Review of laser hybrid welding

TLDR

Hybrid welding combines a laser (CO₂ or Nd:YAG) with a conventional energy source such as tungsten inert gas, plasma, or metal active gas to create a shared molten pool, a phenomenon historically studied. The article reviews the hybrid welding process and outlines future research directions to improve its efficiency. It discusses how process parameters—including secondary energy source, shielding gas, and other settings—affect the weld and provides examples of industrial applications. Hybrid welding offers advantages such as improved gap bridging, increased welding speed, deeper penetration, better weld quality, and reduced heat input, while also presenting certain drawbacks.

Abstract

In this article, an overview of the hybrid welding process is given. After a short historic overview, a review of the fundamental phenomenon taking place when a laser (CO2 or Nd:YAG) interacts in the same molten pool as a more conventional source of energy, e.g. tungsten in-active gas, plasma, or metal inactive gas/metal active gas. This is followed by reports of how the many process parameters governing the hybrid welding process can be set and how the choice of secondary energy source, shielding gas, etc. can affect the overall welding process. An overview of the benefits and drawbacks of hybrid welding is presented, including reports on gap bridging ability, changes in welding speed and weld penetration, overall weld quality, and changes in heat input to the material being welded. This overview is followed by a few examples of industrial applications of hybrid welding. Finally, a section is devoted to explain about further work required in order to understand and tackle the hybrid welding process more efficiently in the future.