Optics and Laser Technology 96 (2017) 123–131

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Optics and Laser Technology

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Full length article

Fiber laser welding of dissimilar titanium (Ti-6Al-4V/cp-Ti) T-joints and

their laser forming process for aircraft application
M. Froend a,b,⇑, F. Fomin b, S. Riekehr b, P. Alvarez c, F. Zubiri c, S. Bauer d, B. Klusemann a,b, N. Kashaev b
a
Leuphana University of Lueneburg, Institute of Product and Process Innovation, Volgershall 1, D-21339 Lueneburg, Germany
b
Helmholtz-Zentrum Geesthacht, Institute of Materials Research, Materials Mechanics, Max-Planck-Strasse 1, 21052 Geesthacht, Germany
c
IK4-LORTEK, Technological Centre, Department of Joining Processes, Arranomendia Kalea 4a, Ordizia Gipuzkoa 20240, Spain
d
Airbus Operations GmbH, Department of Future Industrial System, Airbus-Allee 1, 28199 Bremen, Germany

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

Article history: The weldability of dissimilar T-joints between commercially pure titanium (cp-Ti) Grade 2 skin and Ti-
Received 7 February 2017 6Al-4V Grade 5 stringer using a continuous wave 8 kW ytterbium fiber laser as well as the possibility
Received in revised form 12 April 2017 of subsequent laser straightening process of these joints were investigated. Based on the industrial stan-
Accepted 14 May 2017
dards ISO 4578:2011 and AWS D17.1:200, process development to compensate inherent angular distor-
Available online 27 May 2017
tion after welding by laser heating with the same equipment as for welding was carried out. The obtained
results were effectively transferred to a 6-stringer-demonstrator with a length up to 500 mm. To inves-
Keywords:
tigate the shape and morphology of the welding seam as well as to verify its freedom from defects using
Fiber laser beam welding
Laser forming
the defined process parameters, metallographic transverse cross-sections and X-ray analyses were real-
Ti-6Al-4V ized. In addition, the behavior of the welding seam geometry and the bending behavior of the specimens
cp-Ti for varied process parameters were elucidated. For the welding process special attention to the shielding
T-joint conditions and to the local and angular laser beam positioning was payed. To straighten the welded
joints, laser straightening parameters inducing no microstructural changes were identified.
Ó 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction stringer material. This research deals with the investigation of

the general feasibility to weld and straighten T-joint-connections
The global air traffic volume dramatically increased over the between Ti-6Al-4V stringer and commercially pure titanium Grade
last decades resulting in a large input of fuel resources. Therefore, 2 as skin of 0.8 mm thickness using an 8 kW ytterbium fiber laser.
the aircraft industry focuses on the development of aerodynami- Welded connections conforming to ISO 4578:2011 and to the
cally optimized structures in order to achieve weight and fuel sav- American standard AWS D 17.1:2001 were produced. Due to dis-
ings [1]. The use of laser beam welding (LBW) technique instead of tortional effects induced by residual stresses after the LBW-
conventional riveting joints is a promising approach in the direc- process, a subsequent straightening of the components is needed.
tion of cost and weight reduction. The latter imposes additional These distortional effects result from high temperature differences
needs for advanced materials which conform to the strict require- between the upper and the lower material layer, which is also
ments of high load capacity and low density [2]. Taking into known as the temperature gradient mechanism (TGM) during
account their excellent mechanical properties and high corrosion LBW of T-joints. Therefore, the feasibility of an adequate non-
resistance, titanium alloys are very promising for application in contact post-straightening process, using the same laser equip-
aerospace. However, due to its high strength titanium is difficult ment as for welding of the T-joint connection, was carried out. This
to form and process in general. Several alloying elements signifi- laser induced straightening (LIS) process is based on the TGM and
cantly increase the strength but reduce the formability of titanium involves the post processing of the joint by a defocused laser beam.
alloys [3,4]. This is the main reason why commercially pure tita- In the following the development of an optimal parameter set for
nium (Grade 2) is mostly used for the outer skin material, whereas the LBW-process of the above mentioned joints as well as its LIS-
Ti-6Al-4V titanium alloy (Grade 5) is usually chosen as stiffening process parameter identification are addressed.

⇑ Corresponding author at: Leuphana University of Lueneburg, Institute of

Product and Process Innovation, Volgershall 1, D-21339 Lueneburg, Germany.
E-mail address: [email protected] (M. Froend).

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.optlastec.2017.05.017
0030-3992/Ó 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
124 M. Froend et al. / Optics and Laser Technology 96 (2017) 123–131

2. Laser forming mechanism 2.1. Existing predictive approach of angular distortion

Due to the heat input during the welding process, plastic defor- A well-established approach to quantitatively predict the bend-
mation of the material is induced. This is developed by an originat- ing angle caused by the TGM is the analytical model of Vollertsen
ing moment due to temperature differences between the upper [13–15], which is based on the simple two-layer model shown in
and the lower side of the skin sheet [5]. The gradient causes the Fig. 1. The bending angle (ab Þ of the workpiece is defined as:
development of inhomogeneously distributed inner residual stres-
3bath DT
ses which lead to an angular distortion of the sheet material. The ab ¼ ð2:4Þ
2s0
effect is shown in Fig. 1. To reconstruct the formerly flat surface
of the material, post-forming processes have to be conducted [6]. where (b) is the width of the heat affected zone (HAZ), (ath Þ the
In this work a non-contact post-forming procedure was performed thermal expansion coefficient of the material, (s0) the thickness of
using the temperature gradient mechanism (TGM) to straighten the workpiece and (DT) the temperature difference:
the sheet material. Therefore, the rear side of the workpiece was
DT ¼ T max  T 0 : ð2:5Þ
irradiated by a defocused laser of the same equipment as for the
LBW-process to induce the TGM again and reverse welding The temperature difference can be expressed as a function of
induced distortions. This technique is very efficient for small mate- the absorption coefficient (A), the laser power (P), advance speed
rial thicknesses due to a relatively fast process and minimum (vs), specific heat capacity (Cp), the width of the HAZ (b), the sheet
energy needs [7–10]. Aim of the straightening process is to achieve thickness s0 and its density (q):
a flat surface of the workpiece similar to the flatness before the
2AP
LBW. The required laser power should be minimized in order to DT ¼ : ð2:6Þ
prevent the damage of the surface, oxidation and microstructural v s C p bs0 q
changes. Therefore, the laser beam has to be defocused and the As shown in [16,17] for larger geometries a size-effect occurs
operating laser power has to be controlled precisely. and increases the bending angle. The resulting bending angle
Eq. (2.1) calculates the beam diameter as function of the focus including size effects can be analytically expressed by:
diameter (df) as well as ratio of the distance of the optical head  
1 2b
to the specimens surface (z) and the so called Rayleigh length (zr) ab ¼ 1  ath DT: ð2:7Þ
sffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi 3n s0
 2
z According to [17], the sheet is divided in (n) segments which are
dðzÞ ¼ df 1 þ : ð2:1Þ
zr all assumed to behave in an uniform bending along the segments.
Using this Equation, it is possible to regulate the surface power The length of each segment is L/n and has to be determined. The
density (E) affecting the workpiece surface which is expressed by value of n is related to the extent of the plastically deformed zone
the ratio of the laser power (P) and the irradiated area of the work- and is predicted using a temperature model which assumes all
piece (Af) as: thermal expansions to be fully converted into plastic deformation.
The critical amount of line energy, which has to be reached to
P P achieve plastic deformation, is
E¼ ¼ 2: ð2:2Þ
Af
p4
df
L
¼ 3E  17:5: ð2:8Þ
n
The line energy (LE) is determined by the ratio of the laser
power (P) and the scan velocity (vs) as:
3. Experimental
P
LE ¼ : ð2:3Þ
vs 3.1. Materials and process parameters
These three equations are enough to adapt the parameters of
the laser system in order to remove the welding induced angular The main characteristics of the laser and the parameters of the
distortion of the specimen. focused beam are provided in Table 1 and illustrated in Fig. 3.
The distortion after the welding process is the initial condition Potential astigmatism was compensated by the experimental set-
for straightening experiments as shown in Fig. 2 (a). The use of the up, e.g. due to a linear welding direction. The welding and straight-
TGM to straighten the bended skin sheet is shown in Fig. 2 (b). ening equipment consisted of an 8 kW continuous wave ytterbium

Fig. 1. The TGM in a simplified two layer model according to [12].

 M. Froend et al. / Optics and Laser Technology 96 (2017) 123–131 125

Fig. 2. Distortion due to heat input during laser welding (a) or laser straightening (b) according to [11].

Table 1 fiber laser YLS-8000-S2-Y12 (IPG Photonics Corporation) inte-

Main properties of the laser equipment. grated with an optical head YW52 Precitec mounted on a 6-axis
Parameter Symbol Value Unit KUKA KR30HA industrial robot. For the welding and straightening
experiments the a + b titanium alloys Ti-6Al-4V (Grade 5, AIMS03-
Maximum laser power P 8 kW
Collimation lens LC 120 mm
18-004) as stringer material and commercially pure titanium (cp-
Focal lens f 300 mm Ti, Grade 2, AIMS03-18-002) as skin material were used. Standard
Process fiber diameter D 200 mm chemical compositions of the materials as well as their mechanical
Focal spot diameter df 500 mm characteristics are given in Tables 2 and 3. The thickness of the
Center wavelength k 1070 nm
sheets was 0.8 mm. The material was cut to a geometry shown in
Divergence half-angle h=2 29.56 mrad
Beam parameter product BPP 7.4 mmmrad Fig. 4 (a) and welded perpendicular to the rolling direction of the
Beam quality factor M2 7.5 – sheets.
Rayleigh length zr 8.5 mm For the LBW-process, the stringer was clamped and pressed to
the skin material in order to achieve a zero gap. Before the welding,

Fig. 3. Overview of the beam caustic (a), beam symmetry (b) and beam intensity distribution in focal (c) and Rayleigh-length (d).
126 M. Froend et al. / Optics and Laser Technology 96 (2017) 123–131

Table 2
Chemical composition of Ti-6Al-4V and cp-Ti (wt.%) [3,4].

Fe [%] min O [%] min N [%] min C [%] min H [%] min Al [%] min V [%] min Othersindividual Otherstogether Ti
max max max max max max max [%] [%]
cp-Ti – – – – – – – – – Balance
0.20 0.18 0.05 0.06 0.013 – – 0.10 0.40
Ti-6Al- – – – – – 5.50 3.50 – – Balance
4V 0.30 0.20 0.05 0.08 0.015 6.75 4.50 0.10 0.40

Table 3
Mechanical properties of Ti-6Al-4V and cp-Ti [18,19].

Symbol Unit Ti-6Al-4V cp-Ti

Density q kg=m3 4430 4500
Melting temperature TM K 1660 1660
Thermal expansion coefficient ath 1
K
9.3106 9106
Thermal conductivity W=ðm  KÞ 7.1 22.6
Specific heat capacity CP J=ðkg  KÞ 560 523
Yield strength rY MPa 940 398
Tensile strength Rm MPa 1076 430

Fig. 4. Shielding and clamping conditions during welding (a) and straightening (b) with an identification of process parameters of big influence.

the edges of the specimens were milled, ground and cleaned. Due ducted in order to detect inner inhomogeneities like porosity in the
to the high reactivity of titanium with oxygen and nitrogen which welded seam. This analysis was performed by a DIN EN ISO 17636-
reduce the weld ductility and are deleterious to the overall weld 1:2013-05-certified specialist using an Isovolt 320/13 X-ray tube,
performance, a local argon shielding device was mounted to the and incidence angle of 42°, a distance between the radiation source
optical head. Furthermore, the skin material was clamped on a and the seam of 800 mm, a tube electricity of 4.2 mA and an effec-
backing plate, having an argon filled gap which also provided tive focal spot of 1.5  1.5 mm.
shielding from underneath. The clamping as well as the shielding
conditions are visualized in Fig. 4. The used process parameters
4. Results and discussion
as well as the identified optimal parameter sets are given in Table 4
for LBW and in Table 5 for LIS.
4.1. Morphology of the welding seams

3.2. Metallographic and X-ray analysis The most important welding parameters are summarized in
Fig. 4. Since the LBW-process is very sensitive to the energy input
For metallographic investigations transverse cross-sections regarding the penetration of the welded parts [14], it is important
from the middle section of the weld were cut. They were mounted, to define a beam incidence angle with respect to the skin plane. In
ground and polished using an oxide polishing suspension com- this context the identified parameter set 1 (see Table 4) with an
pound (OPS). Microstructural observations were performed using incidence angle of 15° while welding directly in the intersection
an inverted optical microscope (OM) Leica DMI 5000 M. Prior to point between stringer and skin surfaces (a = 0 mm) is worked
light microscopy, the specimens were etched by Kroll’s reagent out. The welding speed during the LBW-process defines the time
(3% HF, 6% HNO3, 91% distilled water) for 30 s to reveal the the workpiece is exposed to the laser irradiation. In [13,14] it is
microstructural features. The metallographic investigation was shown, that the porosity increased at low welding speeds. The lat-
used to define the quality of the root fusion conditions. In this con- ter and the need to use high welding speeds from a commercial
text the identification of the HAZ-depth in order to analyze its point of view imply it’s maximization. Due to the restrictions
influence to the TGM was also studied. imposed by commercially available seam tracking systems needed
In case of full stringer/skin connection, sufficient penetration in for the control of the LBW-process, the welding speed was limited
the skin and acceptable depth of the HAZ, X-ray analysis was con- and fixed at 3.5 m/min. As seen from Eqs. (2.1)–(2.3), the laser
 M. Froend et al. / Optics and Laser Technology 96 (2017) 123–131 127

Table 4
Experimental parameter used for LBW.

Parameters Symbol Unit Parameter variation Identified parameter set Identified parameter set Identified parameter set
1 2 3
Beam angle a ° 15, 25 15 25 25
Laser power P W 500, 550, 600, 650, 700, 750, 700–750 600–650 600–650
800
Incident position/offset Da mm 0, 0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.4 0 0.2 0.3
Advance speed vs m/ 3, 3.5, 4 3.5 3.5 3.5
min
Focus F mm 0 0 0 0
Contact load Pr kg 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13 9 9 9
Argon flow on beam side QArF l/min 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 5 5 5
Argon flow on back side QArB l/min 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 6 6 6
Argon flow in the gap QArG l/min 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 7 7 7
Front nozzle angle b1 ° 30, 45, 60 45 45 45
Back nozzle angle b2 ° 15, 20, 25, 30 20 20 20
Distance front nozzle to dNF mm 13, 12, 11, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6 10 10 10
specimen
Distance back nozzle to dNB mm 7, 6, 5, 4, 3 3 3 3
specimen

Table 5
Experimental parameters used for LIS.

Parameters Symbol Unit Parameter variation Identified parameter set

Laser power P W 600, 900, 1200 900
Beam angle a ° – 90
Defocusing Df mm 40, 60, 80, 100, 120 80
Advance speed vs m/min 0.5, 1, 1.5, 2, 2.5, 3, 3.5, 4 3.5
Argon flow beam side QARF l/min 10, 15, 20, 25 20
Nozzle angle c ° 15, 20, 25, 30 20
Distance nozzle to specimen dNS mm 4, 3, 2, 1 1
Beam diameter db mm 2, 3.2, 4.5, 5.5, 7 4.5

power required to keep the energy density constant increases with material as well as in the skin. The reduction of the incidence angle
increasing defocusing distance. Therefore, all LBW-processes were position relatively to the skin also leads to an increased reflection
carried out in focal position to minimize the irradiated area of the of the beam from the skin surface back into the stringer and addi-
workpiece as well as to work with a high degree of efficiency. In tionally increased the underfills in the stringer. With an increased
addition to that, the increased spot size would have been negative incidence angle, the joints were not fully penetrated even with a
on the distortion due to the increased HAZ. Using these parameters high laser power of 800 W, see Fig. 5 (b). To eliminate an excessive
the necessary laser power was defined to 725 W ± 3% in order to heat input into the skin due to the higher incidence angle, the laser
get fully penetrated welds with a low HAZ depth in the skin mate- power should be restricted to less than 750 W. Only in this param-
rial as well as an underfill depth of about 4% which conforms to ISO eter window the skin is not burnt through. However, with such low
4578:2011 and AWS D17.1:2001 requirements. Taking into laser power it is not possible to achieve a sufficient penetration as
account the real shape of the stringers and the difficult access of shown in Fig. 5 (b). The latter implies that it is not possible to
the optical head to the required position in a manufacturing pro- obtain fully penetrated T-joints without burning through the skin
cess at the subcomponent level, the incidence angle was increased for Da = 0 and a = 25°. Therefore, the distance between the skin
to 25°. As can be seen in Fig. 5, increasing the incidence angle from surface relatively to the irradiation point as well as the laser energy
15° to 25° and keeping all other parameters constant, the heat flow had to be adjusted. Fig. 6 illustrates transverse cross sections of the
into the skin increases significantly. As a result, the skin was burnt welding seams welded with various laser powers and incidence
through and unacceptable underfills appeared in the stringer positions for a focused beam at an incidence angle of 25° and weld-

Fig. 5. Differences of the seam morphology due to different incidence angles of 15° (a) and 25° (b).
128 M. Froend et al. / Optics and Laser Technology 96 (2017) 123–131

Fig. 6. Metallographic visualization of the offset-power-ratio with respect to the seam morphology.

ing speed of 3.5 m/min. It can be seen that there is a dependency 4.2. Shielding conditions
between the offset of the laser spot position and the laser power
parameters, influencing the seam quality as well. A high sensitivity Due to the high reactivity of the material with atmospheric
of the LBW-process regarding the laser power, incidence angle and gases, special attention has to be payed to the shielding conditions.
position of the laser beam was found while processing these thin By visual inspection it was detected that stripes of discoloration
materials. An incidence position deviation of 0.1–0.2 mm signifi- with a width of approximately 4 mm appeared on all sides of the
cantly affects the quality of the seam and lead to welding seams fusion zone after welding without shielding. This appears in conse-
not complying with the requirements. It should also be pointed quence of the built oxide layer due to a reaction of the titanium
out that increasing the laser power leads to an increase in the with atmospheric gases. Taking the relatively small thickness of
depth of the underfill but also improves the skin-stringer connec- the specimens into account, it is evident that the not irradiated
tion. The reduction of the incidence position of the laser beam bottom side of the skin was heated up to a temperature where
increases the depth of the heat affected zone into the skin material reactions with the atmosphere became possible. Therefore, the
but leads to a not sufficiently welded stringer as shown in Figs. 5 shielding gas has to be provided from the irradiated side of the
(b) and 6. It was not possible to achieve full penetration with the stringer and skin material as well as from their rear side while
incidence position of Da < 0.2 mm. If the incidence position is LBW. During the LBW-process the irradiated material melts so that
higher than 0.4 mm the energy of the laser is absorbed by the strin- the flow rate of the shielding gas has to be defined as low as pos-
ger leading to almost no connection between skin and stringer. sible, in order to protect the liquid material from turbulences
A typical transverse cross section of the laser beam welded T- caused by too high gas pressure and solidified material from dis-
joint is shown in Fig. 7 (a). Four regions of the weld were distin- coloration. For the LIS-process the energy density has to be much
guished, namely the fusion zone (FZ), stringer heat affected zone lower than for LBW in order not to melt the surface and induce
(HAZ), skin HAZ and BM (cp-Ti and Ti-6Al-4V). Ti-6Al-4V base microstructural changes. Consequently, the temperature of the
metal microstructure, Fig. 7 (b), consists of globular a grains with material surface is much lower and shielding has to be provided
average grain size of around 3-4 mm and an intergranular retained solely on the irradiated surface of the specimen. Table 4 lists three
b-phase. The cp-Ti BM, Fig. 7 (d), exhibits an equiaxed microstruc- identified welding parameter sets. It was found that for an incident
ture, however, with coarser grains of about 20 mm and a small angle of 15°, a laser power of 700–750 W in connection with a
amount of intergranular b. During welding, the metal in the FZ is welding speed of 3.5 m/min and an offset of Da = 0 mm using a
heated up to molten state and solidified subsequently with a high focused beam have to be used to get full penetrated welds as visu-
cooling rate. The resulting FZ microstructure, Fig. 7 (c), consists of alized in Fig. 8 (a). For a higher incident angle of 25° the laser
acicular a0 martensitic morphology, formed due to diffusionless power could be reduced to 600–650 W in connection with an offset
b ? a0 transformation [22]. Significant grain coarsening has of Da = 0.2–0.3 mm. Fig. 8 (a)–(c) visualize the metallographic
occurred in the skin HAZ immediately adjacent to the FZ as shown seam morphology using the identified parameter sets 1–3.
in Fig. 7 (e). Sharp interfaces between Ti-6Al-4V and cp-Ti alloys
were observed as seen in Fig. 7 (f).
 M. Froend et al. / Optics and Laser Technology 96 (2017) 123–131 129

Fig. 7. Transverse micrograph of the joint (a). Microstructure of the Ti-6Al-4V BM (b). FZ microstructure (c). Microstructure of the cp-Ti BM (d). Skin HAZ microstructure (e).
Interface between Ti-6Al-4V and cp-Ti (f).

Fig. 8. Metallographic seam morphology of defined best parameter sets.

4.3. LIS efficiency welded material in the same way as the not welded cp-Ti sheets
using the same parameters. The distortional peak for not welded
To straighten the material using the TGM, investigations of the skin was reached using the line energy of 3.5 kJ/m to 3.2° ± 0.5°
distortion behavior of cp-Ti were carried out. Preliminary tests using a laser spot diameter of 4.5 mm. For cp-Ti-Ti-6Al-4V-T-
were conducted on the specimens from cp-Ti without stringers. joints the peak was shifted to 1.4° using the line energy of 1.8 kJ/
Different laser powers and scan velocities were used to analyze m. Additionally, it was worked out that the bending behavior
the dependence of the bending angle on the line energy. Due to was reduced for T-joints. This is explained by the hardened mate-
the increased stiffness of the skin plate after the LBW-process, a rial after welding. The theoretical prediction using Eq. (2.4) corre-
different LIS-efficiency was expected for the LBW joints compared lates only for line energies from 1.3 kJ/m to 2.2 kJ/m in case of cp-Ti
to the skin material. The behavior of the cp-Ti sheets, cp-Ti-Ti-6Al- sheet material, which is explained by its linearity. In case of very
4V-T-joints as well as the theoretical predictions from Eq. (2.7) are high line energies, no temperature difference between the upper
shown in Fig. 9. It was found that the welded T-joints showed a and lower part of the sheet is developed, hence less or no internal
reduced bending behavior relatively to the cp-Ti sheets. As stresses occur, which results in a lower to no bending angle. In case
described in [20,21] the FZ of the LBW joints exhibit higher of a multipass LIS-process theoretical predictions of cp-Ti sheet
strength and lower ductility compared to the base metal. The rea- material correlate very well with the calculated behavior as dis-
son for the increased strength is the high cooling rate which leads played in Fig. 9 (b). Therefore, a line energy of 1.5 kJ/m was used
to microstructural changes within the FZ. The inner stresses which to straighten the welded specimens to a flatness of 80%. The max-
were induced during LIS do not reach the magnitude to distort the imum discrepancy of 5.76° between experimental results and cal-
130 M. Froend et al. / Optics and Laser Technology 96 (2017) 123–131

Fig. 9. Distortional behaviour of cp-Ti-sheets and Ti-6Al-4V-cp-Ti-T-joints for single (a) and multiple LIS (b).

culated values appeared at a level of 10 passes, in case of the LBW and low laser power in connection with a maximum velocity of
of T-joints the maximum discrepancy of 29.34° occurred for 30 3.5 m/min. An average bending angle of 1.0° ± 0.28° was measured
passes. In general, it was shown that the bending behavior of mul- and could be reduced to 0.2° ± 0.14° after the straightening. This
tipass LIS-processes is not linear and the efficiency decreases with implies an efficiency of 80%. The LIS-process corrects the occurred
increasing number of passes. As found in [16], this effect is based distortion to an almost flat surface. The angular dimensions of the
on the increasing material thickness of the bending edge after mul- manufactured demonstrator are shown in Fig. 11. For a general
tiple irradiations as illustrated in Fig. 10 (b). prediction of the needed specimen dimension to show occurring
Using the determined LIS parameter set shown in Table 5, a six- size-effects, Eqs. (2.7) and (2.8) were used. The calculations
stringer demonstrator could be straightened after the LBW by showed a predicted bending angle of 3° for a 50 mm long work-
applying LIS on the reverse of each T-joint. The identified parame- piece and an increasing size effect to 3.71° for a 4000 mm long
ter set fulfilled the general requirements to straighten the material panel. This behavior is also shown in Fig. 10 (a). Measured results
without melting the surface using the same equipment as for LBW showed an average bending angle of 2.2° for 50 mm long speci-

Fig. 10. Estimation of the size-effect (a) and thickness increasing effects in the bending edge (b).

Fig. 11. Distortions over the width of the workpiece after LBW and LIS.
 M. Froend et al. / Optics and Laser Technology 96 (2017) 123–131 131

mens and an average bending angle of 1° in case of a 100 mm long properties. The distortion effect is influenced by the size of the
demonstrator with six-stringers. This result underlines the neces- workpiece so that the distortion increases with increasing length.
sity of ongoing future work in this field of research.
To achieve a precise prediction of the occurring bending behav- Acknowledgements
ior of cp-Ti-Ti-6Al-4V-T-joints further experimental as well as
advanced numerical modeling strategies have to be pursued. The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support of the
European Union (Clean Sky 2 EU-JTI Platform) under the thematic
call JTI-CS2-2014-CFP01-LPA-01-03 ‘‘Development of advanced
5. Conclusion laser based technologies for the manufacturing of titanium HLFC
structures/DELASTI” (grant agreement no: 687088).
Dissimilar T-joints between cp-Ti skin and Ti-6Al-4V stringer Additionally the authors would like to thank Mr. R. Dinse, Mr. P.
were laser beam welded to investigate the influence of welding Haack and Mr. F. Dorn from Helmholtz-Zentrum Geesthacht for
parameters on the weld quality, shape, distortion and defects. 13 their valuable technical support.
process parameters were identified to have a strong influence on
the weld quality. Special attention in order to provide sufficient References
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