WSEAS TRANSACTIONS on APPLIED and THEORETICAL MECHANICS Apurv Choubey, Vijaykumar S.

Jatti

Influence of Heat Input on Mechanical Properties and Microstructure

of Austenitic 202 grade Stainless Steel Weldments
APURV CHOUBEY
Assistant Professor
Symbiosis Institute of Technology (SIT)
Symbiosis International University (SIU)
Lavale, Pune-412 115, Maharashtra State
INDIA
[email protected] http://www.sitpune.edu.in

VIJAYKUMAR S. JATTI
Assistant Professor
Symbiosis Institute of Technology (SIT)
Symbiosis International University (SIU)
Lavale, Pune-412 115, Maharashtra State
INDIA
[email protected] http://www.sitpune.edu.in

Abstract: - Present research work investigates the effect of heat input (controlled by welding current, welding
voltage and welding speed) on tensile strength, micro-hardness and microstructure of austenitic 202 grade
stainless steel weldments produced by shielded metal arc welding (SMAW). The base material used in the
present investigation was Cr-Mn SS and 308L SS solid electrode was used as the filler material. From the
experimental results it was found that the increase in heat input affects the micro-constituents of base metal,
and heat affected zone (HAZ). Tensile strength decreases with increase in heat input and from scanning
electron microscopy of tensile test fractured surfaces exhibited ductile & brittle failure. From micro hardness
data values it was observed that hardness of material increases with increase in heat input in weld pool and
decreases in HAZ zone. Optical microscopy shows that smaller dendrite sizes and lesser inter-dendritic spacing
were observed in the fusion zone at low heat input. And long dendrite sizes and large inter-dendritic spacing
were observed in the fusion zone of the joint welded at high heat input. Further it was observed from the optical
micrographs that the extent of grain coarsening in the HAZ increases with increase in heat input.

Key-Words: - Austenitic stainless steel, Heat affected zone, Micro-hardness, Shielded metal arc welding,
Ductile facture, Ultimate tensile strength.

1 Introduction They are also used at temperatures that range from

Stainless steel is classified based on crystalline cryogenic temperatures, where they exhibit high
structure into three types viz. austenitic, ferritic and toughness, to elevated temperatures of nearly
martensitic. Ferritic steels have a body-centered 600°C where they exhibit good oxidation resistance.
cubic (BCC) crystal structure. They usually have Because the austenitic material is nonmagnetic, they
low nickel content and cannot be hardened by heat are sometimes used in application where magnetic
treatment. Martensitic steels are those that can be materials are not acceptable. The austenitic stainless
hardened by heat treatment. Austenitic steels have steel family is divided into two basic categories viz.
austenite as their primary phase with face centered 300-series and 200-series stainless steel. Austenitic
cubic crystal. As these alloys constitutes single stainless steels (which contain 18% Cr–8% Ni) are
phase, they can be strengthened by work hardening engineering materials widely used in many branches
or solid solution alloying. They find application in of industry, especially in the food and beverage
both mild and severe corrosive condition due to manufacturing and processing sector, due to their
presence of chromium in austenitic stainless steel. attractive combination of good mechanical
properties, formability, and corrosion resistance.

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Their corrosion resistance is afforded by a thin simultaneously considering multiple output

Cr2O3 surface film (typically 1–3 nm thick), known variables. In order to understand the micro-
as passive film, which has self-healing capability in structural changes occurring in the weld zone is
a wide variety of environments (Sedriks and Olsson investigated through the optical microscopy. The
et al.). Viano et al. investigated the effect of heat hardness measurements were taken across the fusion
input and travel speed on microstructural zone. Kianersi et al. optimized welding parameters
characteristics and mechanical properties of welds namely welding current and time in resistance spot
in 20 mm thickness high strength low alloy steel welding (RSW) of the austenitic stainless steel
HSLA 80, of Australian manufacture. They found sheets grade AISI 316L. Then the effect of optimum
that as the heat input is increased, the cooling rate welding parameters on the resistance spot welding
decreased resulting in a larger cellular dendritic cell properties and microstructure of AISI 316L
spacing, decreased acicular ferrite content, and austenitic stainless steel sheets has been
coarser acicular ferrite laths. The effect of travel investigated. Aim of this study is to evaluate the
speed on delta ferrite cell spacing and prior austenite effect of heat input on tensile strength, micro-
grain size was found to be co-dependent on the heat hardness and microstructure of austenitic 202 grade
input and the thermal profile resulting from multiple stainless steel weldments produced by shielded
electrodes welding. Prasad and Dwivedi metal arc welding.
investigated the influence of the submerged arc
welding (SAW) process parameters on the
microstructure, hardness, and toughness of HSLA
2 Material and Methods
To study the influence of heat input on
steel weld joints. Results showed that the increase in
microstructure and mechanical properties of 202
heat input coarsens the grain structure both in the
grade stainless steel work material shielded metal
weld metal and heat affected zone (HAZ). The
arc welding process was employed. The base
hardness has been found to vary from the weld
material used in the present investigation was in the
centre line to base metal and peak hardness was
form of 202 SS plates of sizes 150 mm X 75 mm
found in the HAZ. Prasad et al. describes the effect
X 3mm which were cut using wire-cut electrical
of heat input on the microstructure and tensile
discharge machine from a rolled sheet and the filler
properties of high strength low alloy steel
was “AWS E308L-16” solid electrode of 3.15 mm
weldments produced by submerged arc welding.
diameter. Table 1 shows the chemical composition
Results showed that the increase in the heat input
of the base and the filler used.
affects the proportions of different micro-
constituents both in the weld metal and heat affected
zone. It is observed that the tensile strength (UTS, Table1 Chemical composition
YS) decreases with increase in heat input and
scanning electron microscopy of tensile test
fractured surfaces usually exhibited ductile failure.
Viano et al. showed an micro-structural analysis and
mechanical properties of welds in 20 mm thickness
high strength low alloy steel HSLA 80 and
specimens were prepared using the double tandem
(four wire) submerged arc welding process in which
both heat input and travel speed were varied. The
inclusion size distribution was determined for
selected welds and showed that heat input had a
major effect. Karthik et al. studied the weldability
properties of the shielded metal arc welded and
welded and tungsten inert gas welded austenitic 304
In the present work double V-groove design was
stainless. Both the process showed the tensile
used so that welding could be accomplished
strength below the base metal value but the TIG
ensuring full penetration. Before welding all the
welding better fracture strength than SMAW.
edges were thoroughly cleaned in order to avoid any
Sathiya et al. studied the bead-on -plate welds on
source of contamination like rust, scale, dust, oil,
AISI 904 L super austenitic stainless steel sheets
moisture that could creep into the weld metal and
using gas metal arc welding process. From the
later on could result possibly into a weld defect.
experimental results, the gray relational analysis is
Bead-on-plate SMAW was performed along the
applied to optimize the input parameters

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centre line of solution annealed plates using study. The reason for using these specific welding
electrode “AWS E308L-16” of diameter 3.15 mm. current values was twofold firstly, this spectrum of
The samples were denoted by A, B, C as shown in heat input combinations results in arc energies
Fig. 1. Sample A of (75 A, 100 A, 125 A) were then which are sufficient to cause adequate fusion of the
ethched chemically in order to see the penetration base and weld metal selected for the present study
macroscopically as well as to take optical and secondly, a step increase of 25 A was
microstructures of welded area. Sample B of (75 A, anticipated to be sufficient enough to cause a direct
100 A, 125 A) were polished at various grit papers and significant influence on the microstructure and
and after cloth polishing micro-hardness were tensile properties of the welded joints. During and
performed perpendicularly along weld pool, HAZ after welding the joints were visually inspected for
region and base metal. Sample C of (75 A, 100 A, their quality and it was ensured that all weld beads
125 A) were used for tensile testing and its possessed good geometrical consistency and were
fractography. free from visible defects like surface porosity, blow
holes etc. Figure 2 shows the plates in the as welded
condition using different heat inputs.

Table 2 Welding process parameters

Voltage Current Welding Heat Input

(V) (A) Speed (KJ/mm)
(mm/sec)

35 75 2.50 0.787

35 100 2.50 1.050

Fig.1 Bead-on-plate SMAW
35 125 2.50 1.312
After tacking the plates together the weld pass was
given using SMAW process with welding
conditions as mentioned in Table 2. Although
SMAW process was used in the manual mode, still
utmost care was taken during recording of the arc on
time so as to facilitate calculations of heat input. It
is worth mentioning here that the best welding
practice available in the fabrication industry was
used in the present work. It is a well established fact
that among all the welding variables in arc welding
processes welding current is the most influential
variable since it affects the current density and thus
the melting rate of the filler as well as the base
Fig.2 Welded samples at different heat inputs
material. A rest time of 30 seconds was allowed
after every subsequent pass.
In order to observe the micro-structural changes that
Heat input was calculated according to equation 1:
take place during welding, corresponding to each
heat input combination; specimens were machined
out from the weld pads. After polishing and macro
(1) etching the cross sections of the joints were captured
where, H= heat input in KJ/mm, η= efficiency = with the help of image analysis software coupled
0.75 for SMAW, V= voltage in volts, I= current in with a stereo zoom microscope at a magnification of
amperes, ν= welding speed in mm/sec. 100X to facilitate measuring of the details like cross
sectional areas of the fusion zone and HAZ.
So in accordance with this fundamental fact three Standard polishing procedures were used for general
different heat input combinations corresponding to micro-structural observations. Microstructures of
different welding currents i.e. 75 A (low heat input), different zones of interest like weld metal, HAZ and
100 A (medium heat input) and 125 A (high heat fusion boundary under different heat input
input) combinations were selected for the present combinations were viewed and captured with an

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optical microscope (Zeiss Axiolab) coupled with an

image analyzing software. The tensile specimen had
a gauge length of 50 mm and they were fractured in
an Instron machine as shown in Figure 3 with a
cross head speed of 10 mm/min. During
fractography the fractured ends of the tensile tested
specimens were analyzed using scanning electron
microscopy (SEM) to assess the nature of the
fracture mode. The fractured surfaces of the tensile
specimen were studied using JOEL; JSM Model
5900 LV SEM. All samples were examined at an
accelerating voltage of 20 KV. The sampling of
machined specimens at different heat input Fig.4 b) Optical micrograph at medium heat input
conditions were used measuring micro-hardness of
different zones of the weldments. Vickers ‟s micro
hardness testing machine with a load of 300 gms
was used in this study.

Fig.4 c) Optical micrograph at high heat input

3.1 Micro-hardness of austenitic stainless

steel
Micro hardness measurements were taken in the
transverse direction i.e. perpendicular to the base
plate surface plate surface and the same are shown
Fig.3 Tensile test setup in figure 5a and 5b. Figure also shows that the micro
hardness near the top of the weld bead surface is
3 Results and Discussions high and as the centre of the fusion/weld zone is
approached by the indentor it gradually reduces,
This section illustrates the results obtained from the
which is due to the fact that cooling rate is relatively
optical micrograph and tensile test. The
higher at the top of the weld bead surface than at the
microstructures of fusion boundary and heat
centre of the weld metal. From table 3, it is observed
affected zone produced during welding at varying
that as the indentor traverses outwards (parallel to
heat input conditions are shown in figure 4a, 4b and
the base plate surface) from the centre of the
4c, which also shows the welded region, narrow
weld/fusion zone towards the fusion boundary,
fusion zone and initiation of HAZ.
micro hardness increases from 207.3 VHN for low
heat input, 194 VHN for medium heat and 181 VHN
for high heat input welded joint around HAZ region.

Table 3 Micro hardness values at different weld

regions

Fig.4 a) Optical micrograph at low heat input

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steep rise in the micro hardness with value of 218.7

VHN, 230.6 VHN and 258.4 VHN respectively for
low, medium and high heat input as shown in
figure 6. High hardness as possessed by the fusion
boundary zone (FBZ) in all the joints can be
attributed to the presence of partially unmelted
grains at the fusion boundary which are partially
adopted as nuclei by the new precipitating phase of
the weld metal during the solidification stage. After
reaching this peak value micro hardness shows a
decreasing trend in the HAZ. In all the joints, HAZ
area adjacent to the fusion boundary was coarse
grained HAZ (CGHAZ) which possessed low
hardness whereas the HAZ area adjacent to the base
metal was fine grained HAZ (FGHAZ) which
Fig.5 a) Micro hardness at different zones of the
possessed high hardness. The reason for this trend
weldments at different heat inputs
of micro hardness in the HAZ of all the joints is that
the area adjacent to the weld/fusion zone
experiences relatively slow cooling rate and hence
has coarse grained microstructure, whereas the area
adjoining the base metal undergoes high cooling
rate due to steeper thermal gradients and
consequently has fine grained microstructure. This
is evident from the trend depicted by the micro
hardness profile within the HAZ of each of these
joints. In general it is observed from these micro
hardness studies that hardness follows an increasing
trend in the order of weld metal, HAZ, unaffected
base metal and fusion boundary for all the joints
made at different heat inputs. It is also observed that
there is significant grain coarsening in the HAZs of
all the joints. Further it is observed from the optical
micrographs shown that the extent of grain
coarsening in the HAZ increases with increase in
Fig.5 b) Micro hardness at different points of the heat input (figure 4a, 4b & 4c).
weldments at different heat inputs
3.2 Tensile strength of weldment

The transverse tensile strength of all the joints made

using different heat input conditions has been
evaluated. In each condition three specimens were
tested and the average tensile strength of three
specimens per heat input and their corresponding
percentage elongations thus obtained is mentioned
in table 4. The tensile results so obtained show that
maximum tensile strength of 640 MPa is possessed
by the specimens made using low heat input
combination followed by 605 MPa using medium
heat input and 586 MPa using high heat input
combination. The high tensile strength and ductility
Fig.6 Micro hardness along weld pool, HAZ and is possessed by the joints at low heat input, which
base metal at different heat input can be attributed to smaller dendrite sizes and lesser
inter-dendritic spacing in the fusion zone. Relatively
Fusion boundary or transition zone encountered lower tensile strength and ductility is possessed by
while traversing in this direction is indicated by a the joints with long dendrite sizes and large inter-

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dendritic spacing in the fusion zone of the joint

welded using high heat input as shown in figure 7.
Further it is found that all the tensile specimens
fractured in the HAZ zone.
Table 4 Tensile test results

Fig.8 b) Partial brittle fracture at medium heat input

Fig.8 c) River like structure shows brittle fracture at

Fig.7 Tensile strength at different heat input high heat input

The fractured surfaces of the tensile specimens are 3.3.1 Effect of welding parameters on hardness of
shown figure 8a, 8b and 8c. Dimples of varying size austenitic stainless steel
and shape were observed in all the fractured Tensile strength of austenitic stainless steel
surfaces. From figure 8a, it is observed that decreases with increase in welding parameters
fractured surface of the specimen at low heat input (welding current, voltage, and welding speed)
contains a large population of small and shallow because it is shown that during low heat input
dimples which is indicative of its relatively high conditions width of HAZ is very small around the
tensile strength and ductility. From figure 8b & 8c, fusion zone which varies when changes to higher
it is observed that as heat input increases coarse and heat input. During higher heat input carbides
elongated dimples are observed. It is also observed precipitates a lot along the grain boundaries leading
that small dimples are surrounded by the large ones to sensitized zone around grain boundaries which
in all the specimens and a small quantity of tearing helps in grain coarsening of HAZ zone and decrease
ridge is also present. in hardness around that area and finally the
specimen undergoes brittle fracture at last under
proper loading conditions. Micro-structural details
of the weld metal in terms of dendrite size and cell
spacing, indicates that high tensile strength and
ductility is possessed by the joints at low heat input,
which can be attributed to smaller dendrite sizes and
lesser inter-dendritic spacing in the fusion zone.
Relatively lower tensile strength and ductility is
possessed by the joints with long dendrite sizes and
large inter-dendritic spacing in the fusion zone of
the joint welded using high heat input.
Fig.8 a) Dimple like structure shows ductile fracture
at low heat input

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4 Conclusions double tandem submerged arc high strength low

This study discusses the effect of heat input on alloy steel weldments, Science and Technology
tensile strength, micro-hardness and microstructure of Welding & Joining, Vol.5(1), 2000, pp. 26-
of austenitic 202 grade stainless steel weldments. 34.
Shielded metal arc welding was employed to weld [4] K. Prasad, D. K. Dwivedi , Some investigations
the austenitic 202 grade stainless steel using 308L on microstructure and mechanical properties of
stainless steel solid electrode as the filler material. submerged arc welded HSLA steel joints,
From the experimental results it was found that the International Journal of Advanced
increase in heat input affects the micro-constituents Manufacturing Technology, Vol.36(5) , 2008,
of base metal, and heat affected zone (HAZ). pp. 475-483.
Experimental results showed that in fusion boundary [5] K. Prasad, D. K. Dwivedi, Microstructure and
there is a steep rise in the micro hardness with value Tensile Properties of Submerged Arc Welded
of 218.7 VHN, 230.6 VHN and 258.4 VHN 1.25Cr-0.5Mo Steel Joints, Materials and
respectively for low, medium and high heat input Manufacturing Processes, Vol. 23(5), 2008, pp.
respectively. In all the joints, HAZ area adjacent to 463-468.
the fusion boundary was coarse grained HAZ which [6] D.M. Viano, N.U. Ahmed, G.O. Schumann,
possessed low hardness whereas the HAZ area Influence of heat input and travel speed on
adjacent to the base metal was fine grained HAZ microstructure and mechanical properties of
which possessed high hardness. It is also observed double tandem submerged arc high strength low
that there is significant grain coarsening in the alloy steel weldments, Journal of science and
HAZs of all the joints. Further it is observed from technology of welding and joining, Vol.5, 2000,
the optical micrographs that the extent of grain pp. 26-34.
coarsening in the HAZ increases with increase in [7] G. Karthik, P. Karuppuswamy, V. Amarnath,
heat input. Tensile strength of austenitic stainless Comparative Evaluation of Mechanical
steel decreases with increase in welding parameters Properties and Micro Structural Characteristics
because it is shown that during low heat input of 304 Stainless Steel Weldments in TIG and
conditions width of HAZ is very small around the SMAW Welding Processes, International
fusion zone which varies when changes to higher Journal of Current Engineering and Technology,
heat input. Micro-structural details of the weld metal 2014, pp.200-206.
in terms of dendrite size and cell spacing, indicates [8] P. Sathiya, S. Aravindan, P.M. Ajith,
that high tensile strength and ductility is possessed B. Arivazhagan, A. Noorul Haq, Microstructural
by the joints at low heat input, which can be characteristics on bead on plate welding of AISI
attributed to smaller dendrite sizes and lesser inter- 904 L super austenitic stainless steel using Gas
dendritic spacing in the fusion zone. Relatively metal arc welding process, International Journal
lower tensile strength and ductility is possessed by of Engineering, Science and Technology, Vol.
the joints with long dendrite sizes and large inter- 2(6), 2010, pp. 189-199.
dendritic spacing in the fusion zone of the joint [9] D. Kianersi, A. Mostafaei, A. A. Amadeh,
welded using high heat input. Scanning electron Resistance spot welding joints of AISI 316L
microscopy showed that specimen fails due to austenitic stainless steel sheets: Phase
ductile fracture at low heat input, specimen fails due transformations, mechanical properties and
to partial brittle fracture at medium heat input and microstructure characterizations, Materials and
specimen fails due to brittle fracture at high heat Design 61, 2014, pp. 251–263.
input.

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[1] A.J. Sedriks, Corrosion of stainless steel. 2nd
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Electrochimica Acta, Vol. 48(9), 2003, pp.1093-
1104.
[3] D.M. Viano, N.U. Ahmed, G.O. Schumann,
Influence of heat input and travel speed on
microstructure and mechanical properties of

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