How Strong Is Laser Welding REALLY?

Added: 2026-05-09

[00:00:00]Hey everybody, James here with the Nollie Welder. We're back out here in the lab today. We're going to be running some 316 aluminum, some new settings that I found the other day that I wanted to try out, put to the test, run a cut notch on them. We're also going to be doing some destructive testing on some 8-in aluminum, some more new settings. We wanted to try it, see the penetration, give you some real world feedback on the strength that these have. I know the data sheets tell you one thing, this will give you a real world indication of how strong these laser welds actually are.

[00:00:31]Now we're going to be cutting up this test coupon 316 stainless for a cut notch.

[00:01:05]All right, now we're going to rinse this off and see the results.

[00:01:30]So the reason behind this test, I was out here yesterday just playing with settings on the unit, found some new settings that turned out very good on some stainless steel T-joints. We wanted to see what a cut notch looked like just to get the real detail of how the penetration was with those settings. One side was on 2,000 Hz laser frequency with 150 Hz wobble frequency. The other side was 10,000 Hz laser frequency with a 150 wobble frequency. 10,000 hertz does make that laser a little more punchy, gets us a little deeper, more consistent penetration. Now, we're going to jump into some aluminum welding, and we're going to show you some strength test on this aluminum.

[00:02:10]All right, now we're going to be welding up some 8-in aluminum. We're at about 2,000 watts, 2,000 hertz laser frequency, and 40 hertz on our wobble frequency.

[00:02:41]All right, we're back over here with that same piece of aluminum that you saw me weld.

[00:02:46]We can't break it with anything. I can stand on it.

[00:02:50]Doesn't flex.

[00:02:52]Jumping doesn't do anything.

[00:02:54]Now, we're going to decide to drive the van over it to see what kind of result we get.

[00:03:07]I'm here with Dennis Now, our glorified van driver for this demo. Um as you can see here with this weld, it just folded the base material, weld still fully intact, no cracking on the weld seam.

[00:03:21]How do you feel when you drove over it, Dennis?

[00:03:23]Good.

[00:03:29]That same T-joint you just saw us run over with the rear wheels of the van, we're going to cut it down the middle, and we're going to do a cut notch on it.

[00:03:59]>> So, as you can see with that stainless steel for the cut nuts on that, those new settings did dial in pretty good on the penetration. Still a little bit that we can do to tweak to get a better appearance on the overall weld. Um but other than that, I'm very happy with the penetration results. On the aluminum, that was 6061.

[00:04:16]Um so that is a more brittle aluminum, one of the most brittle weldable aluminums out there.

[00:04:21]Um for that to bend over the base material, not crack the weld, not break the weld, data sheet doesn't show you that, but our test here did.

[00:04:30]Um if you have any questions, want help dialing in on some of these new settings that we're figuring out as we play with the unit, learn more about how the laser reacts with different materials and different settings, feel free to reach out to us.

[00:04:42]Um make sure you visit us visit us online, www.thenalleyweld.com, and make sure you follow us on YouTube.