High power CO$_{2}$laser beam welding of ASIA 316 stainless steel

High power laser beams are used in a wide variety of materials processing applications such as cutting, welding, drilling and surface treatment. The CO$\sub$2/ laser is increasingly used in laser beam welding because of the highly potential advantages. High power laser welding is a high energy density, no filler metals and low heat input process to join metals. As the comparison with the conventiona welding, precision work and good fit-up to join the metals are required and maintenance is expensive at present. The principal variables of laser beam welding are the laser beam power, travel speed and bean spot size. The penetration depth during laser beam welding is directly related to the power density of the laser beam. Generally, for a constant beam size, the penetration depth increases with increasing laser beam power.