Abstract
The effect of welding condition on the microstructures of the weld metal in A7N01 welded by $CO_2$ laser was investigated. The number of ripples was increased with decreasing power and increasing welding speed. In the bead without ripple lines, the subgrain microstructures distribution from the fusion line toward the center of the bead were in the order of cellular, dendritic and equiaxed dendrite. However, in the bead with ripple lines, cellular and dendritic were formed between the fusion boundary and the ripple line. Inaddition, those structures were also observed between the ripple line. Equiaxed dendrites were formed only at the center line region. Cellular and dendritics formed near the ripple line were larger than those formed near the fusion boundary. The cooling rates estimated by the dendrite arm spacing were in the range of 200 to 1150oC/s. Cooling rate was increased with decreasing the power and increasing the welding speed. Mg and Zn segregated at the boundaries of cellulars and dendritics, Mg was segregated more than Zn. The segregation of Mg and Zn decreased with increasing cooling rate. Hardness of the weld metal was lower than that of the base metal in all welding conditions and increased as the cooling rate increased.
