beam quality and easy maintenance, and is widely used in modern laser hybrid welding. Its compact structure and flexible transmission mode make it easy to integrate into automated welding systems.

•CO₂ laser: It has a long history and stable power output. It still has important applications in some specific industrial fields, such as thick plate welding.

（II）Arc system

•MIG/MAG: Due to its fast welding speed and high deposition rate, it is particularly suitable for welding medium and thick plate materials. It can effectively improve production efficiency while ensuring welding quality.

•TIG: With its stable arc and precise and controllable welding process, it has become the preferred choice in the field of precision welding. It is often used for welding thin plates and parts with extremely high requirements for weld quality.

（III) Wire feeding mechanism

During the welding process, the wire feeding mechanism accurately and synchronously fills the welding wire. By reasonably controlling the wire feeding speed and angle, the geometry and forming quality of the weld can be effectively improved, and the strength and density of the weld can be ensured.

(IV) Control system

The advanced control system monitors and adjusts key parameters such as laser power, arc current, and welding speed in real time. With the help of sensor technology and intelligent algorithms, the synergy of the two heat sources is dynamically optimized according to real-time feedback during the welding process to ensure the stability and consistency of the welding process.

(V) Cooling system

The cooling system continuously cools key components such as lasers and arc welding guns to prevent the equipment from overheating due to long-term high-load operation. Stable cooling ensures the reliability and service life of equipment performance and is an important support for maintaining the stable operation of the welding system.

3. Unique advantages

(I) High efficiency and energy saving

Compared with traditional arc welding, the speed of laser hybrid welding has been greatly increased by 30% - 50%. More welding work can be completed in a unit time, significantly improving production efficiency. At the same time, its energy utilization rate is higher and energy consumption is significantly reduced, which meets the development needs of modern industrial green manufacturing.

(II) High-quality welds

•Large depth-to-width ratio: can reach an astonishing 10:1, can achieve deeper penetration while maintaining a narrower weld width, and reduce the range of the heat-affected zone of the parent material.

•Small thermal deformation: precise heat source control and fast welding process greatly reduce the degree of thermal deformation of the welded structure, which is crucial for welding parts with strict dimensional accuracy requirements.

•Fewer defects: The synergistic heat source effect effectively reduces the generation of defects such as pores and cracks in the weld, and improves the internal quality and mechanical properties of the weld.

(III) Strong adaptability

 •Wide range of weldable materials: covers a variety of metal materials such as steel, aluminum, and titanium. Whether it is ordinary structural steel or high-end titanium alloy materials in the aerospace field, laser hybrid welding can show good welding performance.

•High assembly gap tolerance: can adapt to 0.5-1mm assembly gap, reduce the assembly accuracy requirements of weldments, and improve production convenience and flexibility.

(IV) Economical efficiency

Although the initial equipment purchase cost is relatively high, in the long run, due to its efficient welding speed, extremely low rework rate and low energy consumption, it can significantly reduce the overall production cost and has significant economic advantages.

4. Typical applications

(I) Automobile manufacturing

In the body welding process of Tesla cars, laser-MIG composite welding shines. It achieves high-strength body connection and effectively reduces the number of body structural parts. It not only improves the overall strength and safety of the body, but also reduces the weight of the whole vehicle through lightweight design, improves energy utilization efficiency, and promotes the development of the automotive industry in a more efficient and environmentally friendly direction.

(II) Aerospace

The wing skin welding of Airbus A380 adopts laser composite welding technology. This technology successfully solves the problem of easy deformation of thin-walled structure welding. While ensuring the strength and aerodynamic performance of the wing structure, it meets the strict requirements of the aerospace field for high precision and high reliability of parts, and provides key technical support for the lightweight and high-performance design of aerospace aircraft.

(III) Shipbuilding Heavy Industry

For the steel plates thicker than 20mm commonly used in shipbuilding, laser hybrid welding can achieve single-pass penetration, replacing the traditional multi-pass arc welding process. This transformation greatly shortens the welding time, reduces welding deformation, improves the production efficiency and welding quality of shipbuilding, and enhances the overall stability and reliability of the ship structure.

(IV) New Energy

• Power Battery Pack: In the sealing welding of the power battery pack of new energy vehicles, laser hybrid welding ensures the sealing and safety of the battery pack with its precise energy control and high-quality weld formation, effectively prevents electrolyte leakage and external impurities from invading, and prolongs the battery life.

• Nuclear Power Plant Pipeline: When used for nuclear power plant pipeline repair, this technology can achieve reliable welding repair of pipelines under complex working conditions and high safety standards, ensuring the safe and stable operation of the nuclear power plant pipeline system.

5. Development Trends

(I) Intelligent Upgrade

Introducing AI technology, through real-time monitoring of key parameters such as the shape, temperature, and flow state of the molten pool, using intelligent algorithms to dynamically adjust welding parameters such as laser power and arc current. Represented by the adaptive system of German IPG, it can realize adaptive control of the welding process, further improve the stability and consistency of welding quality, and adapt to complex and changeable welding conditions.

(II) Material breakthroughs

We are committed to overcoming the welding difficulties of highly reflective materials such as copper and aluminum alloys. Due to the high reflectivity of these materials to lasers, traditional welding methods are prone to problems such as low energy utilization and unstable welding process. By developing new welding processes and optimizing heat source combination methods, it is expected to achieve high-quality welding of highly reflective materials, which will effectively promote the technological development of electric vehicles and other fields.

(III) Green manufacturing

With clean protective gases, such as helium-argon mixed gases, the generation of smoke and spatter during welding can be reduced, reducing the impact on the environment and the health of operators. At the same time, further optimize welding parameters, improve energy efficiency, and move towards green and sustainable manufacturing.

(IV) Micro-control

Explore new welding methods that combine ultrafast lasers and micro-arcs to achieve nano-level precision welding. This technology has broad application prospects in fields with extremely high precision requirements such as medical device manufacturing. It can meet the needs of high-quality welding of tiny precision structures and promote the development of micro-nano manufacturing technology.

6. Technical Comparison  

Actual case: After Volkswagen adopted laser-MIG hybrid welding technology, the efficiency of the body production line was significantly improved by 40%, while the weight of the body was reduced by 15%. This not only speeds up the production rhythm and reduces production costs, but also helps the energy conservation and emission reduction goals of automobiles, fully demonstrating the huge advantages and application value of laser hybrid welding technology in the field of automobile manufacturing.

Laser hybrid welding, with its unique advantages of multi-energy synergy, is increasingly becoming an indispensable core technology in the field of high-end manufacturing. With the continuous innovation and development of technology, it also shows great application potential in emerging fields such as space 3D printing and flexible electronics, and will continue to promote modern manufacturing to move towards higher quality, higher efficiency and smarter directions.