Influential Behavior Study of Fluxes during Activated Flux Tungsten Inert Gas Welding of IRSM 41 Steel

Activated Flux Tungsten Inert Gas welding (A-TIG) usage is gaining popularity in the fabrication industry because of its capacity to increase the depth of penetration in a single weld pass. Increased penetration eliminates the need for joint preparation and filler material, resulting in higher productivity and lower operational costs. In the present study, IRSM 41 steel plates having 8 mm thickness were welded using tungsten inert gas welding (TIG) with and without fluxes. Six multicomponent fluxes were formulated with different oxides for the current work. The influence of the fluxes on weldment properties, such as weld bead geometry, hardness, and microstructure has been studied and presented here. The implementation of fluxes decreased bead width and increased the depth of penetration and depth/width ratio of the weldments. A thorough penetration of 8 mm was achieved in a single weld pass in Flux 6 weldments. The depth of penetration and depth/width ratio has been increased to 226% and 400%, respectively, in A-TIG weldments compared with conventional TIG weldments. The average hardness of FZ, HAZ and base metal for TIG weldment was 221 +/- 24 Hv, 200.8 +/- 8 Hv and 176.7 +/- 5 Hv, respectively. The average hardness of FZ, HAZ, and base metal for A-TIG weldment was 255 +/- 1 Hv, 221.3 +/- 12 Hv, and 177 +/- 5 Hv, respectively. The results (bead geometry, microstructure, and hardness) have been correlated with the input parameters.