Effect of low-intensity electromagnetic interaction on the microstructure and mechanical properties of stainless steel duplex welds

Main Article Content

Marco García Rentería
Víctor López Morelos
Rafael García Hernández

Abstract

In this work, the microstructural and mechanical characterization of 2205 duplex stainless steel plates of 6.35 mm thick were carried out. Welds were made in a single pass with the gas metal arc welding (GMAW) process by adjusting the welding parameters for a heat input of 1.4 kJ/mm and applying external electromagnetic fields of 3, 9 and 15 mT. A mixture of 98% Ar + 2% O2 was used as shielding gas. Microstructural characterization of the welded joints was focused on a quantitative analyses in terms of both area and grain size of the weld zone by using optical microscopy and image analysis. It was observed that electromagnetic interaction of low intensity (EMILI) reduces the heat affected zone size and refines the grain size in the weld metal contributing to an improvement of the ferrite/austenite phases ratio. These analyses were correlated with the increase in the mechanical efficiency in terms of tensile strength of the welded joints with EMILY due to the grain refinement of the weld metal.