An Experimental Investigation on Depth of Penetration Using AR-10%H2 as a Shielding Gas in GTAW Welding of SA 240 TP 304H

Abstract

The fabrication industries are facing problems in weld penetration using only argon as a shielding gas for square-butt weld joint design. The paper investigatesthe eff ect on depth of penetration with a use of 10% hydrogen as balanced shielding gas with argon. Welding current, welding speed and gas fl ow rate areselected as welding parameters to summarize the eff ect of hydrogen on the depth of penetration. The study was carried out on square-butt welding onautogenous Tungsten Inert Gas (TIG) with nonconsumable electrode without fi ller wire. Major interest has been shown in arc power, arc effi ciency and the statisticcharacteristics of a welding arc. The resulting input process parameters were optimized with the use of response surface optimization technique.