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The use of aluminum is rapidly gaining acceptance for structural applications in the automotive industry. While laser beam welding offers many advantages for joining of aluminum alloys, it also possess certain inherent characteristics that differentiates laser beam welding of aluminum alloys from ferrous materials. These characteristics include aluminum's high reflectivity, large differences in vapor pressure between aluminum and many of its alloying constituents, and relatively low surface tension and viscosity in the molten state. This paper addresses process requirements for effective laser beam welding of aluminum alloys designed primarily for automotive applications and characterization of welded joints commonly used in the automotive industry.

The need to reduce the weight of automobiles has favored the widespread use of aluminum in automotive ventilation and cooling systems. Space, weight restrictions, the need for increased thermal efficiency, and recycling legislation have all contributed to new designs for heat exchangers. In many cases there has been a move to using extruded tube rather than seam-welded tube, leading to a reliance on the relatively more expensive clad fin. A new process, NOCOLOK™ Sil flux brazing, offers the potential for materials cost savings through the use of “in-situ” filler metal generation. This eliminates the need for using clad brazing materials. It can be applied to a number of alloy systems and product forms. This new technology is firmly rooted in the well established NOCOLOK™ non-corrosive aluminum brazing flux system.