FLUX FOR LASER WELDING

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates generally to the field of metals joining, and more particularly to the welding, repair and additive manufacturing of superalloy materials using a laser energy heat source, and to a flux material for laser welding.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Welding processes vary considerably depending upon the type of material being welded. Some materials are more easily welded under a variety of conditions, while other materials require special processes in order to achieve a structurally sound joint without degrading the surrounding substrate material.

Common arc welding generally utilizes a consumable electrode as the feed material. In order to provide protection from the atmosphere for the molten material in the weld pool, an inert cover gas and/or a flux material may be used when welding many alloys including, e.g. steels, stainless steels, and nickel based alloys. Inert and combined inert and active gas processes include gas tungsten arc welding (GTAW) (also known as tungsten inert gas (TIG)) and gas metal arc welding (GMAW) (also known as metal inert gas (MIG) and metal active gas (MAG)). Flux protected processes include submerged arc welding (SAW) where flux is commonly fed, flux cored arc welding (FCAW) where the flux is included in the core of the electrode, and shielded metal arc welding (SMAW) where the flux is coated on the outside of the filler electrode.

The use of energy beams as a heat source for welding is also known. For example, laser energy has been used to melt pre-placed stainless steel powder onto a carbon steel substrate with conventional powdered flux material providing shielding of the melt pool. The flux powder may be mixed with the stainless steel powder or applied as a separate covering layer. To the knowledge of the inventors, flux materials have not been used when welding superalloy materials.

It is recognized that superalloy materials are among the most difficult materials to weld due to their susceptibility to weld solidification cracking and strain age cracking. The term “superalloy” is used herein as it is commonly used in the art; i.e., a highly corrosion and oxidation resistant alloy that exhibits excellent mechanical strength and resistance to creep at high temperatures. Superalloys typically include a high nickel or cobalt content. Examples of superalloys include alloys sold under the trademarks and brand names Hastelloy, Inconel alloys (e.g. IN 738, IN 792, IN 939), Rene alloys (e.g. Rene N5, Rene 41, Rene 80, Rene 108, Rene 142, Rene 220), Haynes alloys (282), Mar M, CM 247, CM 247 LC, C263, 718, X-750, ECY 768, 282, X45, PWA 1480, PWA 1483, PWA 1484, CMSX single crystal alloys (e.g., CMSX-4, CMSX-8, CMSX-10), GTD 111, GTD 222, MGA 1400, MGA 2400, PSM 116, IN 713C, Mar-M-200, IN 100, IN 700, Udimet 600, Udimet 500 and titanium aluminide.

Weld repair of some superalloy materials has been accomplished successfully by preheating the material to a very high temperature (for example to above 1600° F. or 870° C.) in order to significantly increase the ductility of the material during the repair. This technique is referred to as hot box welding or superalloy welding at elevated temperature (SWET) weld repair, and it is commonly accomplished using a manual GTAW process. However, hot box welding is limited by the difficulty of maintaining a uniform component process surface temperature and the difficulty of maintaining complete inert gas shielding, as well as by physical difficulties imposed on the operator working in the proximity of a component at such extreme temperatures.

Some superalloy material welding applications can be performed using a chill plate to limit the heating of the substrate material; thereby limiting the occurrence of substrate heat affects and stresses causing cracking problems. However, this technique is not practical for many repair applications where the geometry of the parts does not facilitate the use of a chill plate.

FIG. 4 is a conventional chart illustrating the relative weldability of various alloys as a function of their aluminum and titanium content. Alloys such as Inconel® 718 which have relatively lower concentrations of these elements, and consequentially relatively lower gamma prime content, are considered relatively weldable, although such welding is generally limited to low stress regions of a component. Alloys such as Inconel® 939 which have relatively higher concentrations of these elements are generally not considered to be weldable, or can be welded only with the special procedures discussed above which increase the temperature/ductility of the material and which minimize the heat input of the process. For purposes of discussion herein, a dashed line 80 indicates a border between a zone of weldability below the line 80 and a zone of non-weldability above the line 80. The line 80 intersects 3 wt. % aluminum on the vertical axis and 6 wt. % titanium on the horizontal axis. Within the zone of non-weldability, the alloys with the highest aluminum content are generally found to be the most difficult to weld.

It is also known to utilize selective laser melting (SLM) or selective laser sintering (SLS) to melt a thin layer of superalloy powder particles onto a superalloy substrate. The melt pool is shielded from the atmosphere by applying an inert gas, such as argon, during the laser heating. These processes tend to trap the oxides (e.g. aluminum and chromium oxides) that are adherent on the surface of the particles within the layer of deposited material, resulting in porosity, inclusions and other defects associated with the trapped oxides. Post process hot isostatic pressing (HIP) is often used to collapse these voids, inclusions and cracks in order to improve the properties of the deposited coating.

As new and higher alloy content superalloys continue to be developed, the challenge to develop commercially feasible joining processes for superalloy materials continues to grow.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The invention is explained in the following description in view of the drawings that show:

FIG. 1 illustrates a cladding process using a multi-layer powder.

FIG. 2 illustrates a cladding process using a mixed layer powder.

FIG. 3 illustrates a cladding process using a cored filler wire and an energy beam.

FIG. 4 is a prior art chart illustrating the relative weldability of various superalloys.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The present inventors have developed a flux material and a materials joining process that can be used successfully to join and/or to repair the most difficult to weld superalloy materials and other alloy materials. Embodiments of the inventive process advantageously apply a powdered flux material over a superalloy substrate during a laser melting and re-solidifying process. The powdered flux material is effective to provide beam energy transmission and selective trapping, impurity cleansing, atmospheric shielding, bead shaping, cooling temperature control, and alloy addition in order to accomplish crack-free joining of superalloy materials without the necessity for high temperature hot box welding or the use of a chill plate or the use of inert shielding gas or vacuum conditions.

FIG. 1 illustrates a process where a layer of cladding 10 of a superalloy material is being deposited onto a superalloy substrate material 12 at ambient room temperature without any preheating of the substrate material 12 or the use of a chill plate. The substrate material 12 may form part of a gas turbine engine blade, for example, and the cladding process may be part of a repair procedure in some embodiments. A layer of granulated powder 14 is pre-placed on the substrate 12, and a laser beam 16 is traversed across the layer of powder 14 to melt the powder and to form the layer of cladding 10 covered by a layer of slag 18. The cladding 10 and slag 18 are formed from the layer of powder 14 which includes a layer of powdered superalloy material 20 covered by a layer of powdered flux material 22.

The flux material 22 and resultant layer of slag 18 provide a number of functions that are beneficial for preventing cracking of the superalloy cladding 10 and the underlying superalloy substrate material 12. First, they function to shield both the region of molten material and the solidified (but still hot) cladding material 10 from the atmosphere in the region downstream of the laser beam 16. The slag floats to the surface to separate the molten or hot metal from the atmosphere, and the flux may be formulated to produce a shielding gas in some embodiments, thereby avoiding or minimizing the use of expensive inert gas. Second, the slag 18 acts as a blanket that allows the solidified material to cool slowly and evenly, thereby reducing residual stresses that can contribute to post weld reheat or strain age cracking. Such slag blanketing over and adjacent to the deposit further enhances heat conduction normal to the substrate thereby promoting directional solidification capable of forming grains also elongated normal to the substrate. Third, the slag 18 helps to shape and support the pool of molten metal to keep it close to a desired ⅓ height/width ratio. Such slag shape control and metal support further reduces solidification stresses that would otherwise be necessarily borne by the solidifying metal alone. Fourth, the flux material 22 provides a cleansing effect for removing trace impurities such as sulfur and phosphorous that contribute to weld solidification cracking. Such cleansing may include deoxidation of the metal powder. Because the flux powder is in intimate contact with the metal powder, it is especially effective in accomplishing this function. Further, the flux material 22 must transmit the laser energy to facilitate heating of the metal powder and underlying substrate. It may also provide an energy absorption and trapping function to more effectively convert the laser beam 16 into heat energy, thus facilitating a precise control of heat input, such as within 1-2%, and a resultant tight control of material temperature during the process. Additionally, the flux may be formulated to compensate for loss of volatized or reacted elements during processing or to actively contribute elements to the deposit that are not otherwise provided by the metal powder itself. Together, these functionalities produce crack-free deposits of superalloy cladding on superalloy substrates at room temperature for materials that heretofore were believed to be capable of being welded or clad processed only with a hot box process or by using a chill plate.

The present inventors have found that commercially available fluxes such as those sold under the names Lincolnweld P2007, Bohler Soudokay NiCrW-412, ESAB OK 10.16 or 10.90, Special Metals NT100, Oerlikon OP76, Bavaria WP 380, Sandvik 50SW, 59S or SAS1 and Avesta 805 may be used when processing superalloy materials with laser energy, but that optimal results will not be achieved. In considering the shortcomings of employing such commercially available fluxes, the inventors have found that:

(1) Such known fluxes are typically formulated with consideration given to their electrical properties (e.g. arc stability, electrical conductivity), since they are used in a heating process involving electrical energy. While such considerations may be a valid factors with hybrid laser and arc processing, the electrical properties of a flux material are not a relevant consideration to processes involving the application of only laser energy.

(2) Such known fluxes are also not formulated to enhance optical laser beam capture and transmission, or to prevent or reduce the formation of plasma that could inhibit the laser energy from effectively reaching the substrate.

(3) Such known fluxes are also used with a solid wire, cored wire or strip electrode. Consequently, such known fluxes are generally formulated to include ingredients to enhance processing with such solid filler metal forms. For example, coated electrodes often require specific ingredients (e.g., sodium silicate, potassium silicate, sugar, dextrose) to find the flux mix and additional ingredients (e.g., glycerin, kaolin, talc, mica) to enhance extrudability over a wire and attachment thereon. Such ingredients that ensure smooth, crack free electrode coatings that are resistant to damage during handling are not of importance and may in fact be detrimental (e.g., release unwanted contaminants) during laser processing. As another example, flux cored wires must have very fine mesh flux ingredients to fit the core volume. Such fine particulate is also not needed for laser processing and may in fact be detrimental to the extent that such fine powder is difficult to preplace for feed to a point of processing. Consequently, many ingredients or mesh constraints that are essential to arc welding processing with solid filler metal are not relevant to laser processes, wherein powder is most often the preferred form of filler because of its inherent ability to capture light energy.

(4) Such known fluxes also may contain constituents that can scavenge undesirable elements (so-called “tramp” elements) such as sulfur, phosphorous, boron, lead and bismuth. Because superalloys are much more prone to solidification cracking than common wrought nickel based alloys, a flux formulated for laser process may need to be enriched and/or modified with respect to known fluxes to remove all or many of such tramp elements from the solidification process. Examples include enrichment in manganese, magnesium and calcium bearing compounds to effectively reduce sulfur and phosphorous content. On the other hand, whereas the tramp element boron may be somewhat controlled by conventional fluxes, with superalloy processing only limited control is appropriate because boron is essential for grain boundary strengthening.

(5) Such known fluxes may also contain certain ferro-metal additives to compensate for loss of metallic elements during processing or to further alloy the deposit. Because such commercial fluxes are formulated for wrought nickel based alloys containing iron, such ferro-metal additives may not be suitable for many non-ferrous nickel-based superalloys. Thus, in certain applications such as turbine blade and vane manufacture and repair involving non-ferrous superalloy materials (e.g., IN 738, IN 939, CM 247, PWA 1484, Rene Alloys 80, N4, 5 and 6) these ferro-metal additives may not be suitable.

Based upon the observations above, the following considerations are relevant to flux materials of the present disclosure finding applicability to laser welding, repair and manufacture of superalloy materials. Some of these considerations may also be relevant to applications involving other difficult to weld alloys (e.g., ODS alloys, titanium-based alloys, etc.).

First, with respect to electrical considerations, titanium dioxide is often used for arc stabilization. At least two of the commercially-available fluxes described above include titanium dioxide. The proposed flux for laser processing has no need for such stabilization. Therefore, titanium dioxide and other agents employed in known flux materials to affect electrical properties (e.g., potassium silicate, sodium silicate, rutile and potassium titanate) may be excluded from the present flux materials. In some instances, agents affecting electrical properties (such as titanium dioxide) may be included for other purposes such as slag formation or elemental addition. However, in these instances the proportion of such agents may differ considerably from proportions known to be suitable for enhancing electrical properties.

Other arc stabilizers include compounds having low dissociation energy and ionization potential (e.g. K₂O, Na₂O and Li₂O). Such compounds are often not well suited to flux materials of the present disclosure due to their propensity to undergo dissociation to form an optical “plasma” that prevents the laser energy from being absorbed and transferred to the process location. Such stabilizers and plasma generators may be excluded from the presently disclosed flux materials for laser processing. In some embodiments flux materials of the present disclosure do not contain substantial amounts of K₂O, Na₂O and Li₂O—meaning that less than 0.5% by weight of these compounds (individually or collectively) is contained. In some embodiments flux materials of the present disclosure are essentially free of K₂O, Na₂O and Li₂O—meaning that less than 0.1% by weight of these compounds (individually or collectively) is contained.

It is also known that fluorides can produce an erratic arc in conventional weld processing with fluoride-bearing fluxes. Because no arc is involved in laser processing, fluorides may be included (even in relatively enriched proportions) in flux materials of the present disclosure to control viscosity and scavenging effects that are important to laser processing.

Second, flux materials of the present disclosure are formulated to avoid the generation of byproducts (i.e., light and smoke) that can interfere with the delivery of the laser energy to the work piece. Combustible (especially organic) materials such as hydrocarbons may be avoided in flux materials of the present disclosure because they lead to such undesirable byproducts. Process conditions may also be modified to remove generated smoke using a vacuum or cross flow action near the point of processing.

Third, while known flux materials for submerged arc welding and electroslag welding are of relatively coarse mesh size, flux materials in some embodiments of the present disclosure have smaller particle sizes to accommodate laser processing with a powdered filler material. Course flux materials are known to work well for fillers of wire or strip geometry. By contrast, powdered filler metals that may be used for laser processing (due to superior light trapping efficiency) are typically in the form of fine powders and are of much higher density than commercially available fluxes. Therefore, laser cladding with flux may address potential issues with combining powders of discrepant size and density.

Specifically FIG. 2 illustrates another embodiment where a layer of cladding 30 of a superalloy material is being deposited onto a superalloy substrate material 32, which in this embodiment is illustrated as a directionally solidified material having a plurality of columnar grains 34. In this embodiment, the layer of powder 36 is pre-placed or fed onto the surface of the substrate material 32 as a homogeneous layer including a mixture of both powdered alloy material 38 and powdered flux material 40. The layer of powder 36 may be one to several millimeters in thickness in some embodiments rather than the fraction of a millimeter typical with known selective laser melting and sintering processes. Other embodiments may include a thickness of the powder layer 36 or the flux layer 22 from 5 mm to 15 mm; or that an amount of the flux material is selected such that a thickness of the layer of the slag 18, 46 ranges from 0.5 mm to 5 mm.

Commercially available powdered prior art flux materials have particle sizes typically ranging from 0.5-2 mm (500-2,000 micron). Powdered alloy material that is typically used for laser cladding may have a particle size range of from 0.02-0.04 mm or 0.02-0.08 mm (or 22-88 micron) or other sub-range therein. This difference in particle size may work well in the embodiment of FIG. 1 where the materials constitute separate layers. However, in the embodiment of FIG. 2 it may be advantageous for the powdered alloy material 38 and the powdered flux material 40 to have mesh size ranges that either partially or totally overlap (same mesh range) one another, in order to facilitate mixing and feeding of the powders and to provide improved flux coverage during the melting process. Tests have been conducted with satisfactory results using flux material crushed to smaller than commercially available sizes, such as to a size range of 105-841 microns (−20/+150 Tyler mesh) for pre-placed powder applications and to a size of less than 105 microns (−150 Tyler mesh) for feed powder applications. Optimum volume ratio of flux to alloy powder is of the order of 1:1, however a range from 3:2 to 2:3 has been demonstrated.

If powdered metal is to be mixed with flux, it can be important to optimize size to ensure good mixing. The inventors have found and hereby teach that for mixing applications, commercially available fluxes need to be first crushed. For newly manufactured fluxes the mesh range should overlap the mesh range of the powdered metal. If powdered metal is to be made with flux as a constituent (conglomerate particles), then such mesh considerations are not as important. If powder metal and flux is to be fed, then the flux needs to closely match the mesh range of the metal powder to ensure good feeding. If flux is to be included in the core of a wire, it must meet the mesh requirement for such flux cored wire manufacture.

Fourth, certain elements are notoriously problematic when welding nickel based alloys. For example, unintentionally added (“tramp”) elements include sulfur, phosphorous, lead, and bismuth. In addition, boron, though not a tramp element, is sometimes added to improve creep and rupture strength and to refine grain boundaries. All of these elements (and sometimes in combination with other superalloy constituents including silicon, carbon, oxygen and nitrogen) can be associated with solidification cracking (aka hot cracking or liquation cracking). Perhaps the foremost problematic element is sulfur. Sulfur causes such cracking by way of the formation of low melting point eutectic phases (e.g. Ni₃S₂) at the last locations to solidify. Such low melting point films cannot sustain contraction stresses during solidification and, therefore, cracking results. Sulfur can be scavenged by manganese bearing compounds such as MnO. Calcium and magnesium reagents are also known to reduce sulfur during vacuum induction melting of nickel based alloys. CaS and MgS can be removed as slag. Mg can also change sulfide shape and eliminate grain boundary sulfide films. CaF₂—CaO—Al₂O₃mixtures have also been used to reduce sulfur. Cerium is also known to reduce sulfur (and oxygen) by producing stable cerium oxysulfides (e.g. Ce₂O₂S, CeS, Ce₂S₃, Ce₃S₄). CaF₂, CaO, Ca and CeO₂are recognized compounds for such slag removal of sulfur (e.g. in electroslag remelting).

In some embodiments the flux for laser processing is enriched with such compounds, and more particularly, the flux may utilize calcium, magnesium and manganese carbonates (CaCO₃, MgCO₃and MnCO₃) and oxides (CaO, MgO, MnO, MnO₂) at elevated concentrations for superalloy laser processing. To the knowledge of the present Inventors, only one of the major manufacturers of nickel base welding fluxes utilizes a carbonate of calcium. The present teaching proposes an embodiment using a mixture of all three carbonates (Ca, Mg and Mn) at concentrations up to 30 weight percent. The calcium, magnesium and manganese will contribute to the above described scrubbing (removal) of sulfur by way of segregation to and removal with the slag. Also the carbonate compounds will tend to form carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide gases to enhance shielding functions. This is important because the process is not optically submerged and some additional shielding function by way of such carbonates can improve the processing. Calcium fluoride and oxides of calcium, magnesium and manganese are also beneficial for scavenging sulfur and are often included at elevated levels of up to about 30 weight percent.

Another problematic element is phosphorous which can promote solidification cracking by the formation of low melting point phosphides. Phosphorous can be controlled by including silica, CaF₂and other oxides such as CaO, CaCO₃and FeO to control thermodynamics and to segregate phosphorous to the slag without re-entry.

Boron, while potentially problematic, may not be controlled or eliminated in embodiments of the present flux for laser processing. The reason is that boron has the above mentioned advantages and may be beneficial to include—albeit in limited quantities.

Fifth, ferro-metal additives are not proposed to be added to the present flux for laser processing due to their incompatibility with many non-ferrous superalloy materials. In some embodiments flux materials of the present disclosure do not contain substantial amounts of iron—meaning that less than 0.5% by weight of iron is contained. In some embodiments flux materials of the present disclosure are essentially free of iron—meaning that less than 0.1% by weight of elemental iron is contained.

The present inventors recognize that an amount of titanium may be lost during laser heated deposition of powdered superalloy materials, most likely due to reaction with oxygen and subsequent volatizing or removal with slag, and that the titanium content of the deposited material may be less than the titanium content of the original powdered superalloy material. The present disclosure allows for additional titanium to be provided to the melt via the flux material in order to compensate for this loss. While not needed for arc stabilization (see above), TiO₂(e.g. Brookite) or another titanium containing compounds may be included as a constituent of the present flux to accomplish this alloy compensation. Alternate titanium contributors could include titanite (CaTiSiO₅) which is a mineral source of TiO₂and which would simultaneously contribute calcium to help reduce phosphorous or sulfur, and nickel titanium alloys (such as Nitinol which is a shape memory alloy). Most particularly, the content of titanium in the flux material will be responsive to the amount of titanium in the superalloy composition. For example, the flux may contain about 1 wt. % of titanium for a deposited or substrate superalloy material having up to 2 wt. % of titanium, or about 2 wt. % of titanium for superalloy material having 2-4 wt. % of titanium, or about 3 wt. % of titanium for superalloy material having 4-6 wt. % of titanium.

Many prior art fluxes claim to be neutral and not to add or subtract from the composition of the deposit. SAW fluxes can be especially useful in this respect because the arc is buried under the flux and many elements including dangerous hexavalent chromium are not substantially released to the surrounding environment. In contrast, the present inventors have found that when a flux material is processed with laser energy, substantial reaction and optical emission occur near and above the top of the bed of flux—thereby facilitating the transfer of gasses out of the flux. In the event of elemental loss of aluminum (˜1% or more) when cladding, (even using flux containing substantial alumina) additional compensation for aluminum may be necessary. In particular, while alumina is used in commercially available flux formulations to form slag and to enhance slag detachability, it may not effectively vector aluminum into the deposited material.

Loss of aluminum is problematic because aluminum is critical to the strength and oxidation resistance of a superalloy material. Innovatively, embodiments of the present invention include aluminum in the form of aluminum carbonate Al₂(CO₃)₃. Aluminum carbonate is unstable and under certain conditions can decompose to produce carbon dioxide CO₂and aluminum hydroxide Al(OH)₃. The present inventors have realized that when used in a flux for laser processing, aluminum carbonate will dissociate due to laser interaction, and will generate elemental aluminum along with carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide at the location of dissociation. Advantageously, the elemental aluminum is thus made available to compensate for the above-described loss of deposited aluminum, and the gasses prevent the oxidation of the elemental aluminum and provide overall shielding of the molten metal from atmospheric oxidation and nitridation.

An alternate source of aluminum for use in flux materials of the present disclosure is a mineral known as Dawsonite composed of sodium aluminum carbonate hydroxide NaAlCO₃(OH)₂. Laser decomposition of Dawsonite forms not only elemental aluminum, carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide, but also hydrogen, which creates a beneficial reducing atmosphere.

The following alloy classification groups contain the enumerated amounts of aluminum and titanium:

Alloy Groups
Aluminum (%)
Titanium (%)

A0/2
0-2

A2/4
2-4

A4/6
4-6

T0/2

0-2

T2/4

2-4

T4/6

4-6

The teaching herein proposes using a combination of Al₂(CO₃)₂, NaAlCO₃(OH)₂and even pure aluminum foil (or compatible aluminum alloy) to add aluminum for the A groups above. In the A0/2 group a weight percent of the flux of at least 1% aluminum is expected to be needed. In A2/4 at least 2% is expected and in 4/6 at least 3% is expected.

The teaching herein also proposes using a combination of TiO₂, CaTiSiO₅and even pure titanium foil (or compatible titanium alloy) to add titanium for the T groups above. In the T0/2 group a weight percent of the flux of at least 1% titanium is expected to be needed. In T2/4 at least 2% is expected and in T4/6 at least 3% is expected.

A given alloy can have both A and T classification and in that case both must be addressed using the additives associated with each classification. Some examples of groupings that include commercial alloys are as follows:

Alloy Groups
Commercial Alloys

A4/6
PWA1484, Rene N5, Rene 142

A2/4 & T0/2
Rene 41

A4/6 & T0/2
CM 247, CMSX4

A0/4 & T2/4
IN 939

A2/4 & T2/4
IN 738

A2/4 & T4/6
Rene 80

Other compounds may be beneficial in the flux for combining an elemental addition function and a shielding function. For example, cobalt, nickel and lanthanum carbonates may be used to add elemental cobalt, nickel and lanthanum, respectively, along with carbonate shielding. Furthermore, the scavenging and shielding functions may be combined, such as by including manganese carbonate to add manganese for scavenging sulfur and carbonate for shielding. Other useful compounds include boron carbide, aluminum carbide, silicon carbide, calcium carbide, titanium carbide, vanadium carbide, chromium carbide, zirconium carbide, nickel carbide, hafnium carbide, tungsten carbide, nickel carbonate and titanium aluminide which upon dissociation could add elemental metals and desired carbides and/or carbon reaction with oxygen to produce carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide shielding.

Other constituents in the flux of the present invention which target slag fluidity, formation and detachability may correspond to constituents contained in commercially available fluxes in the proposed and otherwise special fluxes for laser processing. For example, certain fluorides, silicates, aluminates and titanates may be included to ensure that the slag is viscous, has a melting point below that of the base metal, has a density less than that of the base metal, and readily detaches from the deposit upon cooling.

Flux materials of the present disclosure may be formulated to contain at least one of the following components: (i) an optically transmissive constituent; (ii) a viscosity/fluidity enhancer; (iii) a shielding agent; (iv) a scavenging agent; and (v) a vectoring agent.

Optically transmissive constituents include metal oxides, metal salts and metal silicates such as alumina (Al₂O₃), silica (SiO₂), zirconium oxide (ZrO₂), sodium silicate (Na₂SiO₃), potassium silicate (K₂SiO₃), and other compounds capable of optically transmitting laser energy (e.g., as generated from NdYag and Yt fiber lasers). Viscosity/fluidity enhancers include metal fluorides such as calcium fluoride (CaF₂), cryolite (Na₃AlF₆) and other agents known to enhance viscosity and/or fluidity (e.g., reduced viscosity with CaO, MgO, Na₂O, K₂O and increasing viscosity with Al₂O₃and TiO₂) in welding applications. Shielding agents include metal carbonates such as calcium carbonate (CaCO₃), aluminum carbonate (Al₂(CO₃)₃), dawsonite (NaAl(CO₃)(OH)₂), dolomite (CaMg(CO₃)₂), magnesium carbonate (MgCO₃), manganese carbonate (MnCO₃), cobalt carbonate (CoCO₃), nickel carbonate (NiCO₃), lanthanum carbonate (La₂(CO3)₃) and other agents known to form shielding and/or reducing gases (e.g., CO, CO₂, H₂). Scavenging agents include metal oxides and fluorides such as calcium oxide (CaO), calcium fluoride (CaF₂), iron oxide (FeO), magnesium oxide (MgO), manganese oxides (MnO, MnO₂), niobium oxides (NbO, NbO₂, Nb₂O₅), titanium oxide (TiO₂), zirconium oxide (ZrO₂) and other agents known to react with detrimental elements such as sulfur and phosphorous to form low-density byproducts expected to “float” into a resulting slag layer. Vectoring agents include titanium, zirconium, boron and aluminum containing compounds and materials such as titanium alloys (Ti), titanium oxide (TiO₂), titanite (CaTiSiO₅), aluminum alloys (Al), aluminum carbonate (Al₂(CO₃)₃), dawsonite (NaAl(CO₃)(OH)₂), borate minerals (e.g., kernite, borax, ulexite, colemanite), nickel titanium alloys (e.g., Nitinol), niobium oxides (NbO, NbO₂, Nb₂O₅) and other metal-containing compounds and materials used to supplement molten alloys with elements.