A comparison of laser-metal inert gas hybrid welding and metal inert gas welding of high-nitrogen austenitic stainless steel

High-nitrogen austenitic stainless steel (HNASS) has many excellent properties, such as high strength and toughness, high strain-hardening ability, strong corrosion resistance and low magnetization compared with the traditional widely used Ni–Cr austenitic stainless steel. The high nitrogen content in HNASS leads to the welded joint in the risk of many problems, such as nitrogen escape and loss, nitride precipitation, formation of pores and thermal cracks, resulting in the poor welding performance. The HNASS joints without obvious defects were obtained by metal inert gas (MIG) welding and laser-MIG hybrid welding, separately. The microstructures and properties of welded joints were compared. The nitrogen content in fusion zones of the two joints was tested by an oxygen, nitrogen and hydrogen analyzer. The tensile strength and the impact absorption energy of laser-MIG hybrid welded joint were about 27% and 20% higher than those of MIG welded joint, respectively. It could be attributed to the stronger solid solution strengthening effect resulted by the high nitrogen content of laser-MIG hybrid welded joint. The finer grains and the reduction of ferrite and precipitation phase in the microstructure of laser-MIG hybrid welded joint contributed to the improvement of toughness.