Effect of weld geometric profile on fatigue life of cruciform welds made by laser/GMAW processes

The effect of weld geometric profile on fatigue life of laser-welded HSLA-65 steel is evaluated. Presented are results of cruciform-shaped fatigue specimens with varying weld profiles loaded cyclically in axial tension–compression. Specimens with a nearly circular-weld profile were created at 133 cm/min, as part of this effort, with a hybrid laser gas-metal-arc welding GMAW (L/GMAW) process. The ability of the laser-welding process to produce desirable weld profiles resulted in fatigue life superior to that of conventional welds. Comparison of finite-element analyses, used to estimate stress-concentration factors, to the hot spot and mesh insensitive approaches for convergent cases with smooth weld transitions is presented in relation to the experimental results. When a geometry-based stress concentration factor is used, the fatigue tests show much less variability and can be lumped into one master curve.