Effect of SAW electrode wire preheating current on its melting rate and weldment properties of HSLA steel joint

Weld strength and quality are mostly affected by process parameters, which, in turn, influence the mechanical properties of weld metal and heat affected zone. In this research work, effect of electrode wire preheating on different responses including electrode wire melting rate, wire and plate melting efficiency, width of heat affected zone, microhardness, and corrosion rate of weld metal was studied. The experiments were carried out to accumulate the response data using the optimisation techniques. Then, the quadratic mathematical models were developed and checked the significance using the tests such as ANOVA, F-test and lack of fit. The preheat current is found to be the most contributing parameter, which efficiently enhanced the wire melting rate, wire melting efficiency and microhardness of weld metal whereas reduced the plate melting efficiency, heat affected zone (HAZ) width and corrosion rate. In addition, micrographs and micro-hardness results also confirmed the significant influence of preheat current.