Assembly with weld joint formed in hybrid welding process
AssigneeAktiebolaget Skf
InventorJohn F. van de Sanden
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Abstract
An assembly includes a first steel component that is joined to a second steel component by a weld joint formed in a hybrid welding process. At least one of the first and second steel components is a through-hardened bearing steel. In the hybrid welding process, base material of the first and second steel components is melted, and a molten filler material including at least 90% nickel is added. The weld joint is formed after solidification of the molten base material and of the molten filler material. The weld joint has a central solidified portion and a peripheral solidified portion, and the central solidified portion includes at least 80% filler material and the peripheral solidified portion includes no more than 20% filler material.
Claims20
An assembly comprising a first steel component that is joined to a second steel component by a weld joint formed in a hybrid welding process, wherein at least one of the first and second steel components comprises a through-hardened bearing steel, and wherein the hybrid welding process comprises melting base material of the first and second steel components and adding a moulten filler material comprising at least 90% Nickel, the weld joint being formed after solidification of the moulten base material and the moulten filler material,
- wherein, the weld joint comprises a central solidified portion and a peripheral solidified portion, whereby the central solidified portion comprises at least 80% filler material and the peripheral solidified portion comprises no more than 20% filler material.
The assembly according to any preceding claim, wherein the through-hardened bearing steel component is a bearing ring of a rolling element bearing.
A method of forming a weld joint between a first steel component and a second steel component in a hybrid welding process, wherein:
- at least one of the first and second steel components comprises a through-hardened bearing steel, and the hybrid welding process combines:
- a first energy source in the form of a laser beam or an electron beam, and
- a second energy source from a gas metal arc welding process in which a filler wire comprising at least 90% Nickel is employed as a filler material,
- wherein the method comprises steps of:
- directing the first energy source at a contact interface between the first and second steel components to create a keyhole, whereby material of the first steel component and material of the second component melt to form a moulten steel mix;
- injecting moulten filler material into the keyhole, via the arc welding process, the weld joint being formed after solidification of the moulten steel mix and of the moulten filler material;
- and
- controlling the hybrid welding process such that the first energy source foreruns the second energy source and such that, after solidification of the moulten materials, the weld joint has a central solidified portion comprising at least 80% filler material and has a peripheral solidified portion comprising no more than 20% of the filler material.
A method of forming a weld joint by a hybrid welding process comprising:
- a) placing a first steel component comprising a through-hardened bearing steel in contact with a second steel component at a contact interface;
- b) directing a laser beam or electron beam along the contact interface to create a keyhole and form a molten steel mix comprising a portion of the first steel component and a portion of the second steel component,
- c) after step b, performing a gas metal arc welding process along the keyhole using a filler wire comprising at least 90% nickel to inject molten filler material into the keyhole such that the molten filler material produced by the gas metal arc welding process partially mixes with the molten steel mix produced by the laser beam or the electron beam to form the weld joint and such that, after the mixture of the molten filler material and the molten steel mix solidifies, the solidified mixture has a central solidified portion comprising at least 80% filler material and a peripheral solidified portion comprising no more than 20% of the filler material.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.