Parameter Influence in CO2-laser/MIG Hybrid Welding
Hybrid welding, as the combination of laser beam and arc welding, is an innovative joining technology that has many advantages compared to the single processes. With the hybrid process joint gap ca ...
Study of improvement of gap tolerance in laser MIG arc hybrid welding of aluminium alloy
Hybrid welding combining YAG laser or fibre laser with MIG arc was carried out on aluminium alloy, and the effects of set-up conditions of a laser beam and a wire, and the laser beam parameters on wire melting phenomena and gap tolerance in butt joint were investigated. It was found that, in order to obtain a deeper penetration, the laser beam should be separated from the wire with a distance at which there was no direct interaction between a laser beam and a droplet during its transfer. On the contrary, in order to get a wider gap tolerance for a butt joint, for example, it was better for the laser beam to be set to cross with a wire over 2 mm so that the laser beam could directly irradiate on the wire surface to melt it. As a result, the arc current could be decreased so efficiently that the molten pool size formed by MIG is decreased and the gap tolerance increased. In the case of the utilization of a fibre laser, it was found that the wire melting phenomena were affected by the laser beam parameters such as the beam diameter and the defocused conditions when welding was not done at a focal position. It was clarified that even at the same laser beam diameter on the work surface, the wire melting phenomena could be different under the different defocused conditions. In the defocused conditions where the focal position was over the work surface, the molten droplet on the wire tip evaporated more easily than the case where the focal position was within the work surface. From the viewpoint of laser absorption by the wire or the molten droplet, according to an arc phenomenon approach, it was found that about 10% of laser energy was absorbed during hybrid welding when the laser beam was directly irradiated on the wire surface.
Effect of Calcium Glycerophosphate on Demineralization in an in vitro Biofilm Model
The aim was to investigate the anti-caries properties of calcium glycerophosphate (CaGP) using an in vitro bacterial flow cell model. Four flow cells, inoculated from a chemostat containing a seven-organism bacterial consortium, were pulsed with sucrose twice daily, to provide an acidic challenge and pH-cycling conditions. Blocks of enamel and dentine were mounted in each flow cell. In a study on the effect of CaGP concentration, CaGP was pulsed into three of the flow cells, at the same time as the sucrose, to give concentrations of 0.10, 0.25 and 0.50%. Water was pulsed into the fourth flow cell with the sucrose. Microradiography revealed a significant dose response of decreasing demineralization as CaGP concentration increased. Reductions at 0.25 and 0.5% were significant when compared to the control. A second study investigated the effect of timing of CaGP pulsing, relative to sucrose, on enamel and dentine demineralization. CaGP (flow cell concentration 0.2%), was pulsed 1 h before, during or 1 h after the sucrose pulse; a water control was employed. In enamel, pulsing CaGP before the sucrose reduced demineralization significantly compared to concurrent pulsing, which in turn gave a significant reduction compared to pulsing after sucrose, which did not reduce demineralization significantly compared to the water control. In dentine, CaGP reduced demineralization significantly only when pulsed before the sucrose. The findings suggest that in vivo, the anti-caries potential of CaGP may be greater if it is applied before a cariogenic challenge.