Title: Sensor based prediction of weld microstructure in pulsed MIG welding

Authors: Kamal Pal; Surjya K. Pal

Addresses: Department of Production Engineering, Veer Surendra Sai University of Technology, Sambalpur 768018, India ' Department of Mechanical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur, Kharagpur 721302, India

Abstract: Pulsed gas metal arc welding (P-GMAW) is often used to improve weld quality as well as productivity in today's manufacturing industries. Current pulsing is used in grain refinement of weld fusion zone and uniform microstructure with less heat input. In this work, weld microstructure and its hardness have been studied on low carbon steel in pulsed metal inert gas welding using bead on plate method. The primary objective was to compare the grain morphology and different phase percentage to hardness variation in various welding zones, especially in the interface of weld fusion zone and heat affected zone (HAZ), affected by pulse parameters. Various sensors have been used to monitor the weld microstructural features. The weld peak temperature along with arc heat input were found to be strongly correlated with weld ferrite content, grain size and its hardness. The arc sound is also an essential indicator of weld microstructure affected by arc stability.

Keywords: weld peak temperature; HAZ; heat affected zone; grain size; ferrite percentage; retained austenite; weld microstructure; pulsed MIG welding; hardness; low carbon steel; weld fusion zone; arc heat; arc sound.

DOI: 10.1504/IJMMP.2015.074995

International Journal of Microstructure and Materials Properties, 2015 Vol.10 No.5/6, pp.402 - 434

Received: 30 Jul 2015
Accepted: 23 Oct 2015
Published online: 28 Feb 2016 *

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