Recent research progress in the mechanism and suppression of fusion welding-induced liquation cracking of nickel based superalloys

Nickel-based superalloys are extensively used in the crucial hot-section components of industrial gas turbines,aeronautics,and astronautics because of their excellent mechanical properties and corrosion resistance at high temperatures.Fusion welding serves as an effective means for joining and repairing these alloys;however,fusion welding-induced liquation cracking has been a challenging issue.This paper comprehensively reviewed recent liquation cracking,discussing the formation mechanisms,cracking criteria,and remedies.In recent investigations,regulating material composition,changing the preweld heat treatment of the base metal,optimizing the welding process parameters,and applying auxiliary control methods are effective strategies for mitigating cracks.To promote the application of nickel-based superalloys,further research on the combination impact of multiple elements on cracking prevention and specific quantitative criteria for liquation cracking is necessary.

NEW VIEW OF CHARACTERISTIC ZONE CLASSIFICATION OF FUSION WELDING JOINT

A new view of characterstic zone classification of fusion welding joint has been put for-ward on the base of a number of metallograplic observations and researches. TLe characteristiczones of the joint include (1) homogenous mixture region (2)heterogerous mixture zone, (3)partically melting zone and (4) heat-affected zone. (1) and (2) consist of the weld metal. (2) and (3)compose the bond, the boundary betweer (2) and (3) is the fusion line Four kinds of characteristicappearences in the ' heterogenous mixture zone' are induced. The formation process of thecharcteristic zones is distussed in detail. The differences between authors' classification and W. F.Savage's one are compared, to hoping that the formation essence and composition feature of fusionwelding joint can be reasonably reflected.

Effect of adding Nb foil on joint properties of laser fusion welding for TC4 titanium and 7075 aluminum alloy

It is difficult to gain effective Ti-Al fusion welding joints due to their differences in thermal properties and the appearance of brittle Ti-Al Intermetallic Compounds(IMCs).The experiments of laser fusion welding for TC4 titanium and 7075 aluminum alloy were carried out,temperature field and ductility/brittleness,as well as chemical potential of elements,were calculated,and the effect of adding Nb foil on mechanical properties of the weld was also investigated.The results suggested that Nb atoms tend to diffuse toward Al side,which is conducive to the participation of Nb in the metallurgical reaction and contributes to forming the Ti-Nb-Al IMC layer at the interface.As the thickness of Nb foil increases,the tensile-shear force of joint climbs first but then declines,and reaches the highest value of 1663 N with 0.10 mm-thickness Nb foil,representing 58.38%enhancement compared with the non-added one.Adding Nb foil slows down the heat transfer as a blocker,and thus both the melting amount of Al and the mixing area of Ti and Al decrease.In addition,Nb alloying reduces the brittleness of the Ti-Al compound.Hence,the joint properties of titanium/aluminum are improved with the addition of Nb foil.

Segregation in fusion weld of 2219 aluminum alloy and its influence on mechanical properties of weld

Three kinds of welds were made using low frequency pulse current variable polarity tungsten inter gas （LPVPTIG） with argon shielding, direct current TIG （DCTIG） with helium shielding and high frequency pulse current variable polarity TIG （HPVPTIG） with argon shielding, respectively. It was found that macrosegregation bands with large amount of thick continuous eutectics and microporosities formed in the LPVPTIG weld due to the fluctuation of the pulse varied heat input. Only microsegregation existed in the DCTIG weld and HPVPTIG weld. However,the HPVPTIG weld had lower extent of Cu microsegregation since its welding speed was slower. The tensile results indicated that the mechanical properties of the weld decreased with the increase of the segregation extent of Cu and porosities, and LPVPTIG weld had lower tensile properties in the longitudinal direction than those in the transverse direction due to the macrosegregation bands.

Review on underwater friction stir welding: A variant of friction stir welding with great potential of improving joint properties

Friction stir welding（FSW） is a solid-state welding process which is capable of joining materials which are relatively difficult to be welded by fusion welding process. Further, this process is highly energy-efficient and environmental-friendly as compared to the fusion welding. Despite several advantages of FSW over fusion welding, the thermal cycles involved in FSW cause softening in joints generally in heat-treatable aluminum alloys（AAs） due to the dissolution or coarsening of the strengthening precipitates leading to decrease in mechanical properties. Underwater friction stir welding（UFSW） can be a process of choice to overcome these limitations. This process is suitable for alloys that are sensitive to heating during the welding and is widely used for heat-treatable AAs. The purpose of this article is to provide comprehensive literature review on current status and development of UFSW and its importance in comparison to FSW with an aim to discuss and summarize different aspects of UFSW. Specific attention is given to basic principle including material flow, temperature generation, process parameters, microstructure and mechanical properties. From the review, it is concluded that UFSW is an improved method compared with FSW for improving joint strength. Academicians, researchers and practitioners would be benefitted from this article as it compiles significantly important knowledge pertaining to UFSW.

Microstructures and Plane Energy Spectra of X80 Pipeline Steel Welded Joints by Submerged Arc Automatic Welding

X80 pipeline steel was welded with submerged arc automatic welding, the microstructures, cavity sizes, fusion depths and plane scanning of chemical elements in the welded zone, fusion zone, heat affected zone and base steel were observed with OM（optical microscope） and SEM（scanning electron microscope）, respectively. The experimental results show that there is main acicular ferrite in the base steel and welded zone, the microscopic structure of fusion zone is a blocked bainite, and the heat affected zone is composed of multilateral ferrite and pearlite. M-A unit of the welded zone is the main factor to strengthen the welded zone, composed of acicular ferrites. The percentage of cavities in the welded joint is less than that in the base steel, which is beneficial to increasing its mechanical performance and corrosion resistance. The fusion depth in the fusion zone and welded zone is 101.13 μm and 115.85 μm, respectively, and the distribution of chemical elements in the welded zone is uniform, no enrichment phenomena.

On the Impact of the Frequency of Saved Thermal Time-Steps in a Weakly-Coupled FE Weld Simulation Model

Finite element (FE) modelling methods were implemented to perform a weakly-coupled weld simulation activity on a series of simple plate welds, to determine the effects of altering the frequency of saving the thermal time-step result upon the mechanical results. By definition, the thermal results will be unaffected, but the mechanical results are calculated from the saved thermal results, hence can be changed when the frequency of saving thermal time-steps is altered. By default, most weakly-coupled thermal-mechanical solvers will save every single thermal time-step, for accuracy. Results indicated that during the welding operation, the thermal time-steps could be reduced to saving 1-in-every-2 thermal time-steps with minimal loss in mechanical accuracy. However, during the cooling operation, every time-step was required to be saved. Whilst this seems almost counter-intuitive that the time-step during the cooling operation is in some way more critical than during welding, it must be stated that the FE software employed for this exercise has a setting allowing the time-steps to become progressively large during cooling, when thermal gradients are much lower and as such both thermal and mechanical calculations are easier to converge.

A study of process-induced grain structures during steady state and non-steady state electron-beam welding of a titanium alloy

A detailed microstructural characterisation of the emerging weld-line grain structure,for bead-upon-plate welds in Ti-6Al-4V(Ti64)of differing plate thickness,was performed.The microstructure studied was formed during both steady state and non-steady state sections within the weld path,with the non-steady state portion being taken from the end of the plate as the weld bead and heat source overhang the edge of the plate.This allows for the effects of welding process conditions on the microstructural evolution to be determined.The weld pool geometry and 3D tomography of the weld-induced defects have been investigated.Detailed characterisation of microstructure and texture for different welding parameters and for steady and non-steady states have been used to identify physical parameters for the microstructure predictions that are difficult to obtain otherwise.The different states significantly affect the weld crown shape and formation,weld toe,weld bead depth and width.However,the heat affected zone(HAZ)re-mains unchanged.Regarding the microstructural evolution,both the steady and non-steady states have similar microstructure and texture.No defects were observed in the steady state section of welds,but sub-surface spherical pores have been observed in the non-steady state section of a weld.Finite element modelling to simulate the thermal-metallurgical-mechanical fields within the steady and non-steady state sections of the welds was considered,and the cooling rates predicted within steady state and non-steady sections were interrogated to improve the theoretical understanding of the microstructure and defect formation differences in these Ti64 EB weld regions.

Microstructure Characterization of the Fusion Zone of an Alloy 600-82 Weld Joint

Characterization of the microstructure of the fusion zone of an Alloy 600-82 weld joint was conducted, with focus on the weld residual strain distribution and the comparison of the microstructure of heat affected zone （HAZ） with that of cold worked alloy. Peak of the residual strain was observed to approach to the fusion boundary in HAZ while the strain increased from the top of the weld to the root. Strain distribution in the HAZ was found to be concentrated adjacent to grain boundaries （GBs）, with a peak of approximately three times of that in grain. Further, triple junctions of the GB appear to cause a higher strain concentration than single GBs. The microstructure of HAZ consists of partially tangled dislocations, which is different from slip bands of high density dislocations in cold worked alloy. This may cause a relatively higher intergranular cracking resistance of HAZ due to the difficulty in transferring tangled dislocations to GB in HAZ under deformation.

Correlation Between Microstructure and Mechanical Properties of 2219-T8 Aluminum Alloy Joints by VPTIG Welding

In this study, 2219-T87 aluminum alloys were butt welded by the double-pass tungsten inert gas arc welding process. And the softening behavior of fusion zone（FZ） and heat-affected zone（HAZ） was evaluated with the analysis of welding temperature field, grain size, alloying element distribution and precipitates evolution. Results show that the two FZs are almost the weakest regions in the joint, where the microhardness value is 76 and 78 HV, respectively. Microhardness of the HAZ generally grows along with increasing distance from fusion line except a valley value at the distance of about 4.5 mm. The mean grain size of two FZs is about 74.4 and 79.2 lm, whereas 41.5, 44.9 and 43.4 lm for the two measured HAZs and base metal（BM）, respectively. There is about 60.4% and 54.2% Cu consumed in the coarse whitish particles of FZs that have little strengthening effect, while the percentage is about 24.6% of BM that is almost the same as HAZ. A large number of strengthening phases h0 distribute dispersively in BM, whereas hardly any precipitates exist in FZ and HAZ adjacent to FZ. So the coarsening of grain size, reduction and segregation of alloying element content, and the precipitate evolution are regarded as the main causes of softening in FZ, while the precipitate evolution is the main factor of softening in HAZ.

Tensile Properties and Fusion Zone Hardening for GMAW and MIEA Welds of a 7075-T651 Aluminum Alloy

Tensile and hardness values for 7075-T651 aluminum alloy in the as welded and post weld heat treated conditions（solubilization and artificial aging-T6）,obtained using GMAW and modified indirect electric arc（MIEA）welding processes are presented.Results showed that the base material along rolling direction exhibited a tensile strength of around 600 MPa and elongation of 11%.For the as welded condition,tensile strength was 260 MPa and elongation percent of 3%.This behavior was attributed to brittleness induced by the microstructural characteristics of the welded alloys,as well as high porosity.Hardness profiles along the welds were obtained and different welded zones were identified.A soft zone（＊100 HV0.1） in the heat affected zone for GMAW and MIEA was observed,the minimum hardness corresponding to weld metal（＊85 and ＊96 HV0.1for GMAW and MIEA,respectively）.The high dilution between filler and base metal during welding in MIEA allows to the Zn and Cu to flow from the base metal into the weld metal,inducing hardening by solution and subsequent artificial aging.In this regard,the hardness of the weld metal for MIEA increases by 56%,while the tensile strength reaches a value close to 400 MPa.For GMAW,non-favorable hardening effect was observed for the weld metal after solution and artificial aging.

Amelioration of weld-crack resistance of the M951 superalloy by engineering grain boundaries

Fusion weld is a portable and economical joining and repairing method of metals.However,weld cracks often occur during the fusion weld of Ni-base superalloys,which hinder the applications of fusion weld on this kind of materials.In this work,the effects of microstructures of grain boundaries(GBs)of the prototype M951 superalloy on its weldability were investigated.The precipitated phases,the elemental segregations on GBs,and the morphologies of GBs can be largely altered by regulating the cooling rates of pre-weld heat treatments.With decreasing the cooling rate,chain-like M_(23)X_(6)phase precipitates along the GBs,accompanying segregations of B,and GBs becomes more serrated in morphology.During fusion weld,the engineered GBs in the M951 superalloy with a low cooling rate favor the formation of the continuous liquid films on GBs,which together with the serrated GB morphology significantly prevents the formation of weld cracks.Our findings imply that the weld-crack resistance of the superalloys can be ameliorated by engineering GBs.