The effect of weld-groove surface modification on the joint performance of military grade armour steel: A sustainability approach

Abstract

The welding of armour grade steel plays a vital role in combat vehicle structures. A work is conducted to investigate the effect of Water Jet (WJ) and Flame Cutting (FC) on the metallurgical and mechanical properties of the welded armour steel plates. The sustainable WJ machining shall produce the weld groove by a single pass without heat formation in the cut surface, which is unavoidable in the flame cutting process. The results demonstrate that the WJ weld plate is more desirable, as the martensite structure is obtained in different Heat-Affected Zones (HAZ). It is achieved by one-time heat involvement compared to ferrite – pearlite structure in HAZ of the flame cut weld plate. A higher hardness of 335 HV is observed in the fusion zone of the WJ weld plate compared to 212 HV in the flame cut weld plate. The tensile failure occurs in the fusion zone of both water jet and flame cut weld plates and the fusion zone has a higher impact strength of 108 J (8 times higher than base plate). Thus, implementing sustainable WJ machining in preparing the weld groove enhanced the welding properties in military-grade armour steel.