EFFECT OF OXYGEN CONTENT ON NITROGEN ABSORPTIVE MECHANISM IN WELD FOR FLUX-CORED WIRE

By measuring the content of oxygen and nitrogen in welds of six kinds of self-shielded flux-cored wires,the effect of oxygen on nitrogen content in weld is studied and the different absorptive mechanisms of nitrogen at a low oxygen level([O] lower than 0.02%) and a high oxygen level ([O] higher than 0.03%) have been discovered.The results indicate that the content of nitrogen in weld can be made lowest by modifying the composition of flux and controlling the content of oxygen to the range of 0.02%～0.03%.

Effects of process parameters on the depth-to-width ratio of flux-cored wire underwater wet welding

The effects of process parameters on the depth-to-width ratio （D/W） of flux-cored wire underwater wet welding with a certain type of homemade .flux-cored wire are studied. It is found that the welding .speed, wire feeding speed and torch oscillating amplitude hare significant effects on the dopth-to-width ratio （D/W） of welds. The D/W ratio of welds increases significantly with the increase of welding speed without the oscillating of welding torch. It increased （from 0. 14 to 0. 26 ） with the increase of wire feeding speed while the torch oscillating. And it decreased linearly with the increase of torch oscillating amplitude. However, the influelwe of oscillating speed, wire extension and welding voltage on the D/W ratio of welds was not obvious.

Microstructures and mechanical properties of a martensitic steel welded with flux-cored wires

This study was focused on wear-resistant material prepared by CO2 GMAW method to basically determine the alloys and hardfacing technology which could be employed into mining equipment. Three flux-cored wires with different chemical compositions, marked by DM-I, DM-II and DM-III were used in welding a martensitic steel for the comparison of the microstructures and mechanical properties of the welding metals and HAZ. The results show that DM-I weld metal contains martensite plus other reinforced phases, while both DM-II and DM-III alloys lead to mainly martensitic microstructures with little precipitates. Among all of the tested materials the DM-I alloy has the highest hardness and wear resistance but the lowest impact toughness among the experimental weld metals. Meanwhile, the hardness, impact toughness and wear resistance of the DM-II and DM-III alloys are close to those of the base metal but the DM-III is not as strong as DM-II. Dimples can be found on the impact fracture of the weld metals, but the steel fracture consists of both cleavage and dimples. Thus HAZ has less risk for cracking than the welds, and the DM-II wire which produces the weld having identical mechanical properties to the base metal is suitable for further application.

Research on the abrasive wear resistance of YDCrMoV coating produced by CO_2 shielded flux-cored wire surfacing

Caterpillar construction machines play an important part in many fields such as hydraulic and electric engineering, the construction of highway, for its particular of structure. The walking system of caterpillar construction machines is always under the condition of three-body abrasive wear. The abrasive wear of walking system is very severe, which always results in damages of components or structures of walking system of caterpillar construction machines. It is very important to repair the walking system by cladding technique. The abrasive wear properties of four kinds coatings produced by the shielded flux-cored wire surfacing for the repair of the damaged components of walking system of caterpillar construction machines have been studied experimentally on an MLS-23 type wet sand rubber wheel abrasive tester. The surfaces morphologies of the abrasively worn specimens and their microstructures are investigated by transmitting electron microscopy (TEM) after wear testing. Results show that the wear mechanism of cladding metals of the flux-cored wire No.1 and the No.2 is micro-cutting while that of the No.3 and the No.4 is micro-ploughing. The four kinds of flux-cored wire coatings present great potential applications for the repairing of caterpillar construction machines in the Three Gorges Engineering.

Effect of Ti-Si-Mg-Al wire on microstructure and mechanical properties of plasma arc in-situ welded joint of SiC_p/Al composites

The influence of Ti-Si-Mg-AI wire on microstructure and mechanical properties of SiCp/A1 metal matrix composite joints produced by plasma arc in-situ weld-alloying was investigated. Argon-nitrogen mixture was used as plasma gas and Ti-Si-Mg-A1 flux-cored wires as filled composites. Weldments were submitted to tensile test. Meanwhile, the macro morphology and microstructure of the joints were examined. The result shows that the formation ofneedie-like harmful phase A14C3 is effectively inhibited and the wettability of molten pool is improved by adding Ti-Si-Mg-A1 flux-cored wires. With 15Ti-5Si-5Mg-A1 flux-cored wire as filled composite, the maximum tensile strength of the welded joint is 267 MPa, which is up to 83% that of the matrix composites under annealed condition.

Investigation of the impact toughness of self- shielded flux- cored wire girth welds for X80 pipelines

Self-shielded flux-cored wire is a convenient and efficient consumable for pipeline field girth welding because of its self-protection characteristic and high deposition rate, especially for remote construction sites in rugged terrain. From the perspective of pipeline safety, the impact toughness of the girth welds is an important factor in pipeline integrity ,which determines the crack arrest behavior in the girth welds. Therefore, improving the girth weld impact toughness is of primary importance in the field of pipeline girth welding. Three self-shielded flux-cored wires comprising different chemical composition systems have been applied to large diameter X80 UOE （U-ing-O- ing-Expanding） pipeline semi-automatic girth welding,and the impact toughness of the welds has been evaluated by girth weld chemical composition analysis and microstructural analysis using scanning electron microscopy （SEM） and energy dispersive spectrometry （EDS） to investigate pipeline girth weld impact toughness and find ways to improve it. This helps in determining the main factors that influence girth weld impact toughness. Pipeline girth weld impact toughness is mainly determined by the final microstructure produced in the solid-state phase transition. In the as-weld state,acicular ferrite （AF） and fine bainite （FB） are a benefit to the impact toughness. For multilayer semiautomatic self-shielded flux-cored wire welding, the normalizing and tempering function of the latter beads to the initial beads plays an important role in the transition of girth weld microstructure, which affects the impact toughness. The original AF and FB and the corresponding heat treatment microstructure of the fine and uniform block ferrite and pearlite result in very good impact toughness. The following two mechanisms are found to promote the production of AF and FB in the girth weld. First, elements promoting the broadening of the austenitic region, such as Ni, C, Cu, and Mn, induce low temperature phase transitions and restrain the opposing function of Al, which is a benefit to the production of AF and FB. Second, dispersed high-melting-point inclusions, especially Al2O3 ,induce the nucleated production of AF. The advantageous function of inclusions is determined by their shape, distribution, and dimension. Dispersed spherical inclusions of small dimension are a benefit to the production of AF, and result in good impact toughness.

A New Type of Submerged-Arc Flux-Cored Wire Used for Hardfacing Continuous Casting Rolls

It is expected that the welding hardfacing of continuous casting rolls has better welding performance and higher wear resistance. A new type of submerged-arc hardfacing flux-cored wire has been developed through nitrogen replacing part of carbon and addition of the nitrogen-fixing elements of niobium and titanium. And microstructure, degree of hardness and high-temperature wear resistance of its deposited metal samples were also investigated. It is found that the microstructure is martensite, residual austenite and carbonitride precipitates. As a result, the hardfacing metal with homogeneous distribution of very fine carbonitride particles had high hardness and excellent wear-re- sisting property during high-temperature wear, which could significantly extend the service life of continuous casting rolls.

Influence of Granularity and Content of Tungsten Carbide by Surfacing with Flux-cored Wire on Structure and Wear Resistance

The wire was made with foundry tungsten carbide particles as core. Iron-based tungsten carbide wearable composite coatings of different granularity and content on mild steel were prepared by the method of MIG welding. Microstructure of the welded coating was investigated. Surface hardness and wear resistance to rubber wheel were tested. The results indicate that the small particles dissolved more, which separate out with net on crystal boundary. As a result the hardness and wear resistance of that matrix are relative higher. The big particles dissolved less and tree crystal separates out along particles. The gaps of particles are big and the particles tend to fall off when the coating is worn. So the hardness and wear resistance of the matrix are relative lower. The admixture with 80% big particles and 20% small particles has the best wear resistance and its wear resistance is quintupling of that of quenched 45 steel. With particles content up to 50wt%, the hardness and wear resistance increase.

Microstructure and mechanical properties of E36 steel joint welded by underwater wet welding

The microstructure and mechanical properties of E36 steel joint welded by underwater welding using flux-cored wire are comprehensively investigated. The welding depth, welding current and welding voltage is 4 m, 130 A and 32 V, respectively. The weld metal is ferrite which varies in size, with carbide particles distributed on it, while the microstructure of HAZ is mixture of martensite of different size and some tempered structure. The microhardness of the weld metal is 190 HV. Almost all the tensile specimens fracture in weld metal and the average tensile strength of joint is 390 MPa, which is equal to 80% that of base metal. The tensile fracture morphology of joint presents obviously the characterization of brittle fracture, which displays the features of cleavage fracture and intergranular fracture.

Effect of aluminium element on microstructure and properties of weld metal of 960 MPa steel

A kind of self-protective flux cored wire has been developed for joining 960 MPa high strength steel. Weld metal containing different aluminium elements contents was obtained by changing the content of aluminum powder in the composition of the flux core. The strength and toughness of weld metal were tested by tensile test and impact test at different temperatures, and the influence mechanism of aluminium element on the microstructure and mechanical properties of weld metal was analyzed by means of metallographic microstructure observation and scanning electron microscope observation. The results show that aluminium element content on impact ductility of weld metal of 960 MPa high strength steel is great, but the influence on tensile strength and elongation of weld metal is little. With increasing aluminium element contents of weld metal, the impact energy of weld metal increases at first and then decreases, the best aluminium element content of weld metal is 0.2 wt.%. Aluminium oxide is easy to be formed in weld metal with low aluminium element contents, and the aluminium oxide can easily become nucleation particle for acicular ferrite. It is conducive to formation more acicular ferrite and will improve impact absorbing energy of weld metal. Aluminium nitride will easily formed in weld metal with high aluminium element content, and the coarse ferrite microstructure appears in weld metal and reduces impact energy of weld metal.

Narrow gap space contributes to chemical metallurgy of self-shielded arc welding

The slag-free self-shielded flux-cored wire was fabricated to apply for the narrow gap welding.The results showed that narrow gap welding shows lower welding spatter compared with hardfacing except under voltage of 30 V and current of 260 A.The deposition efficiency keeps over 90%for both 12 mm and 8 mm narrow gap welding.For 12 mm narrow gap welding,when the voltage is 28 V and the current is 264 A(or 286 A),no pores are found in the narrow gap weld.In the continuous welding process,manganese vapor,aluminum vapor and CO continuously generate to form gasbag and occupy the narrow gap space,thus protecting the droplet and molten pool from the invasion of air.

Microstructure and Mechanical Properties of High-Cr Cast Iron Bars Reinforced Hadfield Steel Matrix Composites

To obtain the compatible material of high hardness and high toughness,Hadfield steel matrix composites,reinforced by high-Cr cast iron bars made of flux-cored welding wires,which were inserted into the Hadfield steel melt,were investigated.The mechanical properties of three materials,i e,composites for as-cast and quenching-water condition,as well as Hadfield steel,were compared.The results show that the alloy powder inside flux-cored welding wires can be melted by the heat capacity of Hadfield steel melt and solidify into high-Cr cast iron bars.The impact toughness of the composite for quenching-water condition is higher than that of the composite for as-cast condition and is lower than that of the Hadfield steel,but it can still meet the requirements of hardness and toughness in industrial application.Regardless of load variation,composite for quenching-water condition shows better wear resistance than those of the composite for as-cast condition and Hadfield steel.The modified fracture toughness and wear resistance of composites are attributed to not only the combining actions of Hadfield steel matrix and high-Cr cast iron bars,but also the effect of heat treatment.

Effect of Yttrium on Toughness of Weld Metal Deposited by TiO_2－CaO Type Electrode

Effect of yttrium on low temperature toughness of weld metal deposited by TiO2-CaO type electrode has been investigated by transfering yttrium from welding pool to weld with fluxcored wire.The results show that the decrease in surface tension of liquid iron in welding pool and the variation in density of inclusion in weld are main causes for toughness improvement effect on weld by yttrium.

Effects of Nb on microstructure and wear resistance of Fe-Cr-C-B surfacing alloy

The influence of Nb on the microstructure and wear resistance of the surfacing layer was investigated by using the Fe-based flux-cored wire in the Fe-Cr-C-B system. The microstructure, microhardness and wear resistance properties of the samples were investigated by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, microhardness testing and abrasive wear testing, respectively. The results indicate that microstructures of the alloy are composed of martensite, retained austenite, M23（C,B）6 and NbC. Boride M23（C,B）6 is distributed along the grain boundaries, while NbC in shape-regular quadrilateral is distributed in martensite. The microhardness is distributed from the substrate to the surfacing layer gradiently. NbC significantly improved the wear resistance of surfacing layer.

Microstructure and Properties of Fe-Cr-C Hardfacing Alloys Reinforced with TiC-NbC

The hypereutectic Fe-Cr-C hardfacing alloys with different contents of TiB_2 and Nb were prepared by selfshielded flux cored arc welding.The microstructure of a series of hypereutectic Fe-Cr-C hardfacing alloys added with various TiB_2 and Nb contents was investigated by using optical microscopy（OM）,scanning electron microscopy（SEM）and X-ray diffraction（XRD）.In addition,their Rockwell hardness,microhardness and resistance to abrasive wear were tested.The results showed that the microstructure of a series of hypereutectic Fe-Cr-C hardfacing alloys consisted mainly of martensite,austenite,primary M7C3 carbides and eutectic M7C3 carbides.With the addition of TiB_2,a new hard-phase TiC was produced in the hardfacing alloys.And in the alloys added with TiB_2 and Nb,a new hard composite phase TiC-NbC was formed.The microhardness of the matrix was improved by adding TiB_2 and Nb,but the effect on the Rockwell hardness of Fe-Cr-C hardfacing alloys was insignificant.The addition of TiB_2 and Nb can also decrease the size of the primary M7C3 carbides and make the primary M7C3 homogeneous.As a result,the reinforced matrix,the more homogeneous primary M7C3 carbides,and the new hard-phase TiC-NbC all improved the wear resistance of Fe-Cr-C hardfacing alloys.