Solidification Cracking Behavior in Austenitic Stainless Steel Laser Welds (Part 1) - Evaluation of Solidification Cracking Susceptibility by Laser Beam Welding Varestraint Test -

Abstract

In order to quantitatively evaluate the solidification cracking susceptibility in laser welds of three types of austenitic stainless steels (type 310: A mode, type 316-A: AF mode, type 316-B: FA mode solidifications), the laser beam welding (LBW) transverse-Varestraint tests consisted of multi-mode fiber laser, welding robot and hydraulic pressure system were performed. As the welding speed increased from 1.67 to 40.0 mm/s, the solidification brittle temperature range (BTR) of laser welds for type 316 stainless steels enlarged (316-A: from 37 to 46 K, 316-B: from 14 to 40 K), while the BTR for type 310 stainless steel reduced from 146 to 120 K. In other words, it founds that solidification cracking susceptibility could not be simply mitigated through application of LBW process, and the BTR variation behavior is quite different upon solidification mode of austenitic stainless steels. Key words: Laser beam welding, Solidification cracking susceptibility, Varestraint test