Evaluating Cryogenic Mechanical Properties

and Corrosion Behavior of Gas Tungsten

Constricted Arc Welded (GTCAW) AISI 304L
Austenitic Stainless Joints
Presented by
T VIJAY
(Reg. No: 1833140007)
ME-WELDING
ENGINERING

Under Guidance of
DR.K.SHANMUGAM
PROF. V. BALASUBRAMANIAN
Professor
Center for Materials Joining and Research (CEMAJOR)
Department of Manufacturing Engineering
Annamalai University
 INTRODUCTION
ASS 304 L
 Austenitic steels are characterized by a face-centered cubic
(FCC) grain structure, non-magnetic and non-heat-treatable.
 Austenitic stainless steels that contain high levels of chromium
and nickel and low levels of carbon.
 Good for low temperature application.
 Having a high toughness and ductility.
 Austenitic stainless steels do not rust and strongly resist to
affect by a great many liquids,gases,chemicals.
 APPLICATIONS
 The Cr2O3 in the steel is very stable against attack by a number
of chemicals and electrolytic corrosion actions.
 Comparing with other types of stainless steels, the austenitic
stainless steels are corrosion and oxidation resistant due to the
presence of chromium that forms a self protective film on the
surface of the steel.
 Due to its high resistance to corrosion rate, austenitic grade
stainless steel are widely used in cryogenic and automotive
applications.
 INTERPULSE TIG WELDING (IPTIG)

 The Inter Pulse TIG welding (IPTIG) process is an advanced

modification of conventional GTAW, using magnetic
constriction and high frequency (20,000Hz) modulation of the
arc waveform to produce a constricted arc and greatly reduce
the overall heat input during welding.
 Problem in Austenitic Stainless Steel

 Ferrite and sigma phase formation

 Carbide precipitation
 Stress corrosion cracking
 Knife edge attack
 LITERATURE REVIEW
S.No Author and Title Important findings
source
1 P. Chaumbai et TIG pulse welding  Appropriate TIG pulse welding
al Journal of of 304L austenitic parameters for 304L stainless steel in
Materials stainless steel in the Flat, vertical and overhead
Processing flat, vertical and positions with a nitrogen content of 0-
Technology overhead positions 3%.
89±90 (1999)
 A nitrogen content of 3-5% in the
argon shielding gas was enough to
control the d-ferrite contents in the
generally accepted range of 3-12% .
 To gain a higher welding rate by
increasing the welding speeds to more
than 3.4 mm/s simultaneously with
increasing pulse frequencies.
S.No Author and source Title Important findings

2 K.H. Tseng et al Effect of pulsed gas  During pulsed GTAW, higher

Journal of Science tungsten arc welding pulse frequency or smaller pulse
and Technology of on angular distortion spacing can enhance the energy
Welding and Joining in austenitic density of the welding heat
2001 Vol. 6 No. 3 stainless steel source, thereby reducing the
weldments angular distortion of austenitic
stainless steel weldments.
 Greater pulse amplitude ratio can
reduce the temperature difference
between the fusion zone and
unaffected base metal zone in the
weldment, and thus angular
distortion.
S.No Author and source Title Important findings

3 S.C. Juang et al Process parameter  The optimal weld pool geometry

Journal of Materials selection for has four smaller-the-better
Processing optimizing the weld quality characteristics, i.e. the
Technology 122 pool geometry front height, front width, back
(2002) 33–37 in the tungsten inert height and back width of the
gas welding of weld pool.
stainless steel  The modified Taguchi method is
adopted to solve the optimal
weld pool geometry with four
smaller-the better quality
characteristics.
 Experimental results have shown
that the front height, front width,
back height and back width of
the weld pool in the TIG welding
of stainless steel are greatly
improved by using this approach
S.NO Author and source Title Important findings

4 P.J Lee et al Pitting corrosion  The delta ferrite increased with

Materials and design behaviour on crack increasing Cr/Ni eq ration in the
3269-3273 property on deposited materials.
(2009) AISI304L weld  Tensile strength and yield
metals with varying strength were increased with
Cr/Ni increasing the Cr/Ni eq.
Equivalent ratio
S.NO Author and source Title Important findings

5 Subodh Kumar Effect of heat input  Good joint strength is exhibited

Journal of Materials on the by all the joints which show that
and Design 32 microstructure and for welding 6 mm thick AISI 304
(2011) 3617–3623 mechanical SS the operating envelope of
properties of gas GTAW process offers a wide
tungsten arc welded range of parameters to the
AISI 304 stainless fabricator.
steel joints  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.
S.NO Author and source Title Important findings

6 A.A Ugla et al Characterization of  Optimal aspect ratio can be

World academy of metallurgical and achieved through using HF-
science engineering mechanical PCTW process affect reducing
and technology properties of the the width of the weld area and
Vol;10 no;4(2016) welded AISI hence reducing HAZ.
304Lusing plused  The high tensile strength
current and non achieved in using the continuous
plused current TIG water cooling system.
welding.  The highest hardness reached to
308HV in weld zone achieved at
high frequency and continuous
water cooling system.
S.No Author and source Title Important findings

7 V.Vaithiyanathan, Identification of  Effect of GTCAW parameters

V.Balasubramanian, Optimized Gas on fusion zone characteristics
Journal Of Advanced Tungsten Arc Welding was analyzed. From the
Microscopy Research Parameters to attain results, it is found that the
(2018) Minimum Fusion delta current has greater
Zone Area in Ti-6Al- influence on the formation of
4V alloy sheets used fusion zone compared to other
in Aero Engine parameters.
Components.
S.No Author and source Title Important findings

8 V.Vaithiyanathan, High temperature  Ti-6Al-4V alloy is extensively

V.Balasubramanian, tensile properties and used in the low-pressure fan
Materials Research microstructural compressor blades in aero engine
Express, Volume characterization of gas due to corrosion resistance was
6, Number 9 (2019) tungsten constricted arc high and specific strength at
welded Ti–6Al–4V room temperature and reasonably
alloy. at elevated temperature.
 In case of autogeneous welding
of thin to moderate sections of
these alloys, high frequency Gas
Tungsten Constricted Arc
Welding (GTCAW) offers many
metallurgical advantages than the
conventional Gas Tungsten Arc
Welding (GTAW) process such
as fusion zone (FZ) grain
refinement, minimized width of
the heat affected zone (HAZ),
fewer distortion, and residual
stresses.
S.No Author and source Title Important findings

9 V.Vaithiyanathan, Gas tungsten  In GTCAW process, arc

V.Balasubramanian constricted arc welding constriction is possible so that
Multiscale and (GTCAW) parameters the resultant fusion zone is very
Multidisciplinary optimization to attain narrow.
Modeling, Experiments maximum tensile  GTCAW process produces the
and Design (2019) strength in Ti–6Al–4V joints with comparable
alloy sheets used in mechanical properties of electron
aero-engine beam welded (EBW) joints.
components.  However, the fusion zone (FZ)
and heat-affected zone (HAZ)
characteristics are influenced by
GTCAW parameters such as
main current, delta current and
delta frequency.
 OBJECTIVES

 Study the effect of cryogenic mechanical properties (tensile

(RT,0°C,-20°C,-40°C),impact(RT,0°C,-20°C,-40°C)and
hardness) of inter pulse TIG welded 304L austenitic stainless
steel joints.
 Analyse the effect of macrostructure and microstructure
features of inter pulse TIG welded 304L Austenitic Stainless
Steel joints.
 Study the corrosion behavior of inter pulse TIG welded 304L
Austenitic Stainless Steel joints.
WORK PLAN Base Metal (AISI 304L Austenitic
Stainless Steel)

Inter pulse TIG

Welding

Optimizing Process
Parameters

Cryogenic Corrosion Metallurgical

Mechanical Behavior Properties
properties

Tensile test Macrostructure,

(RT, 0 C,-20 C,-40 C) General Corrosion
Impact test Microstructure,
Pitting Corrosion
(RT, 0 C,-20 C,-40 C) SEM Analysis
Hardness test

Results & Discussion

Conclusions
 BASE METAL DETAILS

Chemical Composition (wt%):

Material C Mn P Si Cr Ni N S Fe

AISI 304L 0.03 2.11 0.045 0.75 18 8.6 0.10 0.03 Bal
BASE METAL MICROSTRUCTURE

ASS 304L
 CORROSION RESULTS

S.NO %pH I CORR CORROSION CORROSION

(ma/cm2) RATE RATE
(mm/year) (mils/year)

1 5 0.0214161 0.2482128 9.772

2 7 0.0142716 0.1654073 6.512

3 9 0.0173878 0.2015242 7.934

 pH 9
pH 5

pH7
pH 5 pH 7

pH 9
pH 5 pH 7

pH 9
Optimized welding parameters used to fabricate the
joints
Parameters Values

Tungsten electrode diameter (mm) 1.6

Voltage (volts) 9

Main Current (amps) 85

Delta Current (amps) 55

Delta Frequency (kHz) 20

Welding Speed (mm/min) 80

Shielding Gas Argon

Gas Flow Rate (lit/min) 15

WELD JOINTS
 WORK DONE SO FOR

 Base metal corrosion properties are evaluated in

three environment (5 pH,7 pH,9 pH)
 Base metal microstructure was studied
 Joints are fabricated to the optimized parameters
 WORK TO BE DONE

• To evaluated the corrosion properties of the welded joints.

• Macrostructure, microstructure of the welded joint are to be
studied.
• Cryogenic tensile strength of the welded are to be evaluated.
THANK YOU