Effect of pulsed gas tungsten arc welding on angular distortion in austenitic stainless steel weldments

Abstract

The effect of the parameters of the pulsed gas tungsten arc welding (GTAW) process on the angular distortion in austenitic stainless steel weldments was investigated. Autogenous GTAW was conducted on types 304 and 310 stainless steels to produce a bead on plate weld. The weldment thermal cycle was recorded during pulsed GTAW to investigate the influence of thermal stress. Angular distortion was determined by using the mean vertical displacement method. The experimental results indicate that higher pulse frequency, smaller pulse spacing, greater amplitude ratio, and greater duration ratio can reduce the angular distortion. The angular distortion of type 310 stainless steel weldments was greater than that of type 304 weldments under the same welding conditions because of the lower thermal conductivity and thermal diffusivity of type 310. (C) 2001 IoM Communications Ltd.