A Study of the Effect of Post-Heating Pulse on Hot Cracking Susceptibility in Pulsed Laser Welding of Invar Alloy

Hot cracking is one of the major challenges in laser welding of Invar alloy. In this study, welding hot cracking susceptibility experiments are conducted with fish-bone-type Invar alloy sheets under pulsed laser welding condition. The pulse wave consists of two distinct power levels: welding pulse and post-heating pulse. The welding temperature field can be controlled by changing the duration of the post-heating pulse. The results of experimental measurements and finite element method calculation show that increasing of the post-heating pulse duration leads to a decline in the cooling rate of weld metal within the brittle temperature range, although the welding hot cracking susceptibility decreases at first and then increases. Neither the heat input nor the cooling rate is the only decisive factor for hot cracking during the welding process. Invar alloy is widely applied in precision measurement devices and low-temperature-resistant structures for its low linear expansion coefficient at ambient temperature, which is less than 1.6 × 10—6 k—1, about 1/10 of the low carbon steel, and it changes very little within a large temperature range (Corbacho et al. 1998; Park et al. 2011; Zhao et al. 2015; Qiu et al. 2016). With the increase in demand for natural gas, the liquefied natural gas (LNG) carrier has been developed rapidly as a means of long-distance transport. The material of primary and secondary barriers on the containment insulation system of membrane-type LNG carrier is welded Invar alloy with a thickness of .7 mm, which directly contacts the — 163°C LNG (American Bureau of Shipping 2006; Bureau Veritas 2011; Wang et al. 2006). The total weld length of Invar alloy on an LNG carrier over 13 million cubic meters can reach up to 100 km according to statistics. Hot cracking is the major problem in the welding of Invar alloy, and currently Tungsten inert gas (TIG) arc welding is commonly used. However, the problem of hot cracking cannot be solved completely, and requires that the operator have good technical knowledge. Invar alloy has high hot cracking susceptibility during the welding process because of its single-phase austenite structure and high content of Ni (Kou 2003). Studies show that the welding hot cracking susceptibility of Invar alloy can be reduced when elements such as Ti, Mn, and Mo are added (Hirata et al. 2001), but these alloying elements will increase the linear expansion coefficient of the weld, resulting in the deterioration of mechanical properties at low temperature. Thus, laser welding and friction stir welding are proposed by researchers to solve the welding hot cracking problem of Invar alloy from the aspect of reducing welding heat input.