Investigation of high-temperature strength of composite joint Hastelloy X - AISI 304L manufactured by laser welding

This study investigates the strength of Hastelloy X nickel-based superalloy and AISI 304L austenitic stainless steel composite joint produced by laser welding. Two pieces of 1mm thick dissimilar plates are butt jointed together on a sheet fixture and welded using a pulsed Nd-YAG laser beam. In the welding process, different values are used for welding power, laser beam pulse width and welding speed. Values for the beam frequency, shielding gas flow rate and beam diameter are kept constant on the surface of the work piece. After welding, suitable specimens were cut from sheet components and subjected to high-temperature tensile tests and constant load creep. The results of tensile and creep tests show that by choosing the right laser welding parameters, a proper bonding between Hastelloy X and AISI 304L alloys can be achieved. In some samples, the joints strength is higher than the corresponding value of base alloy strength (AISI 304L), and the failure occurred in the base alloy region. Optical and scanning electron microscopes have also been used to examine the structure of the joint. The data from these microscopes shows that joints almost free of defects can be achieved by optimizing the beam power, welding speed and pulse width.