Welding of IN792 DS Superalloy by High Energy Density Techniques

Laser (LBW) and Electron Beam (EBW) welding have been used to produce seams on 2 mm thick plates of directionally solidified (DS) IN792 superalloy. For each welding technique a grid of samples were prepared by varying the pass speed (v) and keeping constant the other process parameters. The experiments were carried out at room temperature and with pre-heating (PHT) at 200 °C and 300 °C to find the best process conditions. The microstructural changes in molten zone (MZ) and heat affected zone (HAZ) were investigated finding that EBW guarantee a better quality and efficiency of the process without any macro defects. About the microstructure, the amount of ordered gamma' phase in the MZ is similar (about 25 %) for both welding techniques and quite lower than the value (70 %) of the original alloy.