Laser Powder Welding with a Co-based alloy for repairing steam circuit components in thermal power stations

Due to the costs of replacing certain damage parts in thermal power stations by new ones, it is frequent to carry out several tasks of repair and maintenance by means of conventional welding. With the objective of improving and optimizing these maintenance duties, a laser powder welding process of a Co-based alloy, Stellite®6, on a Cr-Mo low alloy steel, ASTM A182 F11, has been developed. Moreover, a comparative study of morphology and microstructure of the deposited layers has been carried out between the laser process and a conventional one.