Single pass laser vacuum welding of thick steel plates using electromagnetic support

Procedia CIRP, vol. 124, pp. 418–423

Abstract

The increasing demand for renewable energy produced by offshore wind turbines goes along with an increased demand in the production of offshore wind turbine foundations, so called “monopiles”, which are made by joining thick metal sheets. The industrial standard of multi-layer submerged arc welding (SAW) for joining of thick metal sheets is the current bottleneck in the production of monopiles. A possible increase in productivity by the implementation of high-power laser welding in a newly developed mobile vacuum chamber (MoVac) and an electromagnetic root support is the subject of this study. Single run butt welds are performed in flat position on S355 mild steel of thicknesses up to 80 mm using a disc laser system with 1030 nm wavelength and a maximum output of 60 kW. The laser optic is fixed on the MoVac-System which is held and manipulated by an articulated robot.

Authors 7

1. Andrey Gumenyuk corresponding

   Federal Institute For Materials Research and Testing

   Affiliation as printed

   Bundesanstalt für Materialforschung und -prüfung (BAM), Unten den Eichen 87, 12205 Berlin, Germany

2. Ömer Üstündağ

   Federal Institute For Materials Research and Testing

   Affiliation as printed

   Bundesanstalt für Materialforschung und -prüfung (BAM), Unten den Eichen 87, 12205 Berlin, Germany

3. Till Pelz

   Federal Institute For Materials Research and Testing

   Affiliation as printed

   Bundesanstalt für Materialforschung und -prüfung (BAM), Unten den Eichen 87, 12205 Berlin, Germany

4. Nasim Bakir

   Federal Institute For Materials Research and Testing

   Affiliation as printed

   Bundesanstalt für Materialforschung und -prüfung (BAM), Unten den Eichen 87, 12205 Berlin, Germany

5. Benjamin Gerhards
   Affiliation as printed

   LaVa-X GmbH, Kaiserstrasse 100, 52134 Herzogenrath, Germany

6. Markus Schleser Aachen

   FH Aachen

   Affiliation as printed

   FH Aachen - University of Applied Science, Bayernallee 11, 52066 Aachen, Germany

   LaVa-X GmbH, Kaiserstrasse 100, 52134 Herzogenrath, Germany

7. Michael Rethmeier

   Technische Universität Berlin · Federal Institute For Materials Research and Testing · Fraunhofer Institute for Production Systems and Design Technology

   Affiliation as printed

   Bundesanstalt für Materialforschung und -prüfung (BAM), Unten den Eichen 87, 12205 Berlin, Germany

   Fraunhofer Institute for Production Systems and Design Technology IPK, Pascalstrasse 8-9, 10587 Berlin, Germany

   Technische Universität Berlin, Pascalstrasse 8-9, 10587 Berlin, Germany