• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.31 no.8
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• pp.839-846
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• 2007

Nd:YAG pulse laser fillet welding of stainless steel plate was simulated to find welding condition by using commercial finite element code MARC. Full model of AISI 304 stainless steel plate was considered and user subroutines were applied to boundary condition for the heat transfer. Material properties such as conductivity, specific heat, mass density and latent heat were given as a function of temperature. As results, Three dimensional heat source model for pulse laser beam conditions of fillet welding has been designed by the comparison between the finite element analysis results and experimental data on AISI 304 stainless steel plate. Nd:YAG laser welding for AISI 304 stainless steel was successfully simulated and it should be useful to determine optimal welding condition.

• Journal of Welding and Joining
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• v.15 no.6
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• pp.85-95
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• 1997

This study is to investigate the optimum conditions of Nd:YAG laser beam welding for Zircaloy-4 end cap closure by optical fiber transmission. Laser welding parameters which affect the penetration depth and bead width were experimentally examined using the various beam radius by the beam quality analyzer, joint geometries of end cap and the laser parameters which mean pulse width, repetition rate and pulse energy. Also, an optimum welding speed and the effect of assistant gas with varying the flow rate of He were investigated. We found that the laser average power for the end cap welding will be 230W and rotation speed must not exceed 8 RPM, the best position of focus using optical fiber with 600.mu.m will be 2 to 3mm below the surface of the material.

• Journal of Advanced Marine Engineering and Technology
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• v.31 no.6
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• pp.736-743
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• 2007

Laser welding has the advantage of high welding speed and Provides low heat distortion Thus laser welding is a very attractive process for joining thin steel sheet and surface treated steel sheet. And the major item in market for surface treated steel sheet is zinc coated steel. However. the laser welding of zinc coated steel is very difficult because of its low boiling point. Compared with zinc, on the other hand, aluminum has a high boiling point. Thus, laser weldability of aluminized steel is better than that of zinc coated steel. Moreover aluminized steel sheet is a material with excellent heat resistance, thermal reflection and corrosion resistance. The results of laser weldability of the aluminized steel for the full penetration welding will be described in this paper We focused on the investigation of the phenomenons caused by coating condition and behavior of aluminum in weld.

• Journal of Welding and Joining
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.56-63
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• 2006

The characteristics of $CO_2$ or Nd:YAG laser welded 600MPa ade TRIP steel was investigated. He or Ar gas was used as a shield gas in case of $CO_2$ laser welding, but the shield gas was not used in case of Nd:YAG laser welding. Bead on plate welding was performed with various welding conditions. Defects in the joints of both welding type occurred at 1.8m/min but were not observed over the welding speed of 2.1m/min in case of Nd:YAG laser welding. However, porosity occurred in $CO_2$ laser welding and the tendency of decreasing with the increase of welding speed. The hardness was the highest at heat affected zone near fusion zone as well as at the fusion zone and decreased on approaching the base metal. In a perpendicular tensile test to the weld line, all specimens that have been welded at optimum conditions were fractured at the base metal, and the tensile properties showed the rather higher than those of raw material. In a parallel tensile test, the strength of the joints was higher than that of the base metal. Elongation was found to be lower than that of the raw material. Forming height by Erichsen test and elongation were deeply related with the ratio of base metal/weld metal and the maximum hardness of the weld metal. Also porosity induced to decrease the strength and the elongation. The maximum formability was recorded at approximately 80% as compared with that of the raw material with the optimum condition.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.175-183
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• 2001

Various welding processes are now available for end cap closure of nuclear fuel element such as TG(Tungsten Inert Gas) welding, magnetic resistance welding and laser welding. Even though the resistance and TIG welding processes are widely used for manufacturing commercial fuel elements, they can not be recommended for the remote seal welding of a fuel element at a hot cell facility due to the complexity of electrode alignment, difficulity in the replacement of parts in the remote manner and a large heat input for a thin sheath. Therefore, the Nd:YAG laser system using optical fiber transmission was selected for Zircaloy-4 end cap welding inside hot cell. The laser welding apparatus was developed using a pulsed Nd:YAG laser of 500 watt average power with optical fiber transmission. The weldability of laser welding was satisfactory with respect to the microstructures and mechanical properties comparing with TIG and resistance welding. The optimum operation processes of laser welding and the optical fiber transmission system for hot cell operation in a remote manner have been developed The effects of irradiation on the properties of the laser apparatus were also being studied.

• Laser Solutions
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.29-38
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• 2001

This work was carried out to investigate the welding behavior of thin A3003 Al alloy sheets by Nd : YAG laser beam. Considering bead shape and mechanical properties, the laser pulse shapes selected were two kinds of 2-division and 3-division by varying power level and pulse duration. In order to obtain optimum conditions, the factorial design method and central composite design method were applied. Tensile test, optical microscopy, micro hardness test and TEM analysis were performed. Due to the annealing caused by thermal effect during laser welding, precipitates were coarsended. The HAZ was softened and failed during tensile test. The hardness of HAZ was lower than that of base metal, since the heat input relieved the work hardening effect and caused grain growth.

• Laser Solutions
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• v.3 no.1
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• pp.12-20
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• 2000

The nuclear steam generators are subjected to corrosion environmental condition during operation that can result in stress corrosion in the tube wall. If any tube wall degradation is recognized, the tube must be repaired by plugging or sleeving. For the sleeving repair, Nd : YAG laser welded sleeving technology is one of the most promising when considering radioactive working conditions in the nuclear power plant. In this paper, the laser welding characteristics of steam generator tube and sleeve materials are investigated. The effects of average laser power, laser energy, welding speed, pulse duration and frequency are evaluated. Based on these results, Nd : YAG laser welded sleeving repair was applied to the degraded steam generator tubes in real environment.

• Journal of Welding and Joining
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• v.21 no.6
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• pp.20-25
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• 2003

Various welding methods such as Gas Tungsten Arc Welding(GTAW), magnetic force electrical resistance welding and Laser Beam Welding(LBW) are now available for end cap closure of nuclear fuel rods. Even though the resistance and GTA welding processes are widely used in manufacturing commercial fuel rods, they can not be recommended for the remote seal welding of fuel rods in the hot cell Facility due to the complexity of the electrode alignment, the difficulty in replacing parts in a remote manner and the large heat input for the thin sheath. Therefore, the Nd:YAG laser system using optical fiber transmission was selected for the end cap welding of irradiation fuel rods in the hot cell. The remote laser welding apparatus in the hot cell Facility was developed using a pulsed Nd:YAG laser of 500 watt average power with an optical fiber transmission. The weldment quality such as microstructure and mechanical strength was satisfactory. The optimum conditions of laser welding for encapsulating irradiation fuel rods in the hot cell were obtained.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Precision Engineering
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• v.32 no.8
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• pp.681-685
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• 2015

Hastelloy C-276 composed of Cr, Mo, and Ni is a versatile, corrosion-resistant alloy with numerous industrial applications including its use in nuclear reactors, general chemical plants, and as a superconducting base material. Of especial significance, it can be used as a thin-sheet type whereby lap-joint welding is occasionally necessary. The main welding problems for thin-sheet metals are deformation and burn-through from an excessive heat input. Laser welding can minimize these problems because it has a high energy density and low heat effect on the base material. In this study, the laser-welding characteristics of lap-joint Hastelloy C-276 sheet metal were determined. The criteria of the laser-welding variables were chosen using a heat-conduction analysis, and the optimal welding parameters were selected by experimenting with an Nd:YAG laser.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Precision Engineering Conference
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• 1995.10a
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• pp.125-128
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• 1995

The remote sleeve repair-welding technology using the pulsed Nd:YAG laser for increasing the lifetime of the steam generator tube in the nuclear power plant has been developed. The laser welding has many advantages on deep penetration depth and narrow heat affect zone(HAZ). The inconel 600 tube and inconel 690 sleeve used high temperature and high pressure service have been welded as round lap welds. It is found that the relation between the connection width and welding parameters. It is found that the shear strength in proportion to the connection width by conducting tensile-shear tests.