SAND2016-11749C

50 m

Laser Welding of Dissimilar Precious Metal

Electrical Contact Alloys
Don Susan, Pierrette Gorman, Jeff Rodelas, and Brian Macumber
AWS Meeting, Las Vegas, NV
November 18, 2016
Sandia National Laboratories is a multi-program laboratory managed and operated by Sandia Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of Lockheed Martin
Corporation, for the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration under contract DE-AC04-94AL85000.
Precious Metal Electrical Contact Alloys

Paliney®-7 (ASTM B540) Neyoro®-G (ASTM B541)

Element Weight % Element Weight %
Palladium 34.0-36.0 Gold 70.5-72.5
Silver 29.0-31.0 Copper 13.5-15.5
Copper 13.5-14.5 Platinum 8.0-9.0
Gold 9.5-10.5 Silver 4.0-5.0
Platinum 9.5-10.5 Zinc 0.7-1.3
Zinc 0.8-1.2

Trace impurities of Ir, Os, Rh, Ru, Fe Trace impurities of Ir, Os, Rh, Ru, Fe
Melting point (solidus) ~1015˚C Melting point (solidus) ~925˚C
 Both alloys have are single phase fcc at high temperature. Both can be
precipitation hardened (age hardened) to high strength levels.
®Paliney and Neyoro are registered tradenames of Deringer-Ney Inc., Bloomfield, CT

2
 Material Properties
Paliney®-7 Neyoro®-G
Property Annealed Heat Property Annealed Heat
(typical) treated (typical) treated
YS (ksi) 45-90 145 YS (ksi) 60-70 130
UTS (ksi) 55-130 180 UTS (ksi) 75-115 170
% Elong. 15-25 1-10 % Elong. 12-20 2-10
Elastic 17 17 Elastic 16 16
modulus (Msi) modulus (Msi)
Vickers 185-255 330-400 Vickers 180-250 285-370
hardness hardness
Note: Properties will vary slightly with wire diameter or sheet thickness.
Sources:
1. K. E. Pitney, Ney Contact Manual, The J.M. Ney Company, 1973.
2. ASTM B540-97 (2008), ASTM International, West Conshohocken, PA, 2008.
3. ASTM B541-01 (2012), ASTM International, West Conshohocken, PA, 2012.
4. 3. S. Brooks and G. Reed, Ney Scope, Vol. 22, No. 1, The J.M. Ney Company, Bloomfield, CT, 1980.
5. 4. T.V. Nordstrom, IEEE Trans. Parts, Hybrids, Packaging, March 1975.

3
Why weld these two alloy together?
Paliney
contact pin

 Paliney®-7 pins are used as electrical contacts

in glass-to-metal seal applications.
 Neyoro®-G is often used in sheet or strip form
as a strong spring member in electrical Stainless steel Glass-ceramic
header seal
contacts.
 A design called for a spring contact integral within a glass-to-metal sealed
connector. Neyoro®-G melting point too low for gtm seals, and full annealed
properties after gtm sealing are likely not adequate for spring end member.
 Ease of prototyping. Avoid costly, complex machining and forming
operations.

Two candidate processes: Resistance welding and laser welding

- fillet welds
- piercing lap welds

4
Initial Concerns with Paliney® 7/Neyoro® G
Dissimilar Welds
 ~∆100˚C in manufacturer-quoted solidus temperatures

 Both alloys solidify as primary austenite (inherent solidification

cracking concern)

 High reflectivity of Au is an issue with near-IR lasers (e.g., pulsed

Nd:YAG and Yb-doped fiber lasers)

 Cross-wire resistance welding of Pal7/NeyG can be problematic

(based on Sandia lore)

 No report of welding this alloy combination in technical literature

5
Resistance Welding

6
Resistance Welding (Brazing) Trials
Resistance welding
produces good bonding
between round (Pal7)
and flat (NeyG).
Ramp up .10kA, weld .80kA,ramp down.10kA, 6lb. force
Evidence of partial melting
is found; increasing amount
of melted material with
increasing applied current.

Ramp up .10kA, weld 1kA,ramp down.10kA, 6lb. force

7
Resistance Welding (Braze) Trials: Cross-sections

NeyG
Sheet
(COLD WORKED AND AGED)

Pal7 pin (ANNEALED)

.10,.80,.10, 6lb.

Primarily solid-state, but the Neyoro-G partially

melts during resistance welding. More like a
resistance braze; little or no melting on the
Pal-7 side of the joint. (highly unbalanced weld)

Although deformation of the sheet could be a

problem for applications with tight tolerance, no
major issues were observed. Ultimately the
tight geometry of the application ruled out the
use of resistance welds.
.10,1.00,.10, 6lb.

8
Microhardness Mapping, Resistance Weld

Transverse view .10,.80,.10, 6lb.

Microhardness mapping performed on Struers Durascan: 66 indents, Vickers, 50g load

9
Laser Welding
- fillet welds
- piercing lap welds

10
Multi-Component Thermodynamic
Assessment of Dissimilar Alloy System
 Thermodynamic simulations were performed to help predict the
solidification behavior of Paliney 7 and Neyoro G dissimilar welds.
 Solidification path and solidification temperature range (STR)
predictions were used to assist in weldability evaluation
 Solidification cracking susceptibility is highly influenced by solidification
path and STR
 2 solidification cases were considered
 Best case: equilibrium solute redistribution during solidification
 Worst case: non-equilibrium solute redistribution as per Scheil-Gulliver
model
 Infinite liquid diffusion with limited solid diffusion while maintaining
thermodynamic equilibrium at the S-L interface
 Actual solute redistribution during weld solidification falls
somewhere in between, but often is better described by non-
equilibrium case due to rapid cooling rates in laser welds

11
 Paliney 7/Neyoro G STR Prediction
• Thermodynamic predictions of Pal7/NeyG STR reveals no concerning behavior across all dilutions levels
• All solidification occurs via primary austenite: e.g., L  L + γ  γ
• Equilibrium STR for all dilution levels is ~100ºC, which is within range for weldable engineering alloys
• Neyoro G solidus temperatures are in agreement with published Deringer-Ney technical data; calculated
Paliney 7 solidus deviates ~100ºC from reported value
• Prediction suggests Scheil (worst case scenario) STR increases considerably for Paliney 7-rich weld
dilutions; however, simulation artifacts are apparent near the end of solidification

STREquil.

STRScheil

 SNOB3 Database
 No interstitial back diffusion considered 100% Paliney 7 100% Neyoro G

12
 Some Artifacts are Revealed When Examining
Microsegregation Behavior during Solidification
• 100% Paliney 7 • 100% Neyoro G
• Scheil microsegregation profile during cooling shows
• Scheil microsegregation profile during cooling is not realistic partitioning behavior
realistic and is an artifact of the calculation
THERMO-CALC (2015.01.22:09.00) :FCC Composition vs. T - Paliney 7 THERMO-CALC (2015.01.22:08.46) :FCC Composition - Neyoro G
DATABASE:SNOB3 DATABASE:SNOB3
W(AG)=0.3, W(CU)=0.14, W(AU)=0.1, W(PT)=0.1, W(ZN)=1E-2, P=1E5, N=1; W(CU)=0.14, W(PT)=8E-2, W(AG)=5E-2, P=1E5, N=1;
0.7 1:T-273.15,W(FCC_A1,AG)
0.8 1:T-273.15,W(FCC_A1,AG)
2:T-273.15,W(FCC_A1,AU) 2:T-273.15,W(FCC_A1,AU)
1 3:T-273.15,W(FCC_A1,CU) 3:T-273.15,W(FCC_A1,CU)
0.6 4:T-273.15,W(FCC_A1,PD) 0.7 2 (Au) 4:T-273.15,W(FCC_A1,PT)
5:T-273.15,W(FCC_A1,PT)
6:T-273.15,W(FCC_A1,ZN)
33
0.6
0.5
0.5

output by user jmrodel on 2015.01.22:**.00

output by user jmrodel on 2015.01.22:**.46

0.4
W (F C C ,* )

W (F C C ,* )
4 2
41 0.4 4
0.3
5 unrealistic 0.3
2
2 elemental
0.2 partitioning
11 3 0.2 3
4 342 32 1 behavior 43
4
0.1 0.1
5 2
1
6565 65 6 6 1
0 0
700 800 900 1000 1100 1200 1300 900 930 960 990 1020 1050 1080
TEMPERATURE_CELSIUS TEMPERATURE_CELSIUS
Scheil Tsolidus – end of solidification T
liquidus – start of solidification Scheil Tsolidus – end of solidification Tliquidus – start of solidification

13
 Initial Trials: Pulsed Nd-YAG Laser Spot Fillet Welds
 Single set of weld parameters utilized to produced pulsed  No deleterious cracking observed for initial fillet welds
Nd:YAG spot welds
 1.6 J/pulse; 2.0 ms pulse duration,; weld at sharp focus; square
waveform

Fillet weld: Melt

Paliney-7 pin onto
the Ney-G sheet

Pal-7 pin

Ney-G sheet

Transverse light optical weld micrograph Longitudinal light optical weld micrograph 14
SEM Examination of Dissimilar Welds
Unmixed Neyoro
G ‘swirls’
observed in weld
metal

Gold-rich liquid films

decorate subgrain
boundaries adjacent
to NeyG-rich regions

15
SEM Examination of Dissimilar Welds

• High-magnification examination reveals some shrinkage porosity and/or

incipient solidification cracking
– Observed discontinuities, however, were small (< 10 µm)

• Primary austenite, single-phase solidification, consistent with

thermodynamic predictions. No evidence of terminal eutectic phase, etc.
• Incomplete alloy mixing within the weld metal. No concerning levels of
cracking. No concerning behavior was observed in near-fusion boundary
weld HAZ
16
Piercing Lap Laser Welds
 Weld through the Ney-G sheet and into the
Pal7 pin
 Initial trials produced unacceptable levels of
porosity. Spherical (gas) porosity.
 Possibly due to volatilization of Zn?, gas
entrainment?

17
Piercing Lap Laser Welds: Initial Trials
 Transverse view: Although good mixing is observed, the welds display
Ag Au
unacceptable levels of porosity (and some cracking)
 Both large keyhole
porosity and spherical
gas porosity
 Manual welds
(LaserStar system)
Cu Pd

Pt Zn

18
Piercing Lap Laser Welds: Lower Energy Input
(conduction mode)

Lower energy input produces welds with low

porosity. More like laser braze, however.
Primarily melting the NeyG side of the joint.
INTIMATE CONTACT DURING FIT-UP IS
ESSENTIAL

1.87 J/pulse (square wave)

19
 Longitudinal View

Low porosity. Evidence of mixing

at/near the interface, metallurgical
bonding

2.0 J/pulse (square wave)

Nomarski Differential Interference Contrast (DIC) imaging

20
Longitudinal View

2.13 J/pulse

Slightly more mixing at the interface,

slightly more porosity
NeyG NeyG NeyG

Ag Au Cu
Pal7 Pal7 Pal7

NeyG NeyG NeyG

Pal7 Pd Pal7
Pt Zn
Pal7
21
SEM: Evidence of Au-rich alloy
penetration from the NeyG side into the
Pal7 alloy.

However, welds of this type could be very

sensitive to laser parameters, fixturing
etc. in a production environment. Also,
the welds are difficult/impossible to
inspect.

22
Microhardness Mapping: Laser Welds

1.87 J/pulse laser weld, Longitudinal view 50 m

23
 1.87 J/pulse

2.0 J/pulse

2.13 J/pulse

24
 Microhardness map: As-welded
Effect of Post-Weld
Heat Treatment (PWHT)

• Direct aging
treatment after
welding
2.0 J/pulse fillet weld
• NeyG responds with
significant hardness
Microhardness map: PWHT 371˚C, 30 min.
increase. Hardness
within the weld also
increases.
• Paliney-7 base metal
not affected
significantly.
2.0 J/pulse fillet weld

25
Summary
 Dissimilar welds between Paliney-7 and Neyoro-G can be produced by both
resistance welding and laser welding.
 For flat-to-round resistance welds, melting of the NeyG sheet was observed
with little/no melting of Pal7 pin. Joints have low porosity.
 For laser welds, both fillet welds and piercing lap welds were successful.
For fillet welds, incomplete mixing is observed. Very small cracks observed
only in regions of highest tensile stress (long fillet bridges).
 For piercing lap welds, high pulse energy produces good mixing but very
high porosity, possibly due to Zn vaporization, and some cracking. Lower
pulse energy (conduction mode) produces primarily melting of NeyG sheet,
low porosity, low mixing but evidence of good metallurgical bonding.
 Microhardness mapping shows smooth transition in properties across the
weld interface and uniform (low) hardness within the welds. A steeper
hardness gradient is observed in the HAZ of the NeyG (cold worked and
heat treated) sheet. NeyG responds to PWHT with significant hardness
increase.

26
Acknowledgements

Peter Duran, Danny MacCallum, Alex Barr: resistance and laser welding
Mark Reece: fixture development
Alice Kilgo: metallography
Bonnie McKenzie and Amy Allen: SEM

27
 Extra slides

28
SEM Examination of Dissimilar Welds

• Equiaxed/Equiaxed-dendritic solidification structure throughout weld metal

• Backscatter Z-contrast and predicted microsegregation behavior

qualitatively agree

29