Abstract
In 1his paper, applicability of laser welding to joining process of single crystal nickel base superalloy turbine blades was investigated. Because heat input of laser welding is more precisely controlled 1han TIG welding, it is possible to optimize solidification microstructure of the welds. Since in single crystal nickel base superalloy the crystal orientation have a significant effect on the strength, it is important to control the solidification microstructure in the fusion zone. A single crystal nickel base supera1loy, CMSX-4, plates were bead-on welded and butt welded using a $CO_2$ laser. The effects of microstructure and crystal orientation on properties of the weld joints were investigated. In bead-on weldling, welding directions were deviated from the base metal [100] direction by 0, 5, 15 and 30 degrees. The welds with deviation angles of 15 and 30 degrees showed fusion zone transverse cracks. As the deviation angles became larger, the fusion zone had more cracking. In the cross section microstructure, the fusion zone grains in 0 and 5 degrees welds grew epitaxially from the base metal spins except for the bead neck regions. The grains in the bead neck regions contained stray crystals. As deviation angles increased, number of the stray crystals increased. In butt welding, the declinations of the crystal orientation of the two base metals varied 0, 5 and 10 degrees. All beads had no cracks. In the 5 degrees bead, the cross section and surface microstructures showed that the fusion zone grains grew epitaxially from the base metal grains. However, the 10 degrees bead, the bead cross section and surface contained the stray crystals in the center of the welds. Orientations of the stray crystals accorded with the heat flow directions in the weld pool. When the welding direction was deviated from the base metal [100] direction, cracks appeared in the area including the stray crystals. The cracks developed along the grain boundaries of the stray crystals with high angles in the final solidification regions at the center of the welds. The fracture surfaces were covered with liquid film. The cracks, therefore, found to be solidification cracks due to the presence of low melting eutectic. As the results, in both bead-on welding and butt welding the deviation angles should be control within 5 degrees for preventing the fusion zone cracks. To investigate the mechanical properties of the weld joints, high temperature tensile tests for bead-on welds with deviation angles of 0 and 5 degrees and the butt welds with dec1ination angles of 0, 5 and 10 degrees were conducted at 1123K. The the tensile strength of all weld joints were more 1han 800MPa that is almost 80% of the tensile strength of the base metal. The strength of the laser weld joints were more than twice that of tue TIG weld joints with a filler metal of Inconel 625. The results reveals 1hat laser welding is more effective joining process for single crystal nickelbase superalloy turbine blades 1han TIG welding.