Peculiarities of welding of metalsby a low-power repetitively pulsed Nd:YAG laser

Dependences of the depth and width of a welded joint on the displacement velocity of stainless steel and aluminium alloy samples irradiated by a 5–15-W repetitively pulsed Nd:YAG laser are obtained. It is shown that for pulse repetition rates of 25–50 Hz and an off-duty ratio of 150–300, the specific power losses on penetration are one–two orders of magnitude lower than in the case of welding by cw and repetitively pulsed CO₂ lasers.