Characteristics of laser welded wrought Mg-Al-Mn alloy

Magnesium alloys have gained increased attention in recent years as a structural metal because of their property merits, which necessitates the development of welding techniques qualified for applications in the aeronautic and automotive industries. Laser welding is known to be an excellent method for joining metals. In this paper, a 3 kW CO2 laser beam was used to weld the wrought Mg-Al-Mn alloy. The characteristics of the microstructure and the mechanical properties of the joints were analyzed by optical microscopy (OM), energy dispersive spectrometry (EDS), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), tensile testing and hardness testing. The experimental results show that the wrought Mg-Al-Mn alloy can be joined successfully using optimized welding conditions. The results of tensile testing show that the highest ultimate tensile strength (UTS) of the joints is up to 94% of that of the base metal. The base metal consists of a typical rolled structure, the narrow heat affected zone (HAZ) has no obvious grain coarsening, and the fusion zone consists of fine grains with a high density of gamma-Mg17Al12 precipitates. The hardness test results indicate that the microhardness in the fusion zone is higher than that of the base metal. The elemental analysis reveals that the Mg content in the weld is lower than that of the base metal, but the Al content is slightly higher. (C) 2008 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.