Citation:
Matthew T. Rush, Paul A. Colegrove, Zhu Zhang, David Broad, Liquation and post-weld heat treatment cracking in Rene 80 laser repair welds, Journal of Materials Processing Technology, Volume 212, Issue 1, January 2012, Pages 188–197.
Abstract:
An extensive experimental study on a nickel-based superalloy, Rene 80 using
autogenous laser welding has been undertaken to determine the effect of the
process parameters and weld bead geometry on cracking in the as-welded and post-
weld heat treated conditions. Little cracking was observed in the as-welded
condition with low powers and beam diameters around 2.5mm. Welding speed had
little effect on the incidence of cracking in the as-welded condition.
Investigation of the aspect ratio (penetration divided by width) indicated that
little cracking occurred in the as-welded condition when the aspect ratio was
approximately 0.5. The same effect was observed with the post-weld heat treated
samples. An analysis of the microstructures indicated that the cracking was
caused primarily by liquation in the as-welded condition and was exacerbated by
post-weld heat treatment cracking during the subsequent heat treatment. Finally
the study resolved some of the contradictory findings in the literature on the
effect of process parameters on the incidence of cracking in the as-welded and
post-weld heat treated conditions.