Welding investigation of a wrought FeMnAl steel for armor application

Dai, Tao; Feng, Zhili; Kyle, Douglas; Zhang, Wei; Parish, Chad; Sebeck, Katherine; Tzelepis, Demetrios; Vieau, Katherine; Rogers, Matt

doi:10.1007/s40194-025-02078-3

Welding investigation of a wrought FeMnAl steel for armor application

Journal Article · Tue Jun 03 00:00:00 EDT 2025 · Welding in the World

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1007/s40194-025-02078-3· OSTI ID:2573128

^[1]; ^[1]; Kyle, Douglas ^[1]; Zhang, Wei ^[1]; ^[1]; Sebeck, Katherine ^[2]; Tzelepis, Demetrios ^[2]; Vieau, Katherine ^[2]; Rogers, Matt ^[2]

Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
US Army Combat Capabilities Development Command Ground Vehicle Systems Center, Warren, MI (United States)

A new wrought FeMnAl steel contains high Mn content and high Al content. This steel has high strength. When it is compared to conventional steels with the similar strength, its density is lower. FeMnAl steels can be used in armor vehicle manufacturing, in which welding is a common practice to join the steel plates together. The welding of FeMnAl steels has not been sufficiently studied before. Here, this work studied the weldability and weld microstructure of an FeMnAl steel and provided useful data for the welding practice of FeMnAl steels. The influences of weld filler metals and shielding gases were studied, using single-pass bead-on-plate gas metal arc welding (GMAW) and gas tungsten arc welding (GTAW) two processes. The optimal filler metals and shielding gases have been determined to achieve the better weldability. Autogenous GTAW and electron beam welding were also conducted. Cracks were found in the HAZ in the GMAW welds and electron beam welds. Fewer or no cracks were found in the HAZ of GTAW welds. SEM, SEM/EDX, TEM, TEM/EDX, and EBSD were used to analyze the grain boundaries in the HAZ and the cracks. The grain boundaries of FeMnAl base metal are mostly high angle grain boundaries (HAGBs), which attract impurity and solute atoms and cause intergranular cracking. The proposed cracking mechanisms are liquation cracking and ductility-dip cracking. It was found that GTAW provides much better weldability for the FeMnAl steel than GMAW and EBW.

View Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

Research Organization:: Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE

Grant/Contract Number:: AC05-00OR22725

OSTI ID:: 2573128

Journal Information:: Welding in the World, Journal Name: Welding in the World; ISSN 1878-6669; ISSN 0043-2288

Publisher:: Springer NatureCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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Welding investigation of a wrought FeMnAl steel for armor application

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