Experimental and numerical investigation on optimization of welding parameters and prediction of temperature distribution during shielded metal arc welding of ultra high hard armor steel joints

Abstract

In this investigation, Ultra-high Hard Armor (UHA) steel plate by Shielded Metal Arc Welding (SMAW) process using the Austenitic Stainless Steel (ASS) electrode. In the first part of this investigation, using the finite element method (FEM), thermal analysis parameters were optimized using bead on plate welds in software code, known as SYSWELD. In the second part, using optimized parameters, a coupled thermo-mechanical analysis on multipass welded fabrication was carried out. Weld thermal cycles were analyzed by simulation and compared with experimentally measured temperature profiles. A double ellipsoidal heat source model was used to simulate the SMAW process. The heating rate and cooling rate were calculated along with residual stresses. This range of heating and cooling rate resulted in untempered martensite in the heat-affected zone (HAZ), confirmed by microstructure analysis and hardness mapping. Good validation was found between the measured and simulated 2D model with a 4–10% variation. This study suggests that numerical simulation is the capable technique in understanding the thermal and mechanical properties that influence the welding of ultra-high hard armor steels joints.

Keywords:

• Finite element analysis
• hardness
• microstructure and residual stress
• optimization
• shielded metal arc welding
• ultra high hard armor steel
• weld thermal cycle

Acknowledgements

The authors wish to record sincere thanks to Extramural Research & Intellectual Property (ERIPR), DRDO, Ministry of Defence, New Delhi for the financial support rendered through an R&D project no: EPIR/EP/RIC/2016/1/M/01/1630. The authors wish to thank the Director, Research & Innovation Centre (RIC), DRDO, Chennai for his constant help and support. The authors are grateful to the Director, CVRDE, Avadi, Chennai for providing base materials to carry out this investigation. The authors gratefully acknowledge the help rendered by Dr. M. VASUDEVAN, Scientific Officer-H, MTD Division and Mr. A.R.Pavan Research scholar, IGCAR, Kalpakkam during simulation work.

Disclosure statement

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

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Defence Research and Development Organisation [R&D project no: EPIR/EP/RIC/2016/1/M/01/1630].