Use of Indicators for Hot and Warm Cracking in Welded Structures

Abstract

Weight reduction of mechanical components is becoming increasingly important as a way to provide more environment friendly production and operation of different equipment. This is true in almost any manufacturing industry, but is especially important to the aerospace industry. Casting has often been replaced by hot and cold metal working operations and welding, usually including an additional heat treatment. This gives components better material properties and provides components with less weight and cost but with increased strength and efficiency. This may even be true for rotating Ni- based superalloy components, and is enabled by welding methods. However, weld cracking of precipitation hardening Ni-based superalloys is a serious problem, both in manufacturing and overhaul since it endangers component life if cracks are allowed to propagate.Cracks can appear in a weld and in it's surroundings. The triggering mechanisms depend on its location and when it is nucleated. Generally saying, weld cracking in precipitation hardening Ni-based superalloys consists of two different types of cracking, hot cracking and warm cracking which may be further divided into heat affected zone (HAZ) liquation cracking, solidification cracking and strain age cracking, respectively.Finite element simulations of welding and heat treatment processes started in the seventies for small laboratory set-up cases and have today matured, and are now used on large-scale structures like aerospace components. But FE-based crack criteria that can predict the risk of cracking due to welding or heat treatments are rare. In a recent study both hot cracking and warm cracking have been investigated in Ni-based superalloys, and two FE-based indicators showing the risk of hot and warm cracks have been proposed. The objective of the investigation presented in this paper is to compare results from FE-simulations with experimental results from weldability tests, like the Varestraint test and the high temperature mechanical Gleeble test.