paramount importance. To reach successfully these demands it has been estimated that for the period 2000-2020
R&D expenses will reach values over 100 billion Euros in Europe in the Aeronautic domain.
The results included in this paper are part of a project focused in the development of a new engines’ generation.
These engines will be more performing from the point of view of materials (“flight-to-buy” ratios), fuel
consumption, noise reduction, and higher security in service. In this case, for the new engine prototype, several
components made with superalloys will change both, the estate of the raw material (from castings to sheets, for
instance), and their manufacturing paths (from machined components to formed and welded ones). Due to the
materials used and the requirements in service for the components of the engine, welding by high energy beams
(laser and electron beam) have been the first option as joining technologies. In this part of the study, the main results
obtained in the laser welding of different superalloys (alloy 718 -“Inco 718”-, “René 41” and alloy 625 –“Inco 625”-
) are collected. These results include welding trials, metallographic characterisation (welding seam morphology and
microstructures) by means of optical and electronic microscopy, hardness profiles, and mechanical testing
(including high temperature tests –tensile and LCF for alloy 718-).
Two joint configurations have been studied: butt and lap joints. The sheet thicknesses have been comprised
between 1 and 3 mm. In this study two types of laser resonators have been used: Nd:YAG and CO2. Results in
weldings obtained with both types of laser and TIG arc process have been analyzed and compared. Some prototypes
as examples of the application of laser welding technology with this superalloys are shown, too.