Study the Effect of Welding Position and Plate Thickness to the Mechanical and Microstructural Properties of the TIG Dissimilar Metal Welded between Carbon Steel ASTM A36 and Stainless Steel 304 Plates

Dissimilar metal welding was mostly done to optimize the application and engineering requirements with economic considerations. Weld microstructures greatly influenced the mechanical properties of welded joints. The investigations were carried out to evaluate the microstructural and mechanical properties of dissimilar weldment between carbon steel ASTM A36 and austenitic stainless steel 304 with a variation of welding position (1G, 2G, 3G) and weld thickness (6 mm to 12 mm) joints by TIG welding. A detailed analysis was conducted on the weld zone composition, the microstructural, and mechanical properties. The results show that the welding position and thickness of the weld joints influenced the microstructure both in HAZ and weld metal. Size, distribution, and orientation of microstructure were improved and more uniform with increasing of welded joint thickness. In HAZ carbon steel, GB ferrite was dominant, especially for the flat welding position (1G), while for the horizontal position (2G) and the vertical welding position (3G) showed other structures such as Widmanstaten ferrite, hard-structures like martensite and bainite. In the region near the fusion line and the weld metal, the chemical composition changed due to thermal convection, diffusion, and macro-segregation caused by penetration of liquid metal carbon steel into the weld pool. SEM/EDS results indicated diffusion of carbon from carbon steel A36 to stainless steel 304 and formed the hard-structure along the fusion line. The mechanical test results showed that the tensile test breaking point occurred in the parent metal of carbon steel A36. The bending test results showed very high stress on the face side of the welding joint, and there are no cracks from the bending test result. Vickers hardness testing showed that the hardness distribution increased from the carbon steel HAZ to the stainless steel HAZ, and the maximum hardness has achieved the value of 297 Hv at the fusion line of stainless steel 304.