Effects of inserts in seam welds in stainless steel foils

Abstract

Summary Bright‐annealed austenitic stainless steel foils with thicknesses of 100 μm and μ50 m were seam‐welded to produce seam bonds with an insert of Ni‐base amorphous foil, and the weldability was investigated in comparison with seam welds without the insert. The results obtained may be summarised as follows: Seam bonds in 100 μm thick stainless steel foils are obtained even if the insert metal is not used, whereas seam bonds in 50 μm thick stainless steel foils are obtained only when the insert is used.When amorphous foil is used as the insert, seam bonds are obtained within a wider welding current range than in seam welding without the insert.The microstructures of the seam bonds with the insert are divided into three types according to the solidification morphology of the melted zone of the insert and stainless steel foil.The maximum peel load of the seam bonds without the insert shows heavy scatter, whereas that of the seam bonds with the insert scarcely fluctuates at all.When the seam bonds are sub...