Effect of Nd:YAG pulsed laser welding process on the liquation and strain-age cracking in GTD-111 superalloy

Abstract

The weldability of GTD-111 nickel-based superalloy by Nd:YAG pulse laser with an average power of 250 W was studied using several pre- and post-weld heat treatment cycle, and the characteristics of liquation, solidification and strain-age cracks were also investigated. The results revealed that liquation cracks in the GTD-111 Nickel-Based Cast Superalloy were associated with the constitutional liquation of γ′ particle, MC carbides, inter-dendritic γ-γ׳ eutectic and melting of Cr-rich boride. Also, cracking during welding occurred at the places that the concentration of Al and Ti is high. Crack-free laser welds were observed in the MT1 conditions (1200 ℃ for 2 h) owing to dissolution of deleterious phases before welding. γ′ phase had little effect on the incidence of cracking in the MT1 condition. 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. aging heat treatment of samples which were undergone aging heat treatment before welding, resulted in the formation of strain-age cracking due to γʹ and γ-γ׳ eutectic phases precipitation. The results of micro-hardness indicated that the hardness of fusion zone (FZ) was higher than that of HAZ and base metal zone (BMZ). The liquation cracking in the heat affected zone (HAZ) was observed to be affected by the hardness of base-alloy.