Electron beam welding of rectangular copper wires applied in electrical drives

The so-called hairpin winding technology, which is specially tailored to electrical traction components, deploys rectangular plug-in copper wires in the stator. The fusion welding of the adjacent wire ends is associated with challenges due to the high thermal conductivity as well as the porosity formation of the copper. During this study, the electron beam (EB) welding of electrolytic tough pitch (ETP) and oxygen-free electronic grade (OFE) copper connectors was investigated. Subsequently, the specimens underwent X-ray computed tomography (CT) and metallographic examinations to characterize the joints. It was discovered that the residual oxygen content of the base material is responsible for the pore formation. With only a very low level of oxygen content in the copper, a porosity- and spatter-free welding can be reproducibly realized using the robust EB welding technology, especially for copper materials. By optimizing the parameters accordingly, joints exhibiting a low level of porosity were achieved even in the case of the alloy containing a high amount of residual oxygen. Beyond this, detailed analyses in terms of pore distribution were carried out and a good correlation between technological parameters and welding results was determined.

Design Optimization of HANARO Irradiation Capsule for Long-Term Irradiation Testing

As HANARO has been recently required to support new R&D relevant to future nuclear systems requiring much higher neutron fluence, two types of bottom rod tip of the capsule were preliminarily prepared. The first one is a conventional design made of STS304 and welded using a tungsten inert gas (TIG) welding method. The other is a new design made of STS316L and welded using electron beam (EB) welding to strengthen the fatigue property of the rod tip. During the out-pile testing, they failed after 40 and 203 days, respectively. The fracture surfaces were examined using microscopes and the maximal applied stresses were estimated. The combination of these stresses was proved to be sufficient to cause a fatigue failure of the rod tip of the capsule. Based on the failure analysis, an optimized design of the rod tip of the capsule was made for long-term irradiation testing. It was designed to improve the welding and fatigue properties, to decrease the applied stress on the rod tip, and to fundamentally eliminate the effect of residual stress due to welding. The newly designed capsule was safely out-pile-tested up to 450 days and will be utilized for HANARO irradiation testing.

Electron beam welding of Fe–Mn–Al–Ni shape memory alloy: Microstructure evolution and shape memory response

The present study reports on the impact of abnormal grain growth (AGG) on the microstructural evolution following electron beam (EB) welding of Fe–Mn–Al–Ni shape memory alloy (SMA). Polycrystalline sheet-like material was EB-welded and a cyclic heat treatment, studied in previous work, was conducted for inducing AGG and a bamboo-like microstructure, respectively. Optical and electron microscopy were carried out to characterize the prevailing microstructure upon cyclic heat treatment. For characterization of the functional properties following AGG, a load increase test was conducted. The current results clearly show that good shape memory response can be obtained in Fe–Mn–Al–Ni SMA upon EB welding and subsequent post-heat treatment. These results further substantiate the potential use of conventional processing routes for Fe–Mn–Al–Ni SMA.

IN792 DS Superalloy: Optimization of EB Welding and Post-Welding Heat Treatments

Electron beam (EB) welding has been used to realize the seams on 2 mm thick plates of directionally solidified (DS) IN792 superalloy. A grid of the samples has been prepared by varying the pass speed v from 1 to 2.5 m/min, while the other process parameters (power P = 1 kW, acceleration voltage T = 50 kV, beam current I = 20 mA) were kept constant. Experiments were carried out both at room temperature and with pre-heating at 200 °C or 300 °C.Once found the best process conditions (pre-heating at 300 °C; v = 2.5 m/min) the effect of post-welding heat treatments at 700 and 750 °C for increasing time up to 2 hours has been investigated.

Effect of EBW Parameters on Weldment Quality of Ti6Al4V Alloy

The penetration characteristics of EBW are primarily dependent on the main beam current (Iw), potential difference between the cathode and anode (voltage, V) and the welding speed (S). There are other influencing parameters like weld focus current (If), welding gun to work distance (GW) and beam oscillation.In the present study, the effect of work distance on focus current and on penetration of Ti6Al4V weld is studied using a 60kV, 30kW EB welding machine. Weld focus current is measured over a range of work distance and variation in its pattern is studied. Similarly, the variation of depth of penetration by varying the work distance and varying the focus current at a particular work distance constant are also analyzed.It is observed that, focus current is inversely proportional to the work distance and the variation in focus current per unit change of work distance is high in the shorter work distance region. The change in focus current and work distance affects the weld penetration and fusion zone geometry. For optimum penetration at a given work distance, the beam focus should be below the surface in keyhole welding. As the work distance increases, the penetration capacity of the beam decreases and maximum penetration is obtained in lesser work distance region.

Development of Residual Stress Profiles for Defect Tolerance Assessments of Thick Section Electron Beam Welds

This paper describes the results of weld model analysis and deep hole-drilling measurements undertaken to evaluate residual stress distributions in austenitic and ferritic steel thick section electron beam welds. The work was undertaken in support of a Rolls-Royce and TWI development programme in the UK, for a Reduced Pressure Electron Beam (RPEB, 0.1 to 1mbar) welding process using a mobile local vacuum seal for the manufacture of thick section pressure vessel and pipe welds for nuclear power plant applications. Measurements were undertaken on representative mock-ups including a 160mm thick SA508-3 forging circumferential seam weld, in both the as-welded and furnace post weld heat treated condition. A 316L stainless steel plate butt weld and a 304L pipe girth weld of 80mm and 36mm thickness respectively were also analysed. There is now considered to be sufficient understanding of the residual stress fields generated by thick Electron Beam (EB) welds, to propose through thickness ‘upper bound’ R6 Level 2 stress profiles for use in defect tolerance assessments. The intention is to incorporate residual stress profiles of this type into the R6 structural integrity assessment procedure, following peer review. This would represent a significant step forward in demonstrating technology readiness for plant applications. It is also anticipated that an ASME Code Case will be drafted and proposed for the RPEB welding process. EB welding is a relatively low heat input process, compared with a multi-pass arc weld, such that the fusion zone and heat affected zone are narrow. The centre of an EB weld is the last region to solidify and cool-down, so typically there is a high degree of restraint to weld metal contraction, thereby generating a highly tri-axial yield magnitude tensile stress state at the mid-thickness location. The stress components acting in the longitudinal welding direction and through-thickness orientation tend to be large in the centre of EB welds of high aspect ratio (depth / width). By contrast, lower stress levels are produced on the surfaces acting transverse to the weld plane compared to conventional multi-pass metal arc welds. The transverse stress component is most likely to be required for the assessment of any postulated EB welding defects. The residual stress field decays rapidly with distance from the EB joint into the adjacent parent metal. Symmetrical stress distributions are typically generated in a 1-pass EB plate weld and stress fields are characteristically sinusoidal of wavelength between 1 and 4 times the section thickness.

Microstructure and Mechanical Properties of 16Cr-2Ni Stainless Steel Fusion and Solid State Welds-Influence of Post Weld Treatments

Many critical applications in chemical equipment, aircraft and ordinance demand a material of construction with high strength and good corrosion resistance. Frequently the strength requirement exceeds that obtainable with austenitic or ferritic stainless steel and it is necessary to use one of the martensitic stainless steels. Since martensitic stainless steels are structural materials, weldability has been an important consideration in their development. AISI 431 is one of the most potentially attractive steels in this class used extensively for parts requiring a combination of high tensile strength, good toughness and corrosion resistance. Although this material has been used for many years, little information is available on the welding behavior of these steels. Further, data on electron beam (EB) welding and solid state welding process like friction welding are scarce. The lack of knowledge constitutes a potential drawback to the more widespread use of these steels. Hence, a study has been taken up to develop an understanding on the electron beam welding and friction welding aspects of martensitic stainless steel type AISI 431. Various kinds of post weld heat treatments (PWHT) were investigated to determine their influence on microstructure and mechanical properties. Weld center in EB welding resulted a cast structure consists of dendritic structure with ferrite network in a matrix of un-tempered martensite. In friction welding, the weld center exhibited thermo-mechanical effected structure consists of fine intragranular acicular martensite in equiaxed prior austenite grains. In both the welding processes, post weld tempering treatment resulted in coarsening of the martensite which increases with increase in tempering temperature. In the as-weld condition, welds exhibited high strength and hardness and poor impact toughness. Increase in impact toughness and decrease in strength and hardness is observed with an increase in tempering temperature. The hardness of EB welds increased with increase in the austenitizing temperature up to 1100 °C and a marginal decrease thereafter was observed. Double austenitization after double tempering resulted in optical mechanical properties i.e., strength, hardness and toughness.

A Process Model for Electron Beam Welding with Variable Thickness

A process model for electron beam (EB) welding with a variable thickness weld joint has been developed. Based on theoretical aspects and experimental calibration of electron beam focusing, welding parameters including beam power, focus current, working distance and welding speed were formulated in the heat source model. The model has been applied for the simulation of assembly of components in a gas turbine engine compressor. A series of metallographic weld sections with different welding thickness were investigated to validate the predicted thermal results. The workpieces were scanned both prior to-and after welding, using automated optical metrology (GOM scanning) in order to measure the distortion induced in the welding process. The measured result was compared with predicted displacement. This work demonstrates the attempts to improve the EB welding process modelling by connecting the heat input directly from the actual welding parameters, which could potentially reduce (or even remove) the need for weld bead calibrations from experimental observation.