Nowadays tube to tube-sheet joints are usually welded by TIG orbital welding process. This process is characterized by very high quality of the weld beads and good repeatability. These aspects are very important for the manufacturing of steam generators used in PWR nuclear power plants, where thousands of welds are required in each component. Due to this high number of welds, a reduction in the time needed for each welding operation would have an interesting impact on manufacturing costs and delays. The aim of this work is to study the application of laser welding in tube to tube-sheet joints. The main advantage of laser welding is to allow higher welding speed and lower heat input than arc processes. Furthermore, by using laser welding, it would be possible to make online process control in order to detect weld defects.
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