Microstructural characteristics of the laser welded joint of ITER correction coil sub case

Abstract

The ITER correction coil (CC) case reinforces the winding packs against the electromagnetic loads, minimizes stresses and deformations to the winding pack. The cases are made of high strength and high toughness austenitic stainless steel (316LN) hot rolled heavy plate and have a thickness of 20mm. Considering the small cross-section and large dimensions of the case, deformation of the case when welding becomes a challenge in the case manufacturing. Therefore, laser welding was developed as the main welding technology for manufacturing. In this paper, multi-pass laser welding technology is used, the laser weldability of a 20mm thick 316LN austenitic stainless steel plate is studied and the microstructure of the welded joint is analyzed. The welding experiment used an YLS-6000 fiber laser (IPG) and weld filler of 316LMn to match the base metal was used. The result shows that the welded joint has no obvious surface and internal defects based on the optimized welding parameters. The weld joint have a fine austenite microstructure and display columnar dendrites and cellular grains with strong directional characteristics. No apparent heat affected zone is observed and approximately 2μm an austenite microstructure of the fusion line is clearly presented.