Abstract: With considering the geometry characteristic of laser brazing and analyzing the action features of heat source in laser brazing, a transient three-dimensional model of laser welding-brazing weld pool for beryllium is established on the basis of theories of fluid dynamics and heat transfer, in which a composite heat source constituted by double-ellipsoidal area heat source and Rotary-Gaussian body heat source along the z-direction is used to describe the heat flux source of a moving laser. Many factors are considered in the model including the convective heat transfer of liquid metal, solid heat conduction of workpiece outside the weld pool, latent heat in welding process, side assist gas orientation，the structure and properties of bonding interface, material thermo-physical properties as the function of temperature and so on. The program to simulate the transient variations of temperature field and flow field in laser brazing weld pool is developed by using Fortran language, and the effects of latent heat, the pattern of side assist gas and butt gap on fluid flow and heat transfer of weld pool are studied. The results show that the effects of the latent heat of phase change are not always negligible. In particular, the influence of the latent heat is more violent under moving laser beam action than under stationary laser beam. The gas flow rate and direction has an important effect on flow style and shape of weld pool, and the selection of side assist gas orientation can enhance the stability of laser brazing process and increase the depth of weld pool. The existence of gap makes the temperature field uneven and it is the decisive reason that the shape of weld pool looks like a nailhead. If the gap is taken into account, the shape of weld pool obtained from calculation will be in better agreement with the test result.

Key words: Beryllium, Fluid flow, Heat transfer, Laser welding-brazing, Weld pool