Shielding gas for laser welding
AssigneeUnion Carbide Corporation
InventorsRichard J. Meehan, deceased, Richard H. Rein, Ralph H. Willgohs
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Abstract
Helium and helium base gas mixtures such as helium-hydrogen; helium-oxygen and helium-carbon dioxide have been found to improve weld penetration when used with presently available lasers to weld most steels.
Claims3
A method for deep penetration welding of metallic workpieces with a laser beam which comprises directing said beam to the workpiece and shielding the weld zone with a shielding gas consisting essentially of a mixture of helium and less than 20% by volume of an electronegative gas.
A method for deep penetration welding of metallic workpieces with a laser beam which comprises directing said beam to the workpiece and shielding the weld zone with a shielding gas consisting essentially of a mixture of helium and at least one other gas which will in combination provide a higher thermal conductivity than helium alone.
A method for deep penetration welding of metallic workpieces with a laser beam which comprises directing said beam to the workpiece and shielding the weld zone with a shielding gas consisting essentially of a mixture of helium, an electronegative gas and up to 10% by volume of CO.sub.2.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.