Role of arc mode in laser-metal active gas arc hybrid welding of mild steel

Arc mode plays an important role in joint characterizations of arc welding, but it has been seldom considered in laser-arc hybrid welding. This paper investigated the role of arc mode on laser-metal active gas (MAG) arc hybrid welding of mild steel. Three arc modes were employed, which were cold metal transfer (CMT), pulsed spray arc and standard short circuiting arc. Microtexture of the joints were observed and measured via electron back scattering diffraction (EBSD) system to reveal the effect of arc mode on microstructure. Mechanical properties of the joints were evaluated by tensile and Charpy V-notch impact tests. It was found that both the stability and mechanical properties of laser-CMT hybrid welding (LCHW) is the best, while those of laser-standard short circuiting arc welding (LSHW) is the worst. OM and EBSD results showed that the fraction of acicular ferrite and high-angle grain boundaries in fusion zone decreases gradually in the sequence of LCHW, laser-pulsed spray arc welding and LSHW, while the mean grain size increases gradually. Finally, the microstructure formation mechanisms and the relationship between microstructure and mechanical properties were summarized by the loss of alloying element and the stirring effect in molten pool.     

Hybridization of filler wire in multi-pass gas metal arc welding of SA516 Gr70 carbon steel

In the present investigation, multi-pass gas metal arc welding (GMAW) of SA516 Gr70 carbon steel was carried out by different filler wires such as solid, metal cored and flux cored, wherein, other process parameters were kept constant. The hybrid approach of multi-pass filler wires was applied to obtain three different welds. The root pass was filled by a solid wire for all three cases while the subsequent filler pass was applied through solid, flux-cored and metal cored filler wires, respectively. Metallographic, mechanical and metallurgical analyses such as macrograph study, optical microscopy, tensile testing and hardness variations were performed to address the quality of weld. The results revealed that defect-free sound welds were produced by the hybrid approach of different filler wires in multi-pass GMAW. Overall cost and time reduction can be achieved through hybrid filler welds, without affecting their mechanical strength. Angular distortion was reported minimum at hybrid weld of solid and metal cored filler wire. Maximum reinforcement with higher penetration was observed at weld of solid and metal cored filler wire. Impact toughness was reported higher in case of hybrid weld of solid and flux cored filler wire. Higher macro hardness was reported at weld of solid and flux cored filler wire.     

Investigation on gas metal arc weldability of a high strength tool steel

In this paper, gas metal arc weldability results of a particular advanced tool steel are presented. Indeed, the study was focused on the weld profile, microhardness and microstructure of the joints. The aim was to identify an appropriate filler material and optimize the process parameter.The validation of results started with a careful metallographic analysis of the joints, in order to verify that the metallurgical properties of the material were not compromised by the welding process. In the following step, all the non-destructive and mechanical tests, imposed by procedure qualification, were performed in order to have a complete characterization of the joints. For all the wires used, hardness tests highlighted that the use of low heat input and a high number of beads causes an increase in the Heat Affected Zone (HAZ) hardness up to values equal to or exceeding the limits imposed by the European standard on the process qualification. To avoid this problem, it was therefore necessary to adopt high electric parameters and thus high heat inputs. The filler material that gave the best results, in terms of uniformity of mechanical properties, is the rutile flux wire.     

Role of pulsed current on metallurgical and mechanical properties of dissimilar metal gas tungsten arc welding of maraging steel to low alloy steel

This research work encompasses the investigations carried out on the mechanical and metallurgical properties of maraging steel and AISI 4340 aeronautical steel weldments. The materials were joined by continuous current gas tungsten arc welding (CCGTA) and pulse current (PCGTA) gas tungsten arc welding processes using ErNiCrMo-3 filler wire. Cross sectional macrostructures confirmed proper deposition of the fillers and lack of discontinuities. Optical microscopy studies revealed that at the maraging steel–weld interface, martensite in distorted and block forms prevailed in CCGTA and PCGTA weldments whereas tempered martensite was predominant at the low alloy–weld interfaces of both the welds. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) with energy dispersive analysis of X-rays (EDAX) analysis apparently showed less elemental migration in PCGTA weldments as compared to the other. Results of X-ray diffraction analysis recorded possible phase formations in various zones of the weldments. Microhardness profiles in either weld zones followed a constant trend whereas it showed a downtrend in the heat affected zones (HAZ) of the maraging steel and very high hardness profiles were observed in the low alloy steel side. Tensile studies on various factors and impact testing showed that PCGTA weldments outperformed the continuous ones in terms of strength, ductility and toughness. Fractograph analysis depicted the nature of failures of tensile and impact tested specimens. Comparison analyses involving influence and nature of pulsed current welds over continuous ones were done to determine the possibility of implementing these joining processes in aerospace applications. Weldments fabricated using PCGTA technique proved to be superior to the other, resulting in exceptional mechanical properties.     

Vision-based weld seam tracking in gas metal arc welding

A low-cost visual sensing system is developed to realize weld seam tracking in gas metal arc welding (GMAW). The system consists of a commercial CCD camera, narrow-band composite filter lens, an image capturing card, an industrial computer, a welding control unit, a GMAW power source, and a worktable. Images of root gap and its vicinity are captured in the GMAW welding process by the system. The captured images are processed by an algorithm on the basis of the analysis of gray characteristics of the root gap to get the offsetting information between torch and root gap centerline. The offsetting information is then used to realize weld seam tracking in the GMAW process. Welding seam tracking experiment is conducted by a simple proportional (P) controller. The results show that tracking error is basically less than ± 0.5 mm.     

Numerical investigation of droplet impact on the welding pool in gas metal arc welding

A transient three‐dimensional model that describes physical phenomena inside a welding pool during gas–metal arc welding process is presented. The model considers such phenomena as heat‐mass transfer, electromagnetics, hydrodynamic processes and deformation of the weld pool free surface. The fluid flow in the weld pool is induced due to the presence of the mechanical impact of the droplets, thermo‐capillary surface tension, thermal buoyancy and electromagnetic forces. The weld pool surface deformation is calculated by considering arc pressure and droplet impact force. A comparative analysis of the impact of the electric current of the welding arc and different force factors causing the motion of liquid metal in the weld pool on the shape of the welded seam was carried out and discussed.     

Electrode melting and plate melting efficiencies of submerged arc welding and gas metal arc welding

Abstract

The effect of process variables such as current, voltage, electrode extension, electrode diameter, etc., on the electrode melting and plate melting efficiencies of submerged arc welding (SAW) and gas metal arc welding (GMAW) has been studied. It has been shown that there is an increase in the electrode extension or a decrease in the voltage and electrode diameter. For the same welding parameters, the electrode melting efficiency is higher when the electrode is negative. A similar relationship was observed for GMAW. The results also indicated that the shielding gas in GMAW also had an effect on the electrode melting efficiency. The plate melting efficiency of GMAW increases with an increase in the welding current, voltage, and electrode diameter, and decreases with an increase in the electrode extension. For the same welding parameters, the plate melting efficiency is lower when the electrode is negative. For SAW there is an increase in the plate melting efficiency with an increase in the welding current and voltage. It was also observed that the plate melting efficiency was lower for the negative electrode. Although there was an indication of a decrease in the plate melting compared with similar effects in GMAHI: this decrease in plate melting efficiency did not seem significant. An attempt attempt has also been made to develop numerical models to predict the electrode and plate melting efficiencies from the process variables.

MST/1096     

Numerical investigations of arc behaviour in gas metal arc welding using ANSYS CFX

Current numerical models of gas metal arc welding (GMAW) are trying to combine magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) models of the arc and volume of fluid (VoF) models of metal transfer. They neglect vaporization and assume an argon atmosphere for the arc region, as it is common practice for models of gas tungsten arc welding. These models predict temperatures above 20 000 K and a temperature distribution similar to tungsten inert gas (TIG) arcs. However, current spectroscopic temperature measurements in GMAW arcs demonstrate much lower arc temperatures. In contrast to TIG arcs they found a central local minimum of the radial temperature distribution. The paper presents a GMAW arc model that considers metal vapour and which is in a very good agreement with experimentally observed temperatures. Furthermore, the model is able to predict the local central minimum in the radial temperature and the radial electric current density distributions for the first time. The axially symmetric model of the welding torch, the work piece, the wire and the arc (fluid domain) implements MHD as well as turbulent mixing and thermal demixing of metal vapour in argon. The mass fraction of iron vapour obtained from the simulation shows an accumulation in the arc core and another accumulation on the fringes of the arc at 2000 to 5000 K. The demixing effects lead to very low concentrations of iron between these two regions. Sensitive analyses demonstrate the influence of the transport and radiation properties of metal vapour, and the evaporation rate relative to the wire feed. Finally the model predictions are compared with the measuring results of Zielińska et al.     

Numerical simulation of humping phenomenon in high speed gas metal arc welding

It is of great significance to obtain a thorough understanding of the physical mechanisms responsible for humping bead phenomenon in high speed gas metal arc welding (GMAW) in order to raise welding efficiency. Experiments were conducted to observe the weld pool behaviors in high speed GMAW, and it was found that both the severely deformed weld pool surface and strong backward flowing play a dominant role in humping bead formation. In this study, a mathematical model is developed to quantitatively analyze the forming mechanism of humping beads for high speed GMAW through considering both the momentum and heat content distribution of the backward flowing molten metal inside the weld pool. The transient development of temperature profiles in the weld pool with severe deformation demonstrates the humping bead forming process under some welding conditions. The predicted and measured humping bead dimensions are in agreement.     

Numerical analysis of weld pool geometry in globular-transfer gas metal arc welding

The weld pool geometry and its dimension in the globular-transfer mode during gas metal arc welding (GMAW) were numerically analyzed by using the thermal conduction model, which considered the influence of the deformation of weld pool surface on heat flow in the quasi-steady state. According to the features of the globular-transfer mode, the additional heat energy from molten metal droplets was treated as a plane or volumetric heat source term to correspond to different welding conditions. The weld pool surface profile was predicted while considering the effect of droplet impingement on the depression of the weld pool. The bead-on-plate GMAW experiments were performed under different welding conditions to validate the model of numerical analysis. It has been found that the predicted results agree well with the measured ones.     

Numerical calculation of residual stress development of multi-pass gas metal arc welding under high restraint conditions

During welding, residual stresses build-up created by the steep thermal gradient that occurs in the weld zone from localized heating and cooling, and phase transformations appearing in low-alloyed structural steel is inevitable. Welding of rather simple test plates do not cover the actual structural effects, which have to be considered during real component welding. However, the resulting welding-induced residual stress state is highly influenced by the structural characteristics, i.e. restraint conditions, of the welded construction. Therefore, a unique large-scale testing facility providing a specific shrinkage restraint while welding and subsequent cooling was used for the present investigations. Hereby, a six bead multi-pass gas metal arc weld of 20 mm thick structural steel S355J2 + N was welded under shrinkage restraint. The residual stresses were experimentally and numerically investigated, and compared to an analysis of plates welded under force-free support and free shrinkage conditions.The experimentally determined and calculated residual stresses using both 2D and 3D numerical models are in a good agreement. Furthermore, the influence of a shrinkage restraint on the residual stress distribution is both experimentally and numerically shown for the present test set-up.     

Keyhole gas tungsten arc welding of AISI 316L stainless steel

Keyhole gas tungsten arc welding (K-TIG) was used to weld AISI 316L stainless steel of mid-thickness (thickness ranging 6–13 mm). 316L plates of 10-mm thickness were jointed using an I-groove in a single pass without filler metal. The effects of welding parameters on the fusion zone profile were investigated. The weld properties, including mechanical properties, microstructure, and corrosion resistance, were analyzed. The primary weld microstructures were austenite and δ-ferrite. The tensile strength and impact property of the weld were almost the same as those of the base metal, while the corrosion resistance of the weld was even better than that of the base metal. High-quality 316L stainless steel joints can be realized through K-TIG welding with high productivity and low processing cost. The practical application of K-TIG welding to join mid-thickness workpieces in industry is well demonstrated and an ideal process for welding AISI 316L of mid-thickness with high efficiency and low cost is presented.     

Effects of activating flux on the welded joint characteristics in gas metal arc welding

This paper presents the effect of each welding parameter on the weld bead geometry, and then sets out to determine the optimal process parameters using the Taguchi method to determine the parameters. Three kinds of oxides, Fe₂O₃, SiO₂, and MgCO₃, were used to investigate the effect of activating flux aided gas metal arc welding (GMAW) on weld bead geometry, angular distortion and mechanical properties in AISI 1020 carbon steel. During welding, a charge coupled device (CCD) camera system was used to observe and record images of the welding arc and analyze the relationship between penetration increase and arc profile. The experimental results showed that activating flux aided GMAW increased the weld area and penetration and tended to reduce the angular distortion of the weldment. The MgCO₃ flux produced the most noticeable effect. Furthermore, the welded joint presented better tensile strength and hardness.     

Spatter and blowhole formation phenomena in pulsed gas shielded metal arc welding

Abstract

This paper investigates systematically the effect of pulse conditions, type of shielding gas, and wire composition on blowhole and spatter formation and on wire melting rate to obtain guidelines for selection of welding conditions. It was found that spatter formation can be reduced significantly by using a shielding gas of composition Ar + 2·4%O₂ +20% CO₂ for pulsed gas shielded metal arc (MAG) welding. It was also found that it is possible to reduce blowhole formation using pulsed MAG welding. However, blowhole formation is affected greatly by variations of pulse condition and by shielding gas composition.

MST/1423     

Microstructure characterization and properties of carbon steel to stainless steel dissimilar metal joint made by friction welding

Dissimilar metals of 1045 carbon steel and 304 stainless steel are joined successfully by friction welding. The microstructure variation and mechanical properties are studied in detail. The weld interface can be clearly identified in central zone, while the two metals interlock with each other by the mechanical mixing in peripheral zone. On carbon steel side, a thin proeutectoid ferrite layer forms along weld interface. On stainless steel side, austenite grains are refined to submicron scale. The δ-ferrite existing in stainless steel decreases from base metal to weld interface and disappears near the weld interface. Severe plastic deformation plays a predominant role in rapid dissolution of δ-ferrite compared with the high temperature. Carbide layer consisting of CrC and Cr₂₃C₆ forms at weld interface because of element diffusion. Metastable phase CrC is retained at room temperature due to the highly non-equilibrium process and high cooling rate in friction welding. The fracture appearance shows dimple fracture mode in central zone and quasi-cleavage fracture mode in peripheral zone. Further analysis indicates that welding parameters govern tensile properties of the joint through influencing the thickness of carbide layer at weld interface and heterogeneous microstructure in thermo-mechanically affected zone on carbon steel side.     

Carbide precipitates and mechanical properties of medium Mn steel joint with metal inert gas welding

Medium Mn steel was metal inert gas(MIG)welded with NiCrMo-3 and 307Si filler wires.The effect of filler wires on the microstructure and mechanical properties of joint was investigated,and the carbide precipitates were contrastively discussed.The results revealed that the microstructure of weld metal,heat-affected zone and base metal are austenite.Obvious grain coarsening occurred in the heat-affected zone(HAZ),and the maximum grain size grew up to 160 pm.In HAZ,C and Cr segregated at grain boundaries,the carbides was identified as Cr7C3.The dispersive(Nb,Mo)C phase was also found in weld metal with NiCrMo-3 filler wire.All the welded joints failed in HAZ during tensile tests.The tensile strength of welded joint with NiCrMo-3 filler wire was 675 MPa,which is much higher than that with 307Si filler wire.In comparison to base metal,higher microhardness and lower impact toughness were obtained in HAZ for these two welded joints,which was attributed to the precipitation of Cr7C3 phase and grain coarsening.The impact toughness around the fusion line is the worst for these two welded joints.     

Determining the critical transition current for metal transfer in gas metal arc welding (GMAW)

It is of great significance to determine the critical transition current from globular transfer to spray transfer in gas metal arc welding (GMAW) because metal transfer modes affect the weld quality and welding productivity. In this study, a simple model is developed to calculate the critical transition current based on the analysis of various forces exerted on a pendent droplet at the electrode tip. It is found that the force exerted by the incoming molten metal from the wire on the drop, i.e., the term 相似文献   

Determining the critical transition current for metal transfer in gas metal arc welding (GMAW)

It is of great significance to determine the critical transition current from globular transfer to spray transfer in gas metal arc welding (GMAW) because metal transfer modes affect the weld quality and welding productivity. In this study, a simple model is developed to calculate the critical transition current based on the analysis of various forces exerted on a pendent droplet at the electrode tip. It is found that the force exerted by the incoming molten metal from the wire on the drop, i.e., the term ṁ _c v _c, plays an important role in determining the critical transition current. For mild steel wires and argon shielding gas, the critical transition current is predicted with different levels of wire diameter and extensions. The calculated results match the experimental ones.     

Study on welding process and prosperities of AA5754 Al-alloy welded by double pulsed gas metal arc welding

In this paper, the effect of double pulsed gas metal arc welding (DP-GMAW) on metal droplet transfer, weld pool profile, weld bead geometry and weld joint mechanical properties of Al alloy AA5754 are presented. A high speed camera was utilized to reveal the metal transfer behavior and weld pool profile. A self-developed electrical signal acquire system was adopted to record the current waveform during welding process. The results indicated that the metal transfer, weld pool profile and weld bead geometry in DP-GMAW significantly differ with P-GMAW. The microstructure showed that grain size of the weld bead decreased with increasing of thermal pulse frequency, and the eutectic precipitates Mg₂Si were homogeneously distributed at fusion zone. The mechanical properties of welded joints were improved.     

Stellite 21 coatings on AISI 410 martensitic stainless steel by gas tungsten arc welding

Abstract

Degradation of AISI 410 martensitic stainless steel, a typical alloy for many applications such as steam turbine blade, could impair its efficiency and lifetime. To overcome this problem, critical surfaces could be modified by weld cladding via gas tungsten arc welding technique. In the present research, a comparative study of Stellite 21 weld overlays deposited in three different thicknesses, i.e. dilutions, at various preheat and post-weld heat treatment temperatures on the surface of AISI 410 martensitic stainless steel, has been made. The surface of coatings has been examined to reveal their microstructures, phase characterisation and mechanical properties using XRD, microhardness tester and metallographic techniques. The results showed that the deposition of Stellite 21 coating on AISI 410 martensitic stainless steel improved its corrosion resistance. Moreover, the volumetric dilution had a considerable effect on the hardness, microstructure and electrochemical corrosion behaviour of Stellite 21 weld overlays.