Experimental Investigation on Welded Joints of Dissimilar Steels

Abstract

Stainless steels and mild steels are popular materials in industrial and constructional applications. Of late, joining of these metals with lesser defects and higher strength is gaining more and more importance. Welding is an efficient way of joining two metals in order to get a high strength and permanent joint. In the current work, an experimental investigation is carried out to study the effect of TIG (Tungsten Inert Gas) and MIG (Metal Inert Gas) welding processes, when stainless steel is welded with mild steel. The scope of the current work also includes, investigating the effect of filler material on weld quality, strength and hardness of the joint when stainless steel and mild steel filler materials are used. Further, micro structural analysis is also taken up on the weld zone to study the quality of the joint. It was observed that a satisfactory bonding for steels can be achieved by both TIG welding and MIG welding processes. However higher strength and superior quality joint can be achieved with TIG welding process using stainless steel as filler metal.