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Article history:
Received 20 October 2010
Accepted 7 February 2011
Available online 3 March 2011
a b s t r a c t
Inuence of heat input on the microstructure and mechanical properties of gas tungsten arc welded 304
stainless steel (SS) joints was studied. Three heat input combinations designated as low heat (2.563 kJ/
mm), medium heat (2.784 kJ/mm) and high heat (3.017 kJ/mm) were selected from the operating window of the gas tungsten arc welding process (GTAW) and weld joints made using these combinations
were subjected to microstructural evaluations and tensile testing so as to analyze the effect of thermal
arc energy on the microstructure and mechanical properties of these joints. The results of this investigation indicate that the joints made using low heat input exhibited higher ultimate tensile strength (UTS)
than those welded with medium and high heat input. Signicant grain coarsening was observed in the
heat affected zone (HAZ) of all the joints and it was found that the extent of grain coarsening in the heat
affected zone increased with increase in the heat input. For the joints investigated in this study it was also
found that average dendrite length and inter-dendritic spacing in the weld zone increases with increase
in the heat input which is the main reason for the observable changes in the tensile properties of the weld
joints welded with different arc energy inputs.
2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
1. Introduction
Austenitic stainless steels have been used widely by the fabrication industry owing to their excellent high temperature and corrosion resistance properties. Some of the typical applications of these
steel include their use as nuclear structural material for reactor
coolant piping, valve bodies, vessel internals, chemical and process
industries, dairy industries, petrochemical industries etc. Out of
300 series grade of these steels type 304 SS is extensively used in
industries due to its superior low temperature toughness and corrosion resistance. One of the typical applications of type 304 SS include storing and transportation of liqueed natural gas (LNG),
whose boiling point is 162 C under 1 atmosphere.
A study on fatigue crack growth rate for type 304 SS over a temperature range from room to 162 C has shown that base metal
possesses superior resistance to crack growth relative to weld metals over the entire temperature range [1]. Another typical application of this material includes its use as bellows used as conduit for
liquid fuel and oxidizer in propellant tank of satellite launch vehicle [2].
Chen et al. [3] found that when CuSi enriched type 304 SS
(containing 22.5 wt.% copper and 11.5 wt.% silicon) and a conventional type 304 SS was welded using gas metal arc welding
(GMAW), process ductility decreased and ferrite levels increased
Corresponding author. Tel.: +91 1672 253272; fax: +91 1672 280057.
E-mail address: ashahisliet@yahoo.co.in (A.S. Shahi).
0261-3069/$ - see front matter 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.matdes.2011.02.017
3618
understanding about the metallurgical aspects that affect the service performance of these welded joints made using different heat
input combinations.
2. Experimental details
2.1. Base and ller material combination
The base material used in the present investigation was in the
form of AISI 304 SS plates of sizes 200 mm 100 mm 6 mm
which were cut from a rolled sheet and the ller was 308 SS solid
electrode of 3.15 mm diameter. Table 1 shows the chemical composition of the base and the ller used.
2.2. Welding procedure
In the present work double V-groove design was used so that
welding could be accomplished in two numbers of passes ensuring
full penetration. Before welding all the edges were thoroughly
cleaned mechanically and chemically in order to avoid any source
of contamination like rust, scale, dust, oil, moisture etc. that could
creep into the weld metal and later on, could result possibly into a
weld defect. After tacking the plates together the rst weld pass
was given using GTAW process with welding conditions as mentioned in Table 2 and prior to giving of second pass an interpass
temperature of around 150 C was maintained. No preheat or post
heat treatment was given to the specimens. Although GTAW process was used in the manual mode, still utmost care was taken during recording of the arc on time so as to facilitate calculations of
welding speed for heat input calculations. It is worth mentioning
here that the best welding practice available in the fabrication
industry was used in the present work.
It is a well established fact that among all the welding variables
in arc welding processes welding current is the most inuential
variable since it affects the current density and thus the melting
rate of the ller as well as the base material. So in accordance with
this fundamental fact three different heat input combinations corresponding to different welding currents i.e. 120 A (low heat input), 150 A (medium heat input) and 180 A (high heat input)
combinations were selected for the present study. The reason for
using these specic welding current values was twofold rstly, this
spectrum of heat input combinations results in arc energies which
are sufcient to cause adequate fusion of the base and weld metal
selected for the present study and secondly, a step increase of 30A
was anticipated to be sufcient enough to cause a direct and significant inuence on the microstructure and tensile properties of the
Table 1
Chemical composition (wt.%) of the base metal and ller used.
Alloy element
Si
Mn
Cr
Ni
Fe
0.06
0.08
0.42
1.0
1.89
1.59
0.032
0.045
0.014
0.03
18.67
18.15
8.53
10.02
Balance
Balance
Table 2
Process parameters used for fabricating butt welded joints.
Specimen no.
Pass
Current (A)
Voltage (V)
Average welding
speed (mm/s)
A (low heat)
First
Second
First
Second
First
Second
120
120
150
150
180
180
30
30
35
35
40
40
2.252
2.243
3.030
3.003
3.846
3.787
1.280
1.283
1.386
1.398
1.497
1.520
2.563
B (medium heat)
C (high heat)
2.784
3.017
3619
Fig. 1. Photograph showing the base plates in the as welded condition at different
heat inputs.
welded joints. During and after welding the joints were visually inspected for their quality and it was ensured that all weld beads
possessed good geometrical consistency and were free from visible
defects like surface porosity, blow holes etc. Fig. 1 shows the plates
in the as welded condition using different heat inputs. Other details related to the process and procedures used in the present
work include:Type and size of the non-consumable for the joints investigated
in this study tungsten electrode = EW-Th-2 (Thoriated tungsten) of
3 mm diameter, Shielding gas ow rate of industrially pure Argon = 15 L/min, Electrode to work angle = 45, Polarity = DC electrode positive.
2.3. Specimen sampling
Fig. 2. Schematic illustration of the specimen sampling from the weld pads.
3620
Fig. 4. Stereozoom images showing the cross sections of the weld joints at different heat inputs (a) low heat (b) medium heat (c) high heat (10).
Table 3
Macro and microstructural details of the weld joints.
Heat input
Low
Medium
High
Base metal
Tensile properties
Microstructural details
Ultimate
tensile
strength (MPa)
Percentage
elongation
(%)
HAZ area
(mm2)
Dendrite length in
the weld zone (lm)
Interdendrite
spacing (lm)
657.32
639.45
622.8
610.8
24.28
22.85
21.42
38.57
36.74
38.86
43.02
21.68
23.57
26.29
12.83
14.79
16.24
111.10
151.75
201.14
10.29
15.42
22.87
tively, that fusion zone and HAZ area increase with increase in heat
input.
Optical micrographs showing the microstructures of weld zone,
fusion boundary and HAZ for different heat input combinations are
presented from Figs. 57. The measured values of dendrite lengths
and inter-dendritic spacings for these joints are mentioned in Table
Location of
fracture
Joint
efciency (%)
Base metal
Base metal
Base metal
107.61
104.69
101.96
FB
HAZ
Fig. 5. Optical micrograph showing the microstructure of (a) weld metal (b) fusion boundary and HAZ (low heat, at 100).
FB
HAZ
Fig. 6. Optical micrograph showing the microstructure of (a) weld metal (b) fusion boundary and HAZ (medium heat, at 100).
3621
HAZ
FB
Fig. 7. Optical micrograph showing the microstructure of (a) weld metal (b) fusion boundary and HAZ (high heat, at 100).
Low heat
Medium heat
High heat
280
270
3.2. Microhardness
Low heat
Medium heat
High heat
250
240
230
220
210
200
190
180
170
160
-4
-3
-2
-1
260
250
240
230
220
210
200
190
180
170
160
150
-10
-8
-6
-4
-2
10
3622
Fig. 10. Photograph of the tensile tested specimens showing the location of fracture in the base metal (a) low heat (b) medium heat (c) high heat input.
Fig. 11. SEM fractograph of the tensile specimen welded at low heat input (a) at 1000 (b) at 2000.
Fig. 12. SEM fractograph of the tensile specimen welded at medium heat input (a) at 1000 (b) at 2000.
3623
Fig. 13. SEM fractograph of the tensile specimen welded at high heat input (a) at 1000 (b) at 2000.
ples are observed. It is also observed that small dimples are surrounded by the large ones in all the specimens and a small quantity
of tearing ridge is also present. A similar fractograph observation
has been reported for 3 mm thick TIG welded 304 SS where relatively minor size dimples surround coarse dimples besides the
presence of small quantity of tearing ridge [4].
4. Conclusions
The following conclusions can be drawn from the present
work: Good joint strength is exhibited by all the joints which show
that for welding 6 mm thick AISI 304 SS the operating envelope
of GTAW process offers a wide range of parameters to the
fabricator.
As the dendrite size in the fusion zone is smaller in low heat
input joints than the dendrites in medium and high heat input
joints, it is found that maximum tensile strength and ductility is
possessed by the weld joints made using low heat input.
As heat input increases, the fusion zone and HAZ area also
increase. Signicant grain coarsening is found in the HAZs of
all the joints. It is also observed that the extent of grain coarsening increases with increasing heat input.
Near to the fusion boundary the size of the grains in the HAZ of
the joints is found to be relatively coarser at high heat input and
ner at low heat input.
Based upon the present study it is recommended that low heat
input should be preferred when welding AISI 304SS using GTAW
process because of the reason that besides giving good tensile
strength and ductility, the size of the HAZ and the extent of grain
coarsening obtained in these weld joints is less.
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