Effect Of Welding Energy Research Articles

Effect of welding energy on the corrosion and tribological properties of duplex stainless steel weld overlay deposited by GMAW/CMT process

Duplex stainless steels (DSS) show good mechanical properties, wear, corrosion resistance and fatigue strength. In order to decrease operational costs in paper and pulp industry, DSS is employed through weld overlay coatings on mild or low carbon steel components. In this work, the aim was to evaluate the DSS weld overlay properties obtained through deposition of ER 2209 duplex stainless steel alloy on a mild steel plate (ASTM A 516 Gr 60). The deposition was performed through GMAW/CMT welding process. The coatings were deposited using four heat inputs: 0.53, 1.01, 1.27 and 1.74 kJ/mm. Moreover, microstructural characterization by optical microscopy showed that heat input influences ferrite/austenite phase balance. Secondary austenite that precipitates due to the welding process in DSSs are Widmanstätten austenite (WA), grain boundary austenite (GBA), partially transformed austenite (PTA) and intragranular austenite (IGA). The amount of secondary austenite increases with welding energy input. The secondary austenite improves abrasive wear resistance while corrosion resistance is the lowest when welding energy is 1.74 kJ/mm.

Performance Prediction for Ultrasonic Spot Welds of Short Carbon Fiber-Reinforced Composites Under Shear Loading

Ultrasonic welding is a well-known technique for joining thermoplastics and has recently been introduced to joining carbon fiber-reinforced composites (CFRC). However, suitable models for predicting joint performance have not yet been established. At present, most failure models for bonded composites are built based on uniform adhesive joints, which assume constant joint properties. Nevertheless, the joint properties of ultrasonic spot welds for CFRC are variable, which depend on the input welding parameters. In this paper, the effect of welding energy, which is the most important welding parameter, on the joint properties is investigated. Then, a surface-based cohesive performance model based on mode-II (in-plane) shear loading is developed to predict the joint performance, wherein the critical fracture parameters in the model are described via the functions of welding energy. After comparing the simulated results with experiments, the model is proven feasible in predicting the joint properties of the ultrasonic spot welds under shear loading condition, and hence, a mix-mode cohesive-zone model is practical to predict the joint performance under any loading conditions with the predicted fracture parameters.

Effect of welding energy on microstructure and strength of ultrasonic spot welded dissimilar joints of aluminum to steel sheets

Two dissimilar ultrasonic spot welded joints of aluminum to commercial steel sheets at different levels of welding energy were investigated. The tensile lap shear tests were conducted to evaluate the failure strength in relation to microstructural changes. The main intermetallics at the weld interface in both joints was θ (FeAl3), along with ɳ (Fe2Al5) phase in Al-to-AISI 304 stainless steel joint and Fe3Al phase in Al-to-ASTM A36 steel joint, respectively. The welding strength of Al-to-AISI 304 stainless steel weld samples was slightly higher than Al-to-ASTM A36 steel weld samples, whereas the fracture energies of Al-to-AISI 304 stainless steel weld samples were significantly higher as compared with Al-to-ASTM A36 steel weld samples. The welding strength of both Al-to-Steel welds were higher than other reported dissimilar USW joints in literature. The fracture surfaces of both weld joints exhibits the growth of IMC layer with increasing welding energy or time, whose inherent brittleness compromises the integrity of joints. In both cases, the lap shear tensile fracture occurred from the Al/Fe interface at lower energy inputs and the failure mode at higher welding energy inputs became the “transverse through-thickness crack growth” at the edge of the nugget zone on the softer Al side.

Effect of welding energy on interface zone of Al–Cu ultrasonic welded joint

Ultrasonic welding is attracting increasing attentions in joining of dissimilar materials. The effect of welding energy on joint strength, failure behaviour and microstructure of Al–Cu ultrasonic welded joint has been experimentally investigated. The results showed that joint strength increased with welding energy initially and reached its maximum at 1000 J, then dropped significantly instead. Meanwhile, the failure mode changed from interfacial debonding to nugget pullout, and then back to cleavage failure. Various microstructures with different morphologies and properties were also observed at the interfacial region. At lower energy, the joint was only partly bonded by numbers of dispersed microbonds. A swirl-like structure appeared at the weld interface and led to a mechanical interlocking between the materials at higher energies (∼1000 J). However, cavity defects and intermetallic compound (IMC) were more likely to form under excessively high energies. A 0·5 μm thick IMC layer with dominant phase of Al4Cu9 was found in 2000 J joint.