Lasers in Manufacturing Conference 2015

Influence of Laser Power and Wavelength on the Resonant

Interaction between Laser Radiation and TIG Welding Arc
B. Emdea,*, M. Husea, J. Hermsdorfa, S. Kaierlea, V. Weslinga, L. Overmeyera
a
Laser Zentrum Hannover e.V.,Hollerithallee 8, 30419 Hannover, Germany

Abstract

The combination of a laser beam with several kW and an electric arc for laser hybrid welding has already been known for
over 30 years for its beneficial properties in deep penetration welding, for instance for its increased speed or its gap
bridging capabilities. More recent studies have drawn attention towards the role of the laser´s wavelength, especially
when using lasers with power less than 1 kW. Choosing the wavelength close to a resonance wavelength of the argon
shielding gas allows for an additional increase of the welding speed. This paper presents investigations on the resonant
interaction between a low-power laser beam and a TIG welding arc, and discusses the effect of resonant atomic
absorption at 810.4 nm and 811.5 nm, respectively.

Keywords: Welding; TIG-Arc; Laser; Resonant Absorption

1. Introduction

Industrial sectors like the transport or the pipeline industry demand for cost effective welding processes.
In the last few years, laser hybrid welding has become increasingly attractive for these sectors. First studies
on the combination of laser welding and TIG arc welding were carried out by Steen and Eboo, 1979. Laser
hybrid welding overcomes the challenges of both classic arc welding and laser beam welding by providing
high welding speeds and high penetration depths. But as a drawback, it is also accompanied by high
investment costs for the high-power laser source, and system technology like the processing head.

* Corresponding author. Tel.: +49 511 2788-336; fax: +49 511 2788-100
E-mail address: b.emde@lzh.de
 As a variant of hybrid laser welding, laser-stabilized arc welding laser powers of less than 1 kW are used.
Although deep penetration welding cannot be achieved at these power levels, the process variant still
combines the gap bridging capabilities and high welding speed of the classical arc welding and the laser
welding (Hermsdorf et al., 2009a). Investigations on laser-stabilized arc welding have been carried out using
different laser sources including the CO2 (Cui, 1991; Decker et al., 1995) and the Nd:YAG lasers (Hu, 2002; Hu
and den Ouden, 2005; Stute et al., 2007). The combination of laser radiation and electric arc in one process
zone stabilizes the electric arc, and allows an increase in welding speed without a reduction in welding depth
(Cui et al., 1992). Another beneficial effect of laser-stabilized arc welding is a precise control of the welding
position due to a “fixing” of the root of the electric arc to the laser beam (Schnick, 2012; Hermsdorf et al.,
2009b). The laser radiation also reduces the arc`s electrical resistance, which is reflected by a change in the
current through the arc and the voltage across the arc (Steen, 1980). Spectroscopic investigations have
shown that the laser radiation increases the evaporation of metal in the electric arc. Especially the amount of
metal ions was found to be increased, which changes the electric conductivity of the electric arc (Hu, 2002).
Besides Nd:YAG lasers, Hermsdorf et al. experimented with diode lasers with wavelengths of 808 nm and
811 nm and optical powers up to 400 W (Hermsdorf et al., 2009a). They observed that the welding process
can be optimized in terms of welding speed, if the wavelength of the laser is close to the wavelength of the
absorption lines of the shielding gas argon (Hermsdorf et al., 2009b). Argon, as a commonly used shielding
gas, is known to have two absorption lines at 810.4 nm and 811.5 nm (NIST, 2015). The power spectrum of
the diode laser Hermsdorf et al. used overlapped both absorption lines, thus allowing for a resonant
interaction between laser radiation and argon atoms. Hermsdorf et al. suppose that resonant absorption of
the laser radiation affects the electrical conductivity of the electric arc (Hermsdorf et al., 2009a). This effect
is known from optogalvanic spectroscopy where a laser beam penetrates part of a gas discharge. Optical
pumping of a transition between two levels of atoms or ions by laser radiation leads to a change of the
population densities (Demtröder, 2003). The change of the population densities affects the discharge current
because of a change of the ionization probabilities (Demtröder, 2003). A change of the optogalvanic current
in an argon-filled glow discharge tube was demonstrated by Matsuta et al., 2010. In the experimental setup
of Hermsdorf et al., the laser beam was oriented almost coaxially to the electric arc, causing a permanent
irradiation of the melting zone. Due to this setup, it was not possible to experimentally separate the effect of
an interaction between laser beam and arc from the effect of additional heating of the melting pool.
The aim of this paper is to show that resonant absorption of laser radiation in an electric arc can lead to a
change of the electrical conductivity. A TIG welding arc was used, because there is no additional material like
filler wire influencing the process. To investigate the resonant absorption of laser radiation, a loss of laser
power should be measureable after penetrating the electric arc. The amount of the absorbed laser power
should depend on the centre wavelength of the laser and furthermore on selective resonance wavelengths
like 810.4 nm and 811.5 nm. This investigation is achieved by guiding the beam perpendicular through the
centre line of the electric arc.

2. Experimental Setup

The experimental setup is shown schematically in Fig. 1. The 8 mm long TIG welding arc burns on a cooled
copper plate. The laser beam is oriented in parallel to the surface of the copper plate at a height of 4 mm to
avoid an irradiation of the copper plate anode and the tungsten cathode. Measuring the laser power after
penetrating the TIG welding arc allows an analysis of the interaction between laser beam and arc without
additional effects which might be caused by irradiating the melting zone. The welding equipment used was a
standard industrial current-controlled TIG welding source (Merkle LogiTIG 300 AC/DC). Tab. 1 summarizes
the used welding parameters. For an analysis of the arc voltage and current, the actual internal value signals
of the welding source were measured using a 16-bit data acquisition system (NI PXI-6224).

Fig. 1. Experimental setup for the analysis of the interaction between laser beam and TIG welding arc

Two diode lasers were used to evaluate the effect of the beam intensity and line width (laser A: Laserline
LDM 400-500, laser B: Jenoptik JOLD-100-CPXF-2P W). Tab. 1 gives an overview of the laser parameters. The
centre wavelengths of both lasers were adjusted by tuning the laser power and keeping the temperature of
the cooling water of the lasers constant throughout the experiments. Due to the different maximum laser
powers, two power meters with different resolutions and detector diameters were used. The distance
between power meter and arc column was chosen with respect to possible optical effects of the arc plasma.

Table 1. Experimental parameters

Welding source
Current 120 A DC
Gas Ar 4.6
Gas flow 10 l/min @ 2 bar
Laser source A B
Max. output power 367 W 99 W
Centre wavelength @ max. output power 811.3 nm 811.2 nm
Line width (FWHM) @ max. output power 2.5 nm 3.9 nm
Focusing lens 300 mm 300 mm
Collimation lens 50 mm 100 mm
Fiber diameter 0.4 mm 0.6 mm
Focus diameter 2.4 mm 1.8 mm
Cooling water temperature 18 °C 15 °C
Power meter
Power meter(100 W) diameter 20 mm
Power meter (1 kW) diameter 35 mm
Distance to arc 150 mm
To reduce the emitted arc radiation, an iris diaphragm was integrated in front of the power meter to allow
undisturbed absorption measurements of the laser power spectrum. The spectra of the arc and the lasers
were measured with a compact spectroscope (AvantesAvaSpec-3648-USB2-RM with 3648 pixel CCD
detector) with a wavelength range of 311-867 nm.

3. Experiments

Resonant absorption can only occur, if the laser power spectrum overlaps the argon emission lines. Fig. 2
shows the overlapping averaged laser power spectra and the arc’s emission spectrum. The spectra shown
are based on five measurements and were normalized to their maximum value.

Fig. 2. Measured and normalized emission spectrum of the TIG welding arc and power spectrum of laser A and B at maximum laser
power

The characteristic emission lines of argon atoms at 810.4 nm and 811.5 nm in the arc’s emission spectrum
are overlapped by laser A and laser B at their maximum output power. Compared to laser A, the power
spectrum of laser B is stamped by a wider line width and an unbalanced line profile.

Fig. 3. Measured laser power after penetrating the TIG welding arc for laser A at a laser power setting of 367 W
 To analyze the interaction between laser beam and TIG welding arc, the laser power was measured after
penetration of the arc. Besides the laser beam, the arc optical emission is detected by the power meter. In
case of a 120 A arc, the optical power amounts to 9 W when using a 1 kW power meter. The reading of the
power meter as a function of time when switching off the arc at a constant laser power setting of laser A at
367 W is shown in Fig. 3. At the beginning of the measurement, the laser and the TIG welding arc are
activated, resulting in a measured laser power of 318 W. The power reading increases from 318 W to 367 W
when switching off the TIG welding arc. The delayed rise of the measured laser power is based on the
calorimetric measurement principle of the power meter. Considering the optical power emitted by the arc,
the laser power difference of ΔP = 58 W has to be attributed to the presence of the arc plasma. This is about
15.8 % of the maximum laser power PL,max. For laser B, the relative laser power difference ΔP/PL,max was
found to be only 8.4 %. Tab. 2 compares the effect of the laser power on the interaction between laser
radiation and argon atoms.

Table 2. Measured laser power and laser power difference for laser A and laser B

Laser A B
Laser power setting PL 367.0 W 99.0 W
Measured laser power with arc 318.0 W 92.2 W
Measured laser power without arc 367.0 W 99.0 W
Measured optical arc power @ 120 A 9.0 W 1.5 W
Laser power difference ΔP 58.0 W 8.3 W
Relative laser power difference ΔP/PL,max 0.158 0.084

To examine the wavelength dependency of the observed laser power difference P, the centre
wavelength λc of laser A was detuned by varying the laser output power P L (Fig. 4). The centre wavelength
was computed as the centre of mass of the laser power spectrum at a given laser power. For each centre
wavelength, the measurements of the laser power difference were repeated 3 times. Fig. 4 also shows the
spectral overlap a(λc) and the relative laser power PL(λc)/PL,max. The spectral overlap a(λc) of the normalized
laser power spectrum Sλc(λ) and the normalized absorption spectrum A(λ) (calculated by the absorption
measurements from Fig. 5) was computed by evaluating equation (1) numerically. Since no laser power
difference was detected for centre wavelengths below 808 nm, integration was restricted to
808 nm ≤ λ ≤ 814 nm.

814nm
a ( )   d  S ( )  A( )
808nm
c (1)

The maximum laser power difference of 58 W was measured at a centre wavelength of 811.3 nm which is
equivalent to the previous result from Fig. 3. The spectral overlap shows a comparable trend to the laser
power difference. In case of no overlapping spectra (a(λc) = 0), no laser power difference was observed which
corresponds to no interaction between laser beam and argon gas. At maximum overlap (a(λc) = 1), the
maximum laser power difference was registered which indicates a major interaction between laser photons
and argon atoms.
Fig. 4. Laser power difference ΔP(λc), spectral overlap a(λc) and relative laser power PL(λc) / PL,max as a function of the centre wavelength
λc for laser A

The disadvantage of the tuning method used is that the laser power and the spectral overlap are changed
at the same time. Therefore, it is not possible to distinguish between the effect of the spectral overlap and
the effect of the laser power. Both, the spectral overlap and the relative laser power were well correlated
with the laser power difference. But comparing the measured laser power difference of laser A and B shows
the relevance of the spectral overlap. For laser A, no laser power difference was observed for centre
wavelengths below 808 nm even at a laser power of about 250 W. Using laser B, a laser power difference of
8.3 W could already be reached at a laser power of 99 W and a centre wavelength of 811.2 nm.
For verification of the resonant absorption of laser radiation in a TIG welding arc, the laser B power
spectra were compared with and without the influence of the arc (Fig. 5). Each power spectrum shows the
average of five measurements and is normalized on its maximum. The laser power spectrum behind the arc
shows a reduction in the area of the argon emission lines. In fact, some laser photons were not transmitted
to the spectroscope and the power meter, depending on their wavelength.

Fig. 5. Effect of the arc on the normalized power spectrum of laser B

The interaction between laser beam and argon gas also affects the overall electrical conductivity of the
TIG welding arc. Due to the active control of the 120 A welding current, changes in the electrical conductivity
of the arc were observed as changes in the voltage across the arc. For the measurements, laser A was
modulated at a rate of 0.25 Hz. Due to modulation, the laser power varied from 0 W to 367 W, and the arc
voltage varied with a 0.16 V amplitude (Fig. 6). In fact, the absorption of laser radiation leads to a change of
the electrical conductivity of the TIG welding arc. Furthermore, a falling tendency of the arc voltage can be
observed. This can be explained by the short experiment time, since the electrode is not in thermal
equilibrium.

Fig. 6. Arc voltage modulation by switching the laser beam on and off

The implied 19.2 W (120 A x 0.16 V) electrical power variation in the above setup is smaller than the
measured laser power difference of 58.0 W, indicating that not all the missing optical power was converted
into electrical power by the underlying interaction mechanism. In experiments with laser B, changes in the
arc voltage were not observed. Using the above 19.2 W / 58.0 W = 33 % conversion factor for an estimation
of the corresponding voltage change for laser B, the observed 8.3W laser power difference implies a 2.7 W
electrical power difference, which is too low to create any measurable change in the arc voltage signal
regarding the 2.1 kW (120 A x 17.5 V) of the TIG welding arc.

4. Discussion

The experiments show that resonant interaction between laser beam and TIG welding arc takes place.
Due to this interaction, the optical power of laser beam A is reduced by 58 W, if there is a spectral overlap
between the laser power spectrum and the absorption spectrum of the argon atoms of the arc shielding gas.
Comparing the results for both lasers used shows the relevance of the spectral overlap and the amount of
the laser photons at the absorptive range which are able to interact with the argon atoms. Besides the
reduction of the laser power, the interaction also causes a voltage reduction across the current-stabilized TIG
welding arc. One possible interpretation is that additional free charge carriers are generated within the TIG
welding arc because of the interaction. The charges accelerate towards the electrodes in the arc’s electrical
field. This additional current component enables the current control to reduce the voltage across the arc.
The generation of additional charge carriers is caused by the optogalvanic effect. Although in TIG welding
arcs the dominant energy transfer between the arc particle species is caused by collision, some laser beam
photons are absorbed by argon atoms and thus populate the group of higher excited argon atoms. These
excited atoms might in turn be ionized by secondary processes. In this way, the ionization probability of
argon atoms within the TIG welding arc increases due to optical “pumping” by the laser beam.
The results also show that the efficiency of the conversion of optical power into electrical power might be
optimized by improving the spectral overlap, for instance by adapting the laser source in a way that the laser
power is concentrated in the absorptive spectral range of the argon shielding gas. Furthermore, research
should be carried out by investigating, if the transition at 810.4 nm or at 811.5 nm is more efficient for
optical pumping. Besides the spectral overlap, also the spatial overlap has to be considered for optimization,
since the probability of a laser photon absorption event leading to the production of charge carriers depends
on multiple factors, such as the intensity of the laser beam as well as the argon ionization probability. Both
factors vary within the TIG welding arc.

Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful for the financial support given by the German Research Foundation DFG within
the project: Spektroskopische Untersuchungen zur räumlichen Beeinflussung eines WIG-Lichtbogens durch
Laserstrahlung. Contract no. WE 2846/11-1

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