Effect of laser offset on microstructure and mechanical properties of laser welding of pure molybdenum to stainless steel

Abstract Direct welding of Mo and stainless steel is exceptionally difficult due to intrinsic brittleness of Mo and the formation of brittle Fe-Mo phases. To explore the feasibility of welding of Mo and stainless steel, the laser offset method was used in this study. Experimental results show that the offset of the laser beam toward stainless steel has a positive effect for the quality of Mo/Fe dissimilar joint. As the laser beam shifts from the Mo side to the stainless steel side, the formation of welding defects and Fe-Mo intermetallic compounds (IMCs) are effectively restricted because of the decrease amount of molten Mo. The decrease of Fe-Mo IMCs contributes to the reduction of hardness in the joints. With an increase of laser offset, the thickness of Fe-Mo IMCs layer decreased, consequently the tensile strength of joints increased first and then decreased in the laser offset range of 0.2–0.5 mm. The highest tensile strength of the joints is 290 MPa at the laser offset of 0.3 mm. All joints failed in the Fe-Mo IMCs layer with brittle fracture mode during tensile tests, indicating the weakest zone of the joint was Fe-Mo IMCs layer. A sound weld of Mo and stainless steel can be obtained if an appropriate thickness of Fe-Mo IMCs layer is produced by adjusting the laser offset.