Development of a welding process to overlay FeCrAl alloy on a thin wall austenitic stainless steel tube

Abstract In this paper, we investigated the possibility of applying the low power pulse laser welding technology to surface a protective layer against heavy liquid metal corrosion in fuel cladding tube made of austenitic 316L stainless steel. Based on results from flaring, flattening, bending tests and metallographic microscope investigations, we can preliminarily confirm the possibility of using low power pulse laser with specific power input to weld Fe-10Cr-4Al-RE alloy on the outer surface of a 316L stainless steel tube with the inner diameter of 11.8 mm and wall thickness of 0.65 mm.