Research on the Mechanism of Penetration Increase by Flux in A-TIG Welding

The mechanism of penetration depth increased by activating flux in activating tungsten inert gas(A-TIG)weldingwas studied by measuring the distribution of trace element Bi in the weld and monitoring the change of arc voltageduring A-TIG welding of stainless steel 0Crl8Ni9 with fluxes SiO_(2)and TiO_(2).The results show that the mechanismof penetration depth in A-TIG welding depends on the sort of flux used.The weld pool convection after coating theflux SiO_(2)and flux TiO_(2)is changed inversely compared with convectional TIG welding without flux.The arc voltageis increased by flux SiO_(2)whilst flux TiO_(2)does not have effect on the arc voltage.The reason of penetration depthincrease for SiO_(2)is due to the constriction of arc plasma and the change of surface tension gradient.The increaseof weld penetration depth with TiO_(2)only ascribes to the change of surface tension gradient.

Strength Prediction of Aluminum–Stainless Steel-Pulsed TIG Welding–Brazing Joints with RSM and ANN

Pulsed TIG welding–brazing process was applied to join aluminum with stainless steel dissimilar metals. Major parameters that affect the joint property significantly were identified as pulsed peak current, base current, pulse on time,and frequency by pre-experiments. A sample was established according to central composite design. Based on the sample,response surface methodology（RSM） and artificial neural networks（ANN） were employed to predict the tensile strength of the joints separately. With RSM, a significant and rational mathematical model was established to predict the joint strength.With ANN, a modified back-propagation algorithm consisting of one input layer with four neurons, one hidden layer with eight neurons, and one output layer with one neuron was trained for predicting the strength. Compared with RSM, average relative prediction error of ANN was ／10% and it obtained more stable and precise results.

Microstructure Evolutions and Properties of Al-Cu Alloy Joint in the Pulsed Power Ultrasonic-Assisted GMAW

The pulsed power ultrasonic-assisted gas metal arc welding(PU-GMAW)is a new development hybrid welding method.The influences of the pulsed power ultrasonic on the microstructure evolution of the welded joint of Al-Cu alloy were investigated by using scanning electron microscopy,transmission electron microscope and electron back scattering diffraction.The results showed that the efficient heat input in the PU-GMAW was increased by above 100%compared with the traditional GMAW.The grain and eutectic of the PU-GMAW weld seam were refined compared with that of the GMAW.Cavitation and acoustic streaming induced the dendrite fragmentation(α-Al)and heterogeneous nucleation,which were the main reasons for the grain refinement.The microhardness of the PU-GMAW welded joint was improved compared with that of the GMAW owing to the change of the eutectic and grain.