Analysis of thermal cycles in resistance flash welding of steels

A comparative study of the clad electrode and tubular wire processes was carried out, looking at the mechanical and micro-structural properties of weld metals of high-resistance steel, in the ‘as-welded’ and ‘stress-relief heat treatment’ (PWHT) conditions. The results show that the procedures adopted for welding with tubular wire and clad electrodes allow satisfactory levels of mechanical resistance to be obtained, with the exception of the value of percentage lengthening of the tubular wire, in the as-welded condition. The impact tests show that both the weld metals showed satisfactory impact resistance, in both the as-welded and PWHT conditions, observing that, for the tubular wire, the impact resistance is lower for the clad electrode in both conditions, lying close to the limit applied for the acceptance criterion of 50 J at 0°C in the PWHT condition. It was confirmed that the productivity achieved by the tubular wire process was approximately twice as high as that for the clad electrode process. As a result, the inherent advantage of the tubular wire process must be complemented with a consideration of all the mechanical properties obtained, orienting suitable selection of the welding process, in particular, for application in equipment that operates in fatigue conditions.