Fundamental study about CO2 laser welding of titanium aluminide intermetallic compound

Titanium aluminide intermetallic compound is attracting attentions as heat-resistant and high-specific strength material in the next generation, especially, it is promising material in the field of aerospace components. Conventional machining process including welding, however, can be hardly applied due to its very low ductility. The objective of this study, as a first stage, is to find out paying attention to crack and hardness the fundamental good conditions of the bead-on-plate welding of TiAl intermetallic compound using CO2 laser irradiation. In the experiment, we used the casting gamma titanium aluminide contained iron, vanadium and boron with a thickness of 2mm. We carried out bead-on-plate laser welding in the titanium aluminide material in inert gas environment filled with argon. We measured fused depth, Vickers hardness, transverse crack numbers and so on as major parameters of welding speed from 1000 to 4600 mm/min and initial temperature of specimen from R.T. to 873 K with a beam spot size of 0.5 mm and an output power of 1.5 kW. In addition, the specimens were analyzed by Electron Probe X-ray Micro Analyzer, Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy and X-ray Diffractometry. As a result of experiments, transverse crack-free welding was achieved, when initial temperature was at 873 K. In every condition, the value of Vickers hardness of fused zone increased compared with base. We think the reason of it is an increase of (alpha) 2(Ti3Al) phase, which is caused by rapid cooling, taking in Oxygen, fine structure and so on.