Patent ID: 6884964

Claim:
A weld repair method comprising the steps of: determining the development of a weld melt pool over time in a surface of a body formed of a metal alloy so as to correlate melt pool width, depth and shape with time for a set of welding parameters; removing a defect in a surface of a component formed of a metal alloy that may be the same or different than the metal alloy of the body, wherein removal of the defect creates a cavity in the surface having a width, depth and shape substantially the same as a melt pool width, depth and shape correlated with a time period during the determining step; placing a filler insert in the cavity having approximately the same width, depth and shape as the cavity so that an outer surface of the filler insert is juxtaposed to a surface of the cavity: and then heating the filler insert using the set of welding parameters and for the time period correlated during the determining step to melt the filler insert and form a metallurgically-bonded weld repair that fills the cavity.