Transient Thermal Modeling in Laser Welding of Metallic/Nonmetallic Joints Using SolidWorks® Software

Abstract

The purpose of this research is to develop a SolidWorks® model for transient temperature field of laser welding of PMMA/SS 304 materials for application in fabrication of the ultrasonic back-plate, with a view of optimizing the experimental conditions. The study is carried out on these materials because of the increasing application of both metals and non-metals. The work focuses specifically on these materials because they have been experimentally studied previously and as such, this study can be accepted as an assessment into feasibility of using SolidWorks® model to study the temperature field of the laser welding processes of metals and non-metals. The results of the SolidWorks® transient thermal model show that there is a concentration of high temperatures at the point of contact. It also shows that temperature decreases as we move in (between laser and the top face) to the thickness of the part. Additionally the maximum temperature occurs at the last point of the welding; this may be due to the accumulation of the temperature before arriving at the end. These findings are comparable to the previous simulated and experimental results on temperature field during laser welding of PMMA/SS 304 materials. However, SolidWorks® is shown to present a challenge in modeling a moving source of laser power.