Comparisons of Different Oxide Fluxes in Activated Gas Tungsten Arc Welding of Duplex Stainless Steels for Improved Depth of Penetration and Pitting Corrosion Resistance

The present work analyses the effect of five types of oxide fluxes - SiO2, TiO2, CrO3, MnO2 and MoO3 - on the depth of penetration and pitting corrosion behaviour of UNS S32205 duplex stainless steel produced with the activated tungsten inert gas welding (A-TIG) process. Five bead-on-plate (BoP) weld samples prepared autogenously with constant weld parameters. Depth of penetration (D-P), depth-to-width (D/W) ratio and weld bead width (B-W) were measured and compared with reference to the weld thermal cycle. The test results of ferrite measurement and micro-hardness were compared with normal - without flux added TIG-welded sample. Macro analysis of all samples indicates that SiO2 and TiO2 flux offer enhanced penetration depth and D/W ratio, in contrast, to use of other fluxes. Possibly, under the effect of either reversed Marangoni or arc constriction or both, however, all TIG BoP weld samples exhibited poor pitting corrosion resistance. Enhanced heat input due to flux and thus resultant unbalanced ferrite austenite proportion affected pitting corrosion resistance. ASTM A 923 microstructures did not show any presence of nitride formation. Results of energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy analysis of corrosion pits showed no abnormality with the chemistry of standard 2205 DSS.