Avtomaticheskaya Svarka (Automatic Welding), #12, 2023, pp. 39-47
Electron beam welding of sheet inermetallic alloy with a controlled cooling rate
E.L. Vrzhyzhevskyi, N.V. Piskun, O.A. Velykoivanenko, I.I. Statkevych, T.G. Taranova
E.O. Paton Electric Welding Institute of the NAS of Ukraine.
11 Kazymyr Malevych Str., 03150, Kyiv, Ukraine. E-mail: office@paton.kiev.ua
The objective of this study is development and testing of elements of the technological process of electron beam welding (EBW)
of intermetallic alloys of TiAl system, which allows performance of welding, preheating and subsequent local heat treatment of
welded joints in one pass in one chamber, that enables preventing defects of the type of cold cracks, due to a controlled cooling
rate. The work explains why EBW is exactly the most suitable process for welding titanium-based intermetallic alloys. A welding
method is proposed and described in detail, which is performed in the gravity position at cantilever fastening of the samples in a
special device, while heat treatment is conducted immediately after the completion of the welding process, ensuring an optimal
cooling rate of the welded joint. It is found that cold cracking in the intermetallic welded joints is related to a low ductility of
as-welded material. A mathematical model was developed for numerical prediction of the temperature field kinetics and stressed
state calculation. The model was used as a basis to conduct a computational experiment and to determine the thermal conditions
leading to cracking in EBW process. It is shown that the highest level of residual stresses is formed directly after completion of
the welding process, is equal to 350 MPa and is observed in the weld center. In order to prevent cold cracks in welded joints of
titanium aluminide samples, a technological measure was proposed, which combines EBW of Ti–44Al–5Nb–3Cr–1.5Zr (at. %)
intermetallic with preheating and postweld local heat treatment (LHT). It was numerically shown and experimentally confirmed
that application of a distributed source of sample preheating before welding creates favorable conditions during welding and at
further cooling, namely lowering the tensile stresses, namely lowering the magnitude of tensile stresses. The way the process is
implemented and its influence on the stressed state and structure of the produced joints are described in detail. The work gives the
modes of EBW of sheet intermetallic alloy with a controlled cooling rate and results of structural and mechanical studies of the
welded joints, produced by the proposed technology. Ref. 15, Tabl. 3, Fig. 11.
Keywords: electron beam welding, TiAl system intermetallics, sheet plates, controlled cooling rate, stressed state, «gravity»
welding, local heat treatment.
Received: 10.10.2023
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