Effect of oxide fluxes on activated TIG welding of AISI 316L austenitic stainless steel

In this work, activated TIG (A-TIG) welding on 8 mm thick plates of AISI 316L stainless steel was carried out. The effect of various single component fluxes and a multi-component flux on weld bead geometries was analysed. The multi-component flux mixture resulted in though thickness penetration in a single pass. Metallography of different zones was observed and weld zone was found to exhibit austenitic-ferritic microstructure. Delta ferrite content was measured with Ferritoscope and increase in delta ferrite content was observed in A-TIG weld zones as compared to base metal. From microhardness measurements, weld zone was found to be harder than the base metal due to increase in delta ferrite fraction. (C) 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.