Effect of filler material on the microwave joining of SS-430 steel

ABSTRACT

In this research paper, the ferritic stainless steel (SS)-430 was butt-joined using nickel (Ni) and austenitic stainless steel (SS-316 L) as interface powder materials. The trials were conducted using a home microwave device that ran at 2.45 GHz and 1000 W. The fabricated weldments demonstrated metallurgical bonding of the SS-430 faying surfaces with the Ni and SS-316 L-based filler materials. The presence of various carbide phases in the joint region of both Ni and SS-316 L-based filler materials was discovered using XRD investigation. The formation of various carbides particle was significantly high in case of joint formed with Ni-based filler materials as compared to the SS-316 L-based filler materials. Microhardness of the joint zone was reported as 310 ± 25 HV and 290 ± 11 HV for weldment obtained with Ni and SS-316 L-based filler materials. The tensile strength of weldment fabricated with SS-316 L-based filler materials (416.70 MPa) is significantly high as compared to weldment fabricated with Ni-based filler materials (318.70 MPa). This was because of the presence of relatively harder carbide particles present in the joint of Ni-based filler materials, which significantly reduces the ductility and tensile strength of the fabricated weldment.

KEYWORDS:

• Microwave
• hybrid
• hardness
• joints
• welding
• ferrite

Acknowledgment

The authors are thankful to the department of science and technology (DST) for donating experimental facility created at the IK Gujral Punjab Technical University through project (SRG/2019/001182).

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

The work was supported by the Science and Engineering Research Board [SRG/2019/001182]