A Study on the Keyhole Dynamics According to Polarization of Laser

레이저의 편광을 고려한 키홀 거동 해석에 관한 연구

Three-dimensional transient keyhole profile is numerically analyzed for the case of stationary laser keyhole welding. Volume of fluid (VOF) method is adopted to track the free surface of molten metal based on the three governing equations which are continuity, momentum and energy equations. Multiple reflections of laser beam at the keyhole walls are also included in analysis through a real-time ray tracing technique. In this simulation, especially, polarization of laser is considered as an energy absorption mechanism following the Fresnel reflection theory. Both cases of linearly and circularly polarized beam are simulated and compared. The results show that the theoretically generated keyhole is asymmetrically stretched along the direction of polarization which is already observed experimentally before.