The Rapid Cooling Effect on Microstructure of Nickel-Based Alloys Welding Joint

Fusion welding of nickel-based alloys is often associated with coarse grains and severe segregation, which finally results in the increase of hot cracking susceptibility and poor mechanical properties. Conventional gas tungsten arc welding (GTAW) can aggravate these phenomena, which is mainly due to its high heat input and low cooling rate. In this paper, the cooling rate was enhanced by spraying liquid nitrogen during the welding process. Compared to conventional GTAW, the rapid cooling produced narrower heat affected zone (HAZ) width and more equiaxed grains in the fusion zone, thus higher hardness distribution was also achieved in this condition. In addition, γ′ phase exhibited a dispersed distribution, and segregation has been improved. The results show that the HAZ width is decreased by about 50%, and the fusion zone consisting of the finest equiaxed grains and the lowest segregation was obtained, when the heat sink located on one side 10 mm away from the weld centerline. Also, fine equiaxed grains and the dispersed distribution of γ′ phase could improve the grain boundary strength and reduce the incidence of liquid films along grain boundaries, contributing to prevent nickel-based alloys welding hot cracking from initiating.