EFFECT OF SUBMERGED-ARC WELDING PARAMETERS AND FLUXES ON ELEMENT TRANSFER BEHAVIOR AND WELD-METAL CHEMISTRY

The influence of submerged arc welding (SAW) parameters and flux basic ity index on the weld chemistry and transfer of elements manganese, si licon, carbon and sulphur has been investigated, five fluxes and diffe rent values of the welding parameters being used for study. The welds were produced as a bead on a mild-steel plate. The weld-metal composit ion showed, in general, gain of silicon and loss of carbon, manganese and sulphur elements. The results show that welding current and voltag e have an appreciable influence on element transfer, as well as on wel d composition. On the other hand, except for weld-metal silicon, the b asicity index of the fluxes has only a minor influence. Weldments prop erties such as strength, toughness and solidification cracking behavio ur are affected by chemical composition. Data reported in this paper c an be used to specify welding variables for desired weld composition.