Laser brazing of alloy 600 with precious filler metals

Abstract

The diode laser brazing of Ni base heat resistant alloy with precious filler metals has been conducted using the tandem beam for preheating and brazing. A couple of 1 mm thick plates of alloy 600 (Inconel 600) were butt brazed using Au–18Ni, Ag–10Pd and Ag–21Cu–25Pd filler metals of 0·5 mm diameter with a brazing flux. Sound butt joints which were free from brazing defects such as porosity and lack of penetration could be obtained at brazing clearances of 0·1–1·5 mm. The tensile strength of the braze joint produced using Ag–Pd filler metal increased with decreasing brazing clearance and reached ～70% of the base metal strength at a brazing clearance of 0·1 mm while those obtained by using Au–Ni and Ag–Cu–Pd filler metals were comparable with the base metal strength at any clearances between 0·1 and 1·5 mm. The laser brazing technique could be successfully applied to the brazing of Ni base superalloy to attain a joint with high performance and reliability.