Use of pure vanadium and niobium/copper inserts for laser welding of titanium to stainless steel

Abstract Niobium and vanadium have high metallurgical compatibility with titanium and therefore can be used as inserts to avoid the accumulation of brittle intermetallic phases such as Fe2Ti during the fusion welding of titanium alloys with steels. In the present study, the continuous double pass welding of 1 mm thick Ti-6Al-4V alloy and 316 L stainless steel plates through several mm wide pure vanadium or niobium insert was studied. In case of a vanadium insert, a beam offset on the vanadium was found to produce cold crack formation in vanadium/316 L melted zones containing more than 40 wt.% V despite the absence of σ phase. Whereas a centered beam position and offset on the steel side pro…