Open AccessEffect of titanium alloy powder reinforcement on the mechanical properties and microstructural evolution of GMAW mild steel butt joints
Author(s) -
Timothy Odiaka,
Stephen A. Akinlabi,
Nkosinathi Madushele,
S. Hassan,
Esther T. Akinlabi
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
engineering solid mechanics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.528
H-Index - 17
eISSN - 2291-8752
pISSN - 2291-8744
DOI - 10.5267/j.esm.2020.12.005
Subject(s) - materials science , acicular ferrite , welding , metallurgy , titanium , ultimate tensile strength , gas metal arc welding , titanium powder , alloy , titanium alloy , composite material , acicular , microstructure , butt joint , butt welding , toughness , arc welding , austenite , bainite
Despite its well-reported application in a few welding processes, the use of reinforcing powders in weld joints to improve weld integrity has not garnered ample research attention for Gas Metal Arc Welding (GMAW) process. In this study, the adoption of Titanium alloy powders as metallic reinforcement for mild steel butt welds was investigated. By adopting Taguchi’s L4 orthogonal array, process optimisation for titanium-reinforced mild steel butt welds were first carried out. In the second phase of welding, the optimum parameters were used to create and compare two sets of weldments; one set was reinforced with titanium alloy powder and the other set left unreinforced. It was observed that in the Weld Metal (WM) region, the titanium-reinforced samples had higher micro-hardness values than their unreinforced counterparts with an average of 285.62 HV and 211.6 HV respectively. However, there was no substantial improvement in the ultimate tensile strength of the mild steel butt welds due to titanium powder reinforcements. Interestingly, the formation of acicular ferrite microstructure was more prevalent in the titanium-reinforced weldments and this was attributed to the presence of titanium inclusions in the weld metal. This prevalence of acicular ferrite suggests improved toughness properties in the weld joint region. While the higher hardness values in the Weld Metal of the reinforced sample indicates improved wear resistance.