Pulsed Gas Tungsten Arc Welding Research Articles

Disclosing Connection Links between Microstructure and Mechanical Performance in Pulsating Current Gas Tungsten Arc Welding of Hastelloy B-2 Superalloy

In this study, welding a Ni-Mo-based superalloy (Hastelloy B-2) was examined in order to characterize the microstructure and mechanical performance of joints along with assessing the effects of current intensity on the microstructure and mechanical responses of different weld zones. The gas tungsten arc welding (GTAW) process was used to weld the samples using ERNiCrMo-2 filler metal. The pulsed current GTAW process was used to weld the superalloy sheets of thickness of 1 mm with background current (Ib) of 20 A and 40 A and peak current (Ip) of 80 A and 60 A. Tensile and Vickers microhardness tests were conducted to evaluate the effect of pulsed current on mechanical properties of the welds along with chemistry and microstructure characterizations. Finally, the fracture surfaces after the tensile test were studied using SEM fractography analysis. The results indicated that increasing Ib and decreasing Ip led to low heat input and high cooling rate resulting in a high thermal gradient. This caused microstructure transition from the columnar dendrites to the coaxial ones in the weld zone; molten metal convection in the fusion zone led to fine grains in the weld zone during welding time. Moreover, a significant decrease in the amount of molybdenum carbides at the interdendritic regions of the weld metal was observed under these conditions. The tensile strength of the weld metal was higher than that of the base metal resulting in the fracture of all welds from the base metal. Additionally, the microhardness results indicated a significant increase for the weld metal compared to both heat-affected zone (HAZ) and base metal. The higher mechanical properties of the weld metal is attributed to the increase in background current and decrease in peak current leading to a fine grain microstructure. Fractography following the tensile test showed a completely ductile fracture.

Study on Pulsed Gas Tungsten Arc Lap Welding Techniques for 304L Austenitic Stainless Steel

The lap welding process for 304L stainless steel welded using the pulsed gas tungsten arc welding (P-GTAW) procedure was studied, and the effects of the pulse welding parameters (the peak current, background current, duty cycle, pulse frequency, and welding speed) on the macroscopic morphology, microstructure, and mechanical properties of the resultant lap joints were investigated. Tensile tests, hardness measurements, and SEM/EDS/XRD analyses were conducted to reveal the characterization of the joint. The relationships between the welding parameters; certain joint characteristic dimensions (the weld width, D; the weld width on the lower plate, La; the weld depth on the lower plate, P; and the minimum fusion radius, R); and the maximum tensile bearing capacity were studied. The weld zone was primarily composed of vermicular ferrite, skeletal ferrite, and austenite, and no obvious welding defects, precipitation, or phase transformations were evident in the weld. Microhardness tests demonstrated that the weld microhardness was highest in the base metal zone and lowest in the weld zone. As the heat input increased, the average microhardness decreased. The hardness difference reached 17.6 Hv10 due to the uneven grain size and the transformation of the structure to ferrite in the weld. The fracture location in welded joints varied as the heat input changed. In some parameter combinations, the weld tensile strength was significantly higher than that of the base material, with fractures occurring in the weld. Scanning electron microscopy results exhibited an obvious dimple morphology, which is a typical form of ductile fracture. XRD revealed no significant phase changes in the weld zone, with a higher intensity of the austenite diffraction peaks compared to the ferrite diffraction peaks.

Microstructure and mechanical properties of welds of AZ31B magnesium alloy produced by different gas tungsten arc welding variants

This work aimed to (i) understand conventional and pulse gas tungsten arc welding (GTAW) of AZ31B, and (ii) explore high frequency welding (100 Hz–1500 Hz). GTA welding with alternating current (AC) and direct current electrode positive (DCEP) polarities yielded crack-free partial penetration welds for 6 mm thick AZ31B alloy sheet. Welding under direct current electrode negative (DCEN) polarity with identical parameters as that for AC and DCEP resulted in full penetration welds that had microcracks. Defect-free full-penetration welds could be accomplished with pulse GTA welding using DCEN polarity at a pulse frequency of 1 Hz with a pulse duration ratio of 1:1. The resultant DCEN P 1:1 weld metal had a microstructure finer than the conventional DCEN weld. Welds produced with pulse duration ratios of 1:2 and 1:4 lacked penetration but had a much finer microstructures because of the lower heat input. The arc constriction by the high frequency pulsing in the ActivArc®-High frequency (AA-HF) mode welding was responsible for deeper penetration. Welds produced under DCEN pulsing and AA-HF conditions had hardness higher than conventional DCEN, DCEP and AC GTA welds, attributed to the finer microstructure. AA-HF GTA welding produced defect free deeper penetration welds with good microstructural features/mechanical properties and also gave an advantage of 50% enhanced productivity when welded at 1500 Hz.

Pulsed directed energy deposition-arc technology for depositing stainless steel 309L: Microstructural, elements distribution, and mechanical characteristics

In recent years, additive manufacturing has increased in prominence as a primary method of manufacturing around the globe. Modern metal additive manufacturing presents an innovative approach to manufacturing complex structures for the aerospace, energy, and construction sectors, due to technological advancements. In the present study, the austenitic stainless steel 309L (SS-309L) thick wall component was manufactured employing pulsed current gas tungsten arc welding (PC-GTAW) WAAM technology. The metallurgical characteristics of the as-deposited SS-309L thick wall part were evaluated. The investigation of material characteristics in the manufactured areas encompasses a study of cross-sectional (CS) and transverse-sectional (TS) regional portions, specifically the upper, middle, and lower regions. The microstructures of the CS and TS planes showed austenite, columnar, and delta ferrite dendrites in the upper, middle, and lower regions, respectively. The CS sample reveals the greatest grain size at 159.4 μm, following the EBSD investigation. The average size of the grains across the TS is 127.09 μm. The thermal cycles in multi-layer production result in changes in grain size. The microhardness in the transverse sectional regions is higher than in the CS regions, measuring average values of 257 HV, 253 HV, and 251 HV for the upper, middle, and lower sections, respectively. The ultimate tensile strengths (UTS) in the cross-sectional parts are 656 MPa, whereas in the transverse regions it was 661 MPa for the topmost regions. This study investigates the correlation among the mechanical and metallurgical properties of wire arc additively fabricated SS-309L austenite steel material.

Experimental investigation on solidification cracking & intergranular corrosion of AISI 321 & AISI 316 L dissimilar weld on pulsed current gas tungsten arc welding (PCGTAW)

Dissimilar metal combinations are frequently employed in the power generation and nuclear industries. Where stainless steel piping systems are connected to pressure vessels made of low-alloy steel, the subsystems of liquid rocket engines also have different, dissimilar material combinations. Dissimilar welding plays a vital role in ensuring the integrity, performance, and reliability of components and structures operating in cryogenic environments, in this study, plates of AISI 316L and AISI 321, each 5 mm thick, were successfully joined using the pulsed current gas tungsten arc welding (PCGTAW) technique with optimized process parameters. These weld joints are mostly present in rocket engines subjected to a cryogenic environment. Due to the low temperature environment, the metallurgical properties of these joints change, which affects their mechanical properties. As it is a structural part, PCGTAW welding is most common method for joining this kind of material.In this work, Microstructural analysis of the weldment revealed a combination of vermicular, lacy, and acicular ferrite morphologies in the fusion zone at the root, mid, and crown locations.Furthermore, no solidification cracking was detected in the weldments based on the optical micrograph and SEM results. Intergranular corrosion (IGC) testing indicated the absence of a ditch structure, suggesting that the heat-affected zone (HAZ) on both sides of the weld joint was not being susceptible to sensitization. However, the HAZ of the AISI 316L side exhibited coarser grains compared to AISI 321. Analysis of tensile properties revealed a significant influence of the testing environment on the tensile strength of the dissimilar welded joints. At room temperature, the average ultimate tensile strength (UTS) was measured as 621 MPa. Remarkably, at cryogenic conditions, the average tensile properties significantly increased to 1319 MPa.Microhardness analysis showed the highest hardness associated with the AISI 321 side. The fusion zone exhibited a large deviation in the hardness profile (205 ± 10 HV), with the highest average hardness observed in the middle part of the weld. However, the hot cracking behavior of the weld was investigated by using a suutula diagram at various locations of the weld. The investigation revealed that the Creq/Nieq ratio exceeded the critical threshold value, effectively diminishing the propensity for hot cracking in the fusion zone. Overall, these findings underscore the effectiveness of the PCGTAW technique in joining dissimilar materials, as well as the importance of microstructural and mechanical property evaluations, especially under extreme operating conditions such as cryogenic temperatures.Paraphrase.

Machine learning-based weld porosity detection using frequency analysis of arc sound in the pulsed gas tungsten arc welding process

Automatic welding equipment has replaced human welders in the nuclear industry for safety issues and uniform and high welding quality. However, automatic welding equipment cannot predict porosity defects. So, the weldment must be inspected by non-destructive testing. This inspection was a costly and time-consuming process, and it applies to each weldment even if it welded same material. To improve the welding efficiency, a weld porosity detection system of the same weld material with different material thicknesses was needed. This paper proposed a machine-learned porosity detection system for 3.0 mm plates with welding arc sound data from the pulsed gas tungsten arc welding (P-GTAW) process of 1.6 mm plates. Ensemble-Empirical Mode Decomposition (EEMD) was used to divide the arc sound signal according to the pulse period of P-GTAW. Fast Fourier transform (FFT) was used to convert the arc sound into frequencies for features extraction according to porosity. The validity of these weld frequency features was confirmed through k-fold cross-validation across various machine learning techniques, with evaluation of F-1 scores against experimental weld sounds.

Characterization of the spin arc welding technique for dissimilar materials Hastelloy C-2000 and C-276

Hastelloy C-2000 and C-276 are primarily employed in the petrochemical and pharmaceutical industries. Finding an effective way to combine these alloys is still a complex task in industry. The main focus of this study is to investigate the potential efficacy of the spin arc welding process on Hastelloy C-2000 and C-276. The welding process was carried out under various conditions, such as weld current, spinning speed, and spin diameter. ERNiCrMo-4, with a diameter of 1.2 mm, was employed as a filler. Optical microscopy, XRD and FESEM were used for microstructural examination. The mechanical properties of the welded samples were critically analyzed. The results of the ultimate tensile strength (UTS), hardness value (HV), and impact tests of spin arc welding were compared with those of the multipass pulsed current gas tungsten arc welding process (MPCGTAW). In spin arc welding, Hastelloy C-2000 and C-276 exhibited higher UTS, HV, and toughness compared to MPCGTAW because there was no secondary TCP phase formation in the weld centre and hot cracking in spin arc weldments. Additionally, compared to MPCGTAW, the elongation with spin arc welding was noted to be lower. Moreover, microstructural analysis revealed no evidence of grain segregation, which may have contributed to the improved UTS and HV of the materials during spin arc welding. Thus, spin arc welding proves to be superior for dissimilar Hastelloy joints of C-2000 and C-276.

Analysis of Electrode Tip Angle Variation on Weld Geometry, Distortion, and Hardness in Commercially Pure Titanium Welded Using Pulsed-Gas Tungsten Arc Welding

Analysis of Electrode Tip Angle Variation on Weld Geometry, Distortion, and Hardness in Commercially Pure Titanium Welded Using Pulsed-Gas Tungsten Arc Welding

An innovative pulsed current arc welding technology for armor steel: Processes, microstructure, and mechanical properties

This study presents a novel pulsed current arc welding technology, specifically pulsed current gas tungsten arc welding (PC-GTAW), single and double pulse gas metal arc welding (SP/DP-GMAW), and dual process welding (D-process). This study aims to investigate the effectiveness of these welding techniques for armor steel weldments. This research focused on investigating the welding processes, resulting microstructures, and mechanical properties of welded joints. Based on the macrography analysis, it was determined that the weldments exhibit no signs of porosity, inclusions, or inadequate penetration. This finding substantiates the optimum settings for the weldment production process. The weldment optical microstructure, fusion, and heat-affected zone were examined in the weld interface. The microstructural properties of the FZ include δ-ferrite, austenite, bainite, and acicular martensite. The HAZ has a bainite-untempered martensite microstructure. The chemical composition and variations across the weldment (base, weld and HAZ) were identified. The grain borders contained greater quantities of Cr, Ni, Mn, Si, and Mo than those of the grain cores. EBSD revealed average weld zone grain sizes of 17.7 µm, 32.6 µm, 30.8 µm, and 24.6 µm for PC-GTAW, SP-GMAW, DP-GMAW, and D-Process, respectively.Furthermore, the hardness measurements showed a progressive transition across different regions. Additionally, the D-Process-fabricated material exhibited a maximum ultimate tensile strength of 872 MPa and an elongation of 4%. The mechanical properties exhibited by this new process variant exceed those of other weldments, indicating its potential for fabricating armor steel. The impact toughness demonstrated superior performance in all the weldments. Within this context, the new use of pulsed current advanced welding methods has shown the ability to generate welded parts of exceptional quality.

Multi-layer additive manufacturing on nickel-based superalloy by optimization of pulsed mode process parameters of single-layer bead geometry

Recent advancements in the wire arc additive manufacturing (WAAM) process for nickel-based superalloys have had a substantial impact on metal additive manufacturing industries such as aerospace, energy, and construction. The input process parameters influence the WAAM part's dimensional accuracy, process stability, and other critical impacts. The quality of each weld layers in WAAM can be controlled by various process parameters. In this study, a single-layer bead was deposited from Hastelloy C-22 using the pulsed mode gas tungsten arc welding (PC-GTAW) process. The chosen input process parameters include pulse frequency (X1), peak current (X2), and pulse on time (X3). The design of experiments (DoE) statistical quality tool was used to optimize the parameters, and the response surface m`ethodology (RSM) technique was used to develop the design matrix. The experiments were conducted based on central composite design (CCD), and their resulting responses bead width (Y1), height (Y2), and depth of penetration (Y3) were evaluated using optical microscopy. The results of the geometrical analysis have revealed a significant correlation between the characteristics of the layer and the parameters of the process. The analysis of variance (ANOVA) method was employed to verify the validity of the actual and predicted models. The model was experimentally validated using the established optimal process parameters, and the mechanical and metallurgical performance was evaluated. The microstructure of the single-layer exhibits equiaxed, cellular, and columnar structures at various regions. The pulse mode process was found to effectively reduce elemental segregation, improve the microstructure, and enhance the mechanical properties of the weld layer. The multi-layer experiments were carried out using the optimal process parameters of a single layer. According to metallographic investigations, the multi-layer that has been deposited exhibits a lack of cracks and porosity. This study provides new insights into the stabilized properties necessary to achieve optimal process parameters and metallurgical characteristics in the robust wire arc additive manufacturing of Hastelloy C-22.

A Comparative Study on High-Temperature Oxidation Behavior, Microstructure Characterization, and Texture of UNS R30155 Superalloy Weldment Joint Using Pulsed Current and Constant Current Gas Tungsten Arc Welding

A Comparative Study on High-Temperature Oxidation Behavior, Microstructure Characterization, and Texture of UNS R30155 Superalloy Weldment Joint Using Pulsed Current and Constant Current Gas Tungsten Arc Welding

A Novel Penetration State Recognition Method Based on LSTM With Auditory Attention During Pulsed GTAW

Weld defect detection and control is of great significance for gas tungsten arc welding (GTAW) process of aluminum alloy, and the recognition of penetration states based on acoustic signal has been a hot topic. However, previous studies have ignored that acoustic features have distinct effects on the penetration state. In this paper, inspired by the attention mechanism in the vision, a novel auditory attention model combining the attention mechanism with long short-term memory (LSTM) network for penetration state recognition has been proposed. First, the 15-dimensional informative features including 9-dimensional time-domain and 6-dimensional wavelet features related to the penetration state are extracted. Second, the auditory attention mechanism is explored and the attention-based LSTM including attention mechanism before LSTM(AT-LSTM) and attention after LSTM(LSTM-AT) are established, which are experimentally verified to show greater performance than other traditional methods with an average accuracy of 93.56% and 95.32%, respectively. Furthermore, the attention vectors are visualized to figure out the mechanism of auditory attention when different penetration occurs.

Impression creep behaviour of different zones of pulsed gas tungsten arc welded Ti-6Al-4V alloy

Ti-6Al-4V alloy has several industrial applications, because of their excellent combination of mechanical and physical properties. However, welding of Ti-6Al-4V alloy is very challenging due to its high reactivity with atmospheric gases at elevated temperatures (as low as 480 °C). In this work, defect-free bead on plate welding has been carried out on 3 mm-thick Ti-6Al-4V sheets with the help of an indigenously developed shielding set-up, using the pulsed gas tungsten arc welding (GTAW) process, and the impression creep responses of different zones of the weld have been investigated using the impression creep method. A detailed microstructural examination has been carried out, because the creep behaviour of each zone is dependent on the microstructure of that region. Base metal revealed a typical fine bi-modal microstructure with an average grain size of 4.2 µm, but there was significant grain coarsening in the heat affected zone (HAZ) and weld zone with an average prior β grain size of 37 µm and 105 µm respectively. Weld zone and HAZ also showed Widmanstätten morphology as fine laths of α inside the prior-β grains. Coarse prior-β grains and Widmanstätten morphology in HAZ and weld zone assisted in reducing grain boundary sliding and impeding dislocation glide, respectively, which led to an improvement in the creep resistance of these zones in comparison to base metal. In the testing range, dislocation creep appeared as the governing creep mechanism, where activation energies ranged from 255 to 312 kJ-mol−1 in different zones of the weldment.

Directed energy deposition of Invar 36 alloy using cold wire pulsed gas tungsten arc welding: Effect of heat input on the microstructure and functional behaviour

Invar alloys exhibit low thermal expansion and are useful in applications requiring dimensional stability when subject to temperature changes. Conventional production of Invar faces certain challenges that can be offset by exploiting additive manufacturing processes. This study employed pulsed gas tungsten arc welding (GTAW) to deposit Invar 36 alloy blocks at five heat inputs (HI) ranging from 200 to 550 J mm−1. The results show that the microstructure comprised of columnar grains and remained in the austenitic phase regardless of the HI. Ductility dip cracking was found to prevail in all the blocks except the block deposited at the lowest HI. The decreased susceptibility to cracking with a reduction in the HI was due to the preservation of the grain boundary area, consequently leading to an improved partitioning of strain among the grain boundaries. On lowering the HI from 550 to 200 J mm−1 the average yield strength, tensile strength and elongation improved by 16%, 23% and 38%, respectively. The HI had a negligible effect on the mean linear coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) in different temperature ranges as the CTE values were nearly identical between the blocks deposited at 200 and 550 J mm−1. In general, the CTE in the building direction was slightly higher than the travel direction, with a maximum difference between the CTE of the two directions being 15%. In summary, this work demonstrates the application of the cold wire GTAW process as an alternative to conventional/laser based methods for realizing the functional properties of Invar.

Experimental study on influence of shielding gas pressure on the quality of pulsed laser welding of thin walled T91 steel clad tube with end plug

Fabrication of metal fuel pins for test irradiation in fast breeder test reactor requires welding of thin wall clad tube with solid end plug of modified 9Cr-1Mo steel material under high pressure helium atmosphere. Autogenous pulsed Gas Tungsten Arc Welding [GTAW] technique is currently used for end cap welding of metal fuel pins inside the glove box. Pulsed laser welding of end plug with clad tube of modified 9Cr-1Mo steel material under inert atmosphere at 1.2 bar gas pressure is under development.Pulsed laser beam welding [PLBW] is considered as alternate welding technique to replace the pulsed tungsten inert gas welding.In the current study the influence of shielding gas pressure on the weld joint characteristics like depth of penetration, bead width, and heat affected zone were investigated to optimize laser welding parameters. Initially experiments were conducted under helium gas at atmosphere pressure to optimize the process parameters to obtain the desired depth of penetration and then repeated the experiment with the optimized parameters at 0.5 bar pressure to study the effect of shielding gas pressure. Laser beam welding parameters like peak power − 1800 to 2400 W, pulse frequency – 5 to 8 Hz and pulse duration – 6 to 10 ms were varied during welding sample coupons. Welded sample coupons were subjected to various NDT techniques and subsequently metallographic examination was carried out to measure the bead width, depth of penetration and delta ferrite distribution in the weld metal. Laser beam welding parameters were optimized at atmosphere pressure to meet the stringent acceptance criteria. Further study was carried out under helium gas atmosphere at 0.5 bar using optimized welding parameters and it reveals that the drastic reduction in heat input due to laser beam attenuation and absorption by quartz window.

Evaluate Effect of Pulsed Current Gas Tungsten Arc Welding Process Parameter on Intergranular Corrosion of SS304L Weld

Austenitic stainless steel (ASS) is the most common type of stainless steel which offers excellent weldability and mechanical properties. ASS is being used for various applications i.e. automotive, oil and gas and chemical industries in which the welding process plays a prominent role. Welding process selection is the main factor that emphasizes mechanical and corrosion resistance properties in various aggressive environments. There are various corrosion occurs in ASS but intergranular corrosion (IGC) forms during welding at elevated temperatures. IGC mainly occurs at grain boundaries of structure and resulting chromium depletion due to precipitation of chromium carbide at the grain boundary. In present work pulsed current gas tungsten arc welding (PCGTAW) process was used to investigate intergranular corrosion by oxalic acid test as per ASTM A262 Practice A. Experiments performed based on Taguchi L9 using design of experiments and corrosion rates are evaluated at base metal, heat affected zone and weld zone. This work is aimed to optimize process parameters followed by regression analysis to IGC susceptibility in the weldment. In this investigation, it has been found from ANOVA and main effects plots that peak current and base current are the most significant parameters in the PCGTAW process. The results of the corrosion test revealed that heat affected zone is more susceptible to IGC. At the end, it has been observed that the optimum value of peak current, base current and frequency based on regression analysis are 100 A, 50 A and 6 Hz respectively.

Evaluation of welded joints of dissimilar titanium alloy Ti-5Al-2.5Sn and stainless-steel 304 at different multi-interlayer modes

Products manufactured by joining titanium and stainless steel are of great attention to the modern-day industries (aerospace and nuclear) due to their several benefits like high strength, low cost, and corrosion resistance. However, it is difficult to join these alloys owing to the formation of TiFe, Ti2Fe, and TiFe2 compounds which damage their mechanical properties. This study aims to evaluate the microstructural and mechanical properties of titanium alloy Ti-5Al-2.5Sn and stainless steel 304 joints. Joining was performed through pulse–gas tungsten arc welding (P-GTAW) by inserting the Nb-Cu multi-interlayer. The effects of welding speed, two multi-interlayer application modes, and arc offset on the microstructure and mechanical properties such as tensile strength and microhardness were investigated. The mechanical properties were evaluated through tensile and hardness tests while microstructural analysis using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) supported by electron dispersive spectroscopy (EDS). The results revealed that sound and high-quality welds were achieved using a multi-interlayer, which inhibited the formation of TiFe, Ti2Fe, and TiFe2 brittle intermetallic compounds (IMCs). Maximum joint strength of 327 MPa was achieved at a welding speed of 200 mm min−1, mode of multi-interlayer (Nb used as a foil and Cu as a wire) at no arc offsetting, whereas a low joint strength was obtained in the multi-interlayer mode (Nb and Cu both as foils), and arc offset towards SS. The SEM and EDS results revealed that a Cu solid solution was obtained in the fusion zone, which improved the tensile strength. Joint fracture surface analysis indicated that ductile fracture was obtained for high-strength and brittle fracture for the low-strength weld. It is evident that high hardness (400 HV) was obtained at a low welding speed (150 mm min−1) and an arc offset to the stainless steel side owing to the formation of TiCu and Ti2Cu phases, as revealed by the x-ray diffraction phase analysis.

Microstructural and Mechanical Characterization of Welded Joints between Stainless Steel and Hastelloy Made Using Pulsed Current Gas Tungsten Arc Welding

Microstructural and Mechanical Characterization of Welded Joints between Stainless Steel and Hastelloy Made Using Pulsed Current Gas Tungsten Arc Welding

Influence of hot corrosion on pulsed current gas tungsten arc weldment of aerospace-grade 80A alloy exposed to high temperature aggressive environment

• The performance of alloy 80A weldment in a high-temperature aggressive environment was studied. • The effect of hot corrosion on different welding techniques (GTAW and PCGTAW) and filler wires (ERNiCrMo-3 and ERNiCr-3) were studied. • Influence of PCGTAW technique in protecting the surface of the welded substrate from an aggressive environment.IV) The mechanism of the formation of corrosive and protective oxides and its effect on the corrosion behaviour of welded substrates were studied. One of the significant issues that shorten the life of components used in high-temperature applications is hot corrosion. The current study compares the performance of welded aerospace-grade 80A fabricated through continuous and pulsed gas tungsten arc welding techniques. Weld coupons are produced using two different filler wires (ERNiCrMo-3 (Mo-3) and ERNiCr-3 (Cr-3)). Welded substrates are subjected to 50 cycles of air oxidation and Na 2 SO 4 + 60%V 2 O 5 molten salt environmental conditions at 900 °C. Corrosion products were analysed through scanning electron microscope/energy dispersive spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction analyses. Thermogravimetric analysis revealed that all welded substrates trailed the parabolic rate of law kinetics. In the molten salt (MS) environment, gas tungsten arc welded (GTAW) Mo-3 substrate showed more weight gain. In contrast, a minor weight gain was observed in the pulsed current gas tungsten arc welded (PCGTAW) Cr-3 substrate. It indicates that accelerated corrosion kinetics was observed in the molten salt environmental condition that showed more weight gain than air oxidation. amongst the weldments, pulsed current gas tungsten witnessed superior corrosion-resistant behaviour. This phenomenon is observed due to grain refinement suppression of heat-affected zones and secondary phases in the weld fusion zone. In addition, the appearance of protective oxides such as Cr 2 O 3 , NbO and NiCr 2 O 4 helps arrest the oxidation at the surface and sub-surface layer by providing good resistance against hot corrosion to the welded substrate. Thus, utilizing the PCGTAW technique during the fabrication/refurbishing process helps promote the material's corrosion resistance against a hot corrosion environment.

Effect of constant current and pulsed current gas tungsten arc welding process on microstructure and mechanical properties of superalloy 59 joints

This research paper investigates the microstructure, microsegregation and mechanical behaviour of Ni-based superalloy 59 which is an important candidate in the pollution control application. The weld joints were produced with continuous current gas tungsten arc welding (CCGTAW) and pulsed current gas tungsten arc welding (PCGTAW) by applying both autogenous mode and filler wire ERNiCrMo-13. Weld flaws and weld aspect ratio of weld joints were identified using a macro analysis. An optical microscope (OM) and scanning electron microscope (SEM) were used to examine the microstructure of the welded joints. PCGTA weldments exposed refined grain structure, reduced heat-affected zone and narrow weld bead compared to CCGTAW. Microsegregation of the alloying elements at the weld center (WC) and weld interface (WI) was examined using Energy Dispersive x-ray spectroscopy (EDS). The findings of the metallurgical characterisation proved that the PCGTA weldments offer minimal microsegregation at the interdendritic region in comparison to CCGTA weldments. X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) examination reveals that there is a 16.7% enhancement in grain refinement in the autogenous mode and a 17.4% improvement in the filler wire ERNiCrMo-13 when switching from CCGTA to PCGTA welding. Tensile, Charpy impact and microhardness tests were used to assess the strength, toughness and hardness of the weld joints. Weld joints fabricated by PCGTAW offers higher tensile strength (∼1.4 to 1.6%), higher toughness (∼4.4 to 5.4%), and higher hardness (∼4.8 to 7.7%) than CCGTAW weld joints.