ON CRACK SUSCEPTIBILITY IN THE SUBMERGED-ARC WELDING OF MEDIUM-CARBONSTEEL PLATES

The present paper describes cracking behaviour during the submerged ar c welding of medium carbon steel plates (0.45% C). It discusses the re sults of tests made to examine the effect of welding variables (curren t, welding speed and wire feed rate), plate fabrication conditions (ro lling reduction ratio) and plate thickness on cracking susceptibility using trans-varestraint tests. It is found that the cracking susceptib ility increases with an increase in the welding current, and decreases with an increase in the welding speed or the electrode wire feed rate . It also increases with increases in the plate rolling reduction rati o and with decreases in the plate thickness. These results have a prac tical significance for industrial fields, especially where welded mach ine spare parts are concerned. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science S.A.