Low alloyed steel consumables are widely used for material joining applications because of their adequate mechanical properties and cost. While selecting an electrode for specific joining operation, the design of the weld metal plays an important role to meet the chemistry, mechanical properties, and the post-weld heat treatment requirements.

Fabrication of dish end is one of such applications wherein achieving desired mechanical properties after post welding heat treatment is very critical. To relieve the post welding residual stresses, normalizing followed by stress relief heat treatment is done.

The effect of alloying elements in Shielded metal arc welding (SMAW) weld metal, with heat treatment to achieve the desired mechanical behaviour have been studied in this work. The properties of undiluted weld metal obtained from welding electrodes with varying alloying elements were evaluated and compared under conditions of multiple normalizing cycles followed by stress relieving heat treatment.

The results obtained in this study encompass reports on tensile strength (>70 ksi), impact toughness properties (>27J at -30°C), hardness (<200 BHN), microstructure and grain size of undiluted weld metal after above heat treatment cycle.

This article is shared by Kedar Parasnis, Somnath Chakravarty, Dinesh Giri, R. Hariganesh