Improved Resistance to Laser Weld Heat-Affected Zone Microfissuring in a Newly Developed Superalloy HAYNES 282

Gleeble thermomechanical simulation and microstrucutural analyses of laser beam weldability of a newly developed precipitation-hardened nickel-base HAYNES alloy 282 were performed to better understand the fundamental cause of heat-affected zone (HAZ) cracking and how to prevent the cracking problem in the material. Submicron size intergranular M₅B₃ particles are identified for the first time in the present work by transmission electron microscopy, and were found to be the primary cause of HAZ grain boundary liquation cracking in the alloy. Complete dissolution of the liquating M₅B₃ particles by preweld heat treatment exacerbated rather than reduced susceptibility to cracking, which could be attributed to nonequilibrium intergranular segregation of boron atoms, liberated by the complete dissolution of the boride particles, during cooling from heat treatment temperature. Consequently, to reduce the HAZ cracking, a preweld heat treatment that reduces the volume fraction of the M₅B₃ particles while minimizing nonequilibrium grain boundary boron segregation is necessary, and this is possible by heat treating the alloy at 1353 K to 1373 K (1080 °C to 1100 °C). Further improvement in cracking resistance to produce crack-free welds is achieved by subjecting the alloy to thermomechanically induced grain refinement coupled with the preweld heat treatment at 1353 K (1080 °C). A Gleeble hot ductility test showed that formation of the crack-free welds is unexplainable by mere reduction in grain size without considering the effect of grain refinement on intergranular liquid produced by subsolidus liquation of the M₅B₃ borides.