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Title: Shielding gas selection for increased weld penetration and productivity in GTA welding

Book ·
OSTI ID:442958

The effects of hydrogen and helium additions to the argon shielding gas on GTA weld pool profiles in the case of two austenitic stainless steel sheets 3 mm thick are investigated here in detail. One of the test steels shows good weldability, with a relatively deep, narrow weld pool profile, but the other is poorly weldable, with a shallow, wide weld pool when argon shielding gas is used. Bead-on-plate test welds were produced with arc shields of argon, argon with hydrogen additions of 2 to 18.2% and argon with helium additions of 20 to 80%. The hydrogen additions increases the depth of weld penetration in both test steels, but productivity with respect to maximum welding speed can be improved to an accepted level only with steel sheets of good weldability in terms of a relatively high depth/width (D/W) ratio. The depth of penetration in the test steel of good weldability increased somewhat with helium additions and the D/W ratio remained unchanged, while these parameters increased markedly in the poorly weldable steel when a He-20% Ar shielding gas was used and resembled those of the more weldable steel.

OSTI ID:
442958
Report Number(s):
CONF-950682-; ISBN 0-87170-567-2; TRN: IM9712%%383
Resource Relation:
Conference: 4. international conference on trends in welding research, Gatlinburg, TN (United States), 5-9 Jun 1995; Other Information: PBD: 1996; Related Information: Is Part Of Trends in welding research: Proceedings of the 4. international conference; Smartt, H.B.; Johnson, J.A. [eds.] [Idaho National Engineering Lab., Idaho Falls, ID (United States)]; David, S.A. [ed.] [Oak Ridge National Lab., TN (United States)]; PB: 836 p.
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English