DEPENDENCE OF FRACTURE TOUGHNESS OF MOLYBDENUM LASER WELDS ON PROCESSING PARAMETERS AND IN-SITU OXYGEN GETTERING

摘要

Fracture toughness properties have been determined for laser welds in different grades of molybdenum. The fracture toughness of welds in sintered molybdenum was consistently less than the fracture toughness of welds in vacuum arc remelted molybdenum. These differences cannot be attributed to oxygen content, since the oxygen level was nominally the same for all grades of molybdenum examined in this program. Alloy additions of titanium by means of physically deposited coatings signifi-cantly improved the fracture toughness of welds in sintered molybdenum, whereas titanium additions to welds in vacuum arc remelted molybdenum decreased the fracture toughness slightly. Pulsed laser welds exhibited fine columnar structures and, in the case of sintered molybdenum, superior fracture toughness when compared with continuous wave laser welds.