Study on mechanical and metallurgical properties of fiber laser welded Nb-1% Zr-0.1% C alloy

Abstract

Laser welding of Nb-1% Zr-0.1% C was attempted in butt-welding configuration using top and bottom sided inert gas shielding. The precautionary measure during welding was to limit the reactivity of niobium alloy in ambient atmosphere. The ranges of input parameters, that is, laser power (P), welding speed (V) and beam diameter (D) for full penetration welding were attempted by carrying out bead-on-plate (BOP) experiments. The selection of the combination of process parameters was such that the formed weld area could be minimized without hampering the depth of penetration. Bead-geometry, hardness and tensile strength were quantified to study the influence of input process parameters during laser welding. Base metal had an average hardness of 108 VHN and the average hardness of fusion zone (FZ) was found to lie between 278 and 546 VHN. The steeper increment in microhardness value of the FZ could be due to the grain refinement, dissolution of precipitates and formation of brittle intermetallic phases of carbide and oxides, which were evident by the result of energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) phase analysis. The weld joint that failed in the weld zone exhibited the brittle failure, and ductile mode was achieved in the joint, where failure occurs at base metal. The range of elongation in laser welded joints varied in between 1.97 and 5.73 mm. The reduction of tensile strength and ductility of the joints could be due to marginal enhancement of microhardness and increment of brittle phase density in fusion zone, as were evident from XRD phase analysis. The main focus of the present work was intended towards the establishment of laser welding as an alternative technique for fabrication of reactive niobium alloy in ambient atmosphere.