EVALUATION OF SENSITIZATION IN GAS TUNGSTEN ARC WELDED AISI 304 STAINLESS STEEL

Abstract

In this study, the temperature distribution of an AISI 304 stainless steel during gastungsten arc welding is modeled by using the Goldak's three-dimensional moving heat source. AC++ program is developed in order to employ the heat inputs into finite difference thermalsimulation of the welded plate. By simulating the temperature distribution and shape of the weldpool, effect of welding parameters such as current and welding speed on the sensitization, weldwidth and weld depth are evaluated. Results show that the width and depth of weld and sensitizedzone increase with raising the current while the sensitization location decreases. The effect ofwelding speed is vice versa. To verify the simulated results, currents of 160, 200 and 240 A andwelding velocity of 2 mm/s are selected for experiments. Good agreement is obtained between thesimulated and experimental results.