Gas tungsten and shielded metal arc welding of stainless steel 310 and 304 grades over single and double ‘V’ butt joints

Abstract

Shielded metal (SM) and Gas tungsten (GT) arc welding of two different sheet metal grades of stainless steel 310 and 304 of 3 mm thickness is attempted to produce a sound weld. The single and double ‘V’ butt joint is made to find its suitability for the anticipated use by producing the differences in strength in the welded joints. Two gas tungsten arc welded butt joint is produced by choosing the current as 110 A and voltage 19 V. Two shielded metal arc welded butt joints are produced when the current is kept as 80 A and voltage 19 V. The welded specimens are evaluated by dye penetrant inspection to identify the weld defects. From the inspection weld specimens are found defect free from porosity, cracks, lack of penetration and etc. The welded specimens are undergone for tensile testing and found as maximum 594 MPa in the case double ‘V’ shielded metal arc welded butt joint and 556 MPa in the case of double ‘V’ butt joint by the gas tungsten arc welding process. The research work will be suitable to choose effective welding technique for the butt welding of dissimilar alloys of stainless-steel grades 310 and 304 of 3 mm thickness with single or double ‘V’ edges for the practical use.