Title: Ferrite number optimisation for stainless steel cladding by FCAW using Taguchi technique

Authors: P.K. Palani, N. Murugan

Addresses: Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Government College of Technology, Coimbatore-641 013, India. ' Mechanical Engineering, Coimbatore Institute of Technology, Coimbatore-641 014, India

Abstract: Application of the Taguchi Orthogonal Array in conducting the experiments and for the optimisation of critical cladding process parameters for obtaining desirable delta ferrite content in the claddings is reported in this paper. Considering the application dependent requirement of the ferrite content on the performance of the cladded structures, two quality characteristics viz., Smaller-the-better, and Nominal-the-best were adopted for analysing the effect of process parameters on the formation of delta ferrite. The experimental results show that welding current has the most significant effect on the formation of delta ferrite.

Keywords: delta ferrite; austenitic stainless steel; FCAW; flux cored arc welding; Taguchi methods; ferrite number optimisation; stainless steel cladding; orthogonal arrays; cladding process parameters; welding current.

DOI: 10.1504/IJMPT.2008.022518

International Journal of Materials and Product Technology, 2008 Vol.33 No.4, pp.404 - 420

Published online: 12 Jan 2009 *

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