Joining dissimilar metal alloys together has become a major issue in the welding industry since the rapid development of innovative and performing multi-materials products. In case, titanium and Aluminum alloys can be laser-welded using a placement of the laser beam aside the weld centerline, which is called off-set. The fused zone is deep and narrow and the reaction between titanium and Aluminum is limited to a thin interlayer, which improves mechanical properties. In this paper, the effect of focus and off-set distance of the laser beam on the weldability of grade 5 titanium to 6061 Aluminum alloy dissimilar butt weld are presented. The interlayer thickness was correlated to the process parameters and tensile behavior of the weld. The map of deformation showed different deformations of the two weld sides. The data coming from the metallurgical and mechanical characterization of the weld were analyzed to figure out the best off-set and focus combination in the range studied.
Keywords: Aluminum; fiber laser; intermetallic layer; laser offset welding; optimization; titanium.