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Effect of the welding method on the structure and

properties of welded joints in dissimilar steels
a a a
S.F. Gnyusov , A.A. Khaidarova & B.F. Sovetchenko
a
Tomsk Polytechnical University , Tomsk, 634050, Russia
Published online: 04 May 2011.

To cite this article: S.F. Gnyusov , A.A. Khaidarova & B.F. Sovetchenko (2011) Effect of the welding method on
the structure and properties of welded joints in dissimilar steels, Welding International, 25:06, 444-449, DOI:
10.1080/09507116.2011.554237

To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09507116.2011.554237

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 Welding International
Vol. 25, No. 6, June 2011, 444–449
Selected from Svarochnoe Proizvodstvo 2009 62(12) 3 – 9

Effect of the welding method on the structure and properties of welded joints in dissimilar steels
S.F. Gnyusov, A.A. Khaidarova and B.F. Sovetchenko
Tomsk Polytechnical University, Tomsk 634050, Russia

Influence of pulsed-arc welding condition values and of electrodes OZL-8, NIAT-5, and EA-395/9 on the structure and
properties of two-layer steel (12Cr18Ni7Ti steel) is studied. The most significant parameters influencing the welded joints’
properties are established. On the base of the welds’ bend angles analysis, optimal pulsed-arc welding conditions and an
electrode type are determined for two-layer steel welding.
Keywords: welded joints; heterogeneous steels; pulsed-arc welding; mode parameters

Introduction EA-395/9 electrodes showed the best results in the

It was shown by Gnyusov et al.1 that the corrosion development of the process of manual arc welding of the
Downloaded by [University of Connecticut] at 18:08 09 October 2014

protection of welded joints in processing pipelines can be
ensured using ends produced from stainless steel, inserted
into the pipe in the area of the welded joint. However, in
welding two-layer pipes (steel 20-12Cr18Ni7Ti steel),
there is a large number of difficulties associated with the
difference in the properties of steels and the formation of a
stress concentrator at the interface of the steels. Taking
into account the results published by Gnyusov et al.1, to
produce welded joints in pipes with a sufficiently high
strength it is recommended to use electrodes with the
composition similar to the composition of the high-alloy
steels, reduce the penetration of the parent metal, and,
consequently, the size of the transition interface between
the dissimilar steels. The last condition can be fulfilled in
welding with regulated current and heat input2. It is well
known3 that the depth of penetration of the parent metal
in pulsed-arc welding can be efficiently regulated.
Therefore, the aim of the present work is to solve the
problem of determination of the optimum conditions of
pulsed-arc welding of two-layer pipes (steel 20-
12Cr80Ni7Ti steel).
Experimental material and procedure
The technology of pulsed-arc welding of the two-layer
steel (steel 20-12Cr18Ni10Ti steel) was developed on
permanent joints produced by nine procedures (Table 1).
Welding was carried out on flat specimens using a backing
sheet for more efficient formation of the weld pool metal
(Figure 1(a)). The edges of the welded specimens
were prepared in accordance with the scheme shown in
Figure 1(b). The welded joint was produced in three
passes: the root pass, the filling pass, and the facing pass
with gradual cooling (Figure 1(b)). Pulsed-arc welding
was carried out using rectangular current pulses maximiz-
ing the duration of the effect of the active current of the
pulse (Figure 2). To ensure stable welding in the break
period, the fracture of the bridges between the electrode
and the weld pool was artificially activated4,5.
Welding was carried out with the electrodes EA-395/9,
NIAT-5 (type EA-3M6), and OZL-8 (type EA-1a). The
ISSN 0950-7116 print/ISSN 1754-2138 online
q 2011 Taylor & Francis
DOI: 10.1080/09507116.2011.554237
http://www.informaworld.com
two-layer pipes with direct current1. The NIAT-5
electrodes, belonging in the same group, are characterized
by the absence of nitrogen to the chemical composition of
the deposited metal (Table 2)6 – 8. The electrodes of the
EA-1a type, designed for welding stainless austenitic
chromium-nickel steels, were selected taking into account
the properties of the 12Cr18Ni10T steel. The diameter of
all the electrodes was 3 mm. The heat input in DC welding
was9
q hI w U a
¼ ; ð1Þ
V vw
where h is the effective efficiency of heating the metal (in
manual arc welding with coated electrodes h ¼ 0.70–
0.85), Ua is the arc voltage (V), Iw is the welding current
(A), and vw is the welding speed (cm/s).
The welding speed is 9 cm/s.
kI w
vw ¼ ; ð2Þ
Fr
where k is the deposition factor of the electrode (g/(A·h));
Iw is the welding current (A), F is the cross-sectional area
of the welded joint (cm2), r is the density of the weld
metal, in the case of steel it is 7.85 g/cm3.
In pulsed-arc welding, the heat input was determined
from the calculated value of welding current Ic which
depends on the ‘severity’ of the welding conditions10,11:
q hI c U a Ip
¼ ; Ic ¼ ; ð3Þ
V vw 1 þ t b =t p
where Ip is the pulse current (A), tp is the pulsed current
time (ms), and tb is the break current time.
Table 3 gives the values of heat input, welding speed,
and welding current for each variant of welding the joints
in welding of the root, the filling pass, and the facing pass.
After the formation of the welded joint, the sheets were
sectioned into specimens 20-mm wide for the static bend
test in accordance with the requirements of the GOST
6996-66 and SNiP III-48-80 standards. Six bend test
 Welding International 445

Table 1.

Regime No. Electrode Iw tp (ms) tb (ms) Ua (V)

1.1 OZL-8 Ip ¼ 145 A, Ib ¼ 45 A 80 260 21
1.2 Ip ¼ 145 A, Ib ¼ 45 A 250 260 23
1.3 Iw ¼ 90 A – – 24
2.1 NIAT-5 Ip ¼ 145 A, Ib ¼ 45 A 80 260 21
2.2 Ip ¼ 145 A, Ib ¼ 45 A 250 260 23
2.3 Iw ¼ 90 A – – 24
3.1 EA-395/9 Ip ¼ 145 A, Ib ¼ 45 A 80 260 21
3.2 Ip ¼ 145 A, Ib ¼ 45 A 250 260 23
3.3 Iw ¼ 90 A – – 24
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Figure 1. (a) External appearance of the welding and (b) the shape of edge preparation.

Figure 2. Oscillogram of current in welding circuit (vertical axis mi ¼ 50 A/div, horizontal mt ¼ 100 ms/div).

specimens were produced for each variant. In the
specimens, the weld root was situated in the tensile-
loaded fibres, and six specimens were produced with the
facing layer positioned in the tensile-loaded fibres.
The structure of the welded joints was examined by
metallographic techniques using a METAM-LV31 optical
microscope fitted with a digital camera for recording
images in a computer. The etching agent for the
development of the structure of steel 20 was 4% solution
of HNO3 in C2H5OH. The structure of the weld metal and
12Cr80Ni10Ti steel was developed using the etching agent
HNO3: HCl ¼ 1:1. The size of the dendrites and the grains
of the deposited metal were determined using the
procedure described by Levin12. The microhardness of

Table 2.

Content (%)
Electrode C Si MN Cr Ni Ti Mo N S P
OZL-8 0.08 0.58 1.4 20 8.8 – – #0.02 #0.03
NIAT-5 0.11 0.5 1.7 15 24 6 – #0.03 #0.03
EA-395/9 0.09 0.7 1.6 15.5 25 5.8 0.12 #0.02 #0.03
Steel 20 0.17 – 0.24 0.07 0.25– 0.5 0.25 0.25 – – 0.04 0.035
Steel 12Cr18Ni10Ti 0.1– 0.13 0.8 2 17 – 19 9 – 11 0.5– 0.7 – – 0.02 0.035
 446 S.F. Gnyusov et al.
Table 3.
Root pass
Iw (A) Regime No. Vw (cm/s) q/V (kJ/cm)
34.1 1.1 0.04 13.6
2.1 0.04 14.1
3.1 0.04 16.2
71.1 1.2 0.09 14.9
2.2 0.09 15.5
3.2 0.08 17.7
90 1.3 0.12 15.5
2.3 0.11 16.1
3.3 0.10 18.5
the sections was measured in equipment PMT-three
(GOST 9450-76) with a step of 150 mm in the thickness at
a load of 0.981 N.
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Experimental results and discussion
Analysis of the calculations of heat input (Table 3) shows
that the lowest hardness is recorded in welding by the first
variant in which the duration of the pulse current is shorter
than the duration of the break current by almost a factor of
3. The smallest amount of heat, introduced into the weld
metal, results in rapid cooling of the weld pool and,
consequently, the formation of a slag. Analysis of the
microstructure of the weld metal of the welded joint Nos
1.1, 2.1, and 3.1 indicates the presence of slag inclusions in
the deposited metal (Figure 3(a,d,g)). No defects were
found in the weld metal of the specimens produced by the
second and third variants in which the heat input was
higher (Figure 3(b,c,e,f,h,i)).
All nine variants of the welded joint in the
microstructure of the deposited metal throughout the
thickness have a dendritic structure (Figure 4). The length
of the dendrites L in the different welding conditions
greatly differs. Analysis of the histogram of the length of
the dendrites (Figure 5(a) and Table 4) shows that, first, the
mean length of the dendrites in pulsed-arc welding is
shorter than that in DC welding and, secondly, in pulsed-
arc welding, the application of the OZL-8 electrodes with
the pulse current time of 250 ms produces the smallest
dendrites whose length is half (L ¼ 0.65 mm) the length of
the dendrites in DC welding (L ¼ 1.3 mm).
Comparison of the length of the dendrites of the
deposited metal produced using the electrodes of the same
type, EA-3M6, shows that they differ only in the presence
(EA-395/9) or absence (NIAT-5) of nitrogen in their
chemical composition. Therefore, it may be concluded that
the mean length of the dendrites is 1.4 times greater when
using the EA-395/9 electrodes in comparison with NIAT-5
electrodes (Figure 5(a)). The effect of nitrogen on the grain
growth of austenite is associated with at least two reasons.
The first reason – it is well known that the nitrogen not
bonded in stable nitrides13 has an accelerating effect on the
austenite grain growth. This is especially evident in steels
with no strong nitride-forming elements (vanadium and
aluminium) and is characteristic of the electrodes EA-
395/9 and of the welded metal investigated in the present
Filling pass Facing pass
vw (cm/s) q/V (kJ/cm) Vw (cm/s) q/V (kJ/cm)
0.05 12.4 0.02 27.2
0.05 12.9 0.02 28.2
0.04 14.8 0.02 32.4
0.1 13.6 0.05 29.7
0.1 14.1 0.04 30.9
0.09 16.2 0.04 35.5
0.13 14.2 0.06 31.0
0.12 14.8 0.06 32.3
0.11 16.9 0.05 37.3
work (Table 2). The second reason – even in the presence
of chromium nitrides, the time to the start of austenite
grain growth is shorter than the time to complete
dissolution of these compounds14. In particular, this is
characteristic of short-term heating dummy welding.
The dendrites oriented in the same direction form
packets with distinctive etched boundaries (Figure 4).
According to Babaskin15, the dendrite packets can be
regarded as grains with the misorientation changing from
several to tens of degrees. In the weld metal of the welded
joints produced with constant arc power supply, the
adjacent dendrite packets are characterized by small
misorientation (Figure 4(b)). In subsequent bend testing or
service, this arrangement of dendrite columns may act as
the direction of propagation of a crack along the boundary
of the dendrites through the entire thickness of the welded
joint.
In the weld metal of the welded joints, produced by
pulsed-arc welding, the angles between the directions
of dendrites growth differ and in some cases reach
908 (Figure 4(a)). This structure of the weld metal may
create suitable conditions for partial relaxation of both the
general level of temperature stresses and of the area of
localization and the concentrators. When a crack forms,
this misorientation structure of the grains may reduce the
rate of crack propagation or reduce the energy as a result of
multiple branching of the cracks.
In the calculation of the mean values of the width b of
the grains of the dendrite packets, it was found that they
change in the range of 0.23– 0.26 mm, depending on the
welding conditions and electrodes used in welding.
Analysis of width b, length L, and misorientation angle
b of the grains indicates that pulsed-arc welding has the
strongest effect on the length and misorientation angle of
the grains. It is well known that the high-mechanical
properties, with other conditions being equal, are obtained
with the well-developed equiaxed structure of the grains.
Comparison of the width and length of the grains shows
that they are equiaxed. The value of the coefficient k, equal
to the ratio of the width of the grains b to the length of the
grains L, also indicates that the structure is equiaxed. The
highest coefficient k ¼ 0.3 was recorded for the welded
joints produced in pulsed-arc welding with the electrodes
NIAT-5 and EA-395/9 (Ip ¼ 18 ms) and OZL-8 electrodes
(Ip ¼ 250 ms) (Figure 5(b) and Table 4).
 Welding International 447
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Figure 3. Microstructure of the welded metals produced with the electrodes OZL-8 (a– c), NIAT-5 (d– f), EA-395/9 (g – i) in the first
(a,d,g), second (b,e,h), and third (c,f,i) variants.

It is well known16,17 that in the presence of the
structure with finer and equiaxed grains, the grain
boundaries act as barriers to the movement of the
dislocations increasing the strengths and hardness of the
welded joint and preventing crack formation. This
dependence is governed by the Hall –Petch law
HVðsT Þ ¼ s0 þ ky D 21=2 ;
where HV is the hardness, sT is the yield limit, s0 is the
internal stress preventing the propagation of plastic shear
in the body of the grain, ky is the proportionality
coefficient, and D is the mean grain size.
Comparing the mean values of the microhardness of
the weld metals obtained in all nine variants of producing
the welded joints, it may be seen that they greatly differ
ð4Þ from each other by almost up to 450 – 500 MPa (Table 4).

Figure 4. The microstructure of the weld metal produced with OZL-8 electrodes by the second (a) and third (b) welding variants.
 448 S.F. Gnyusov et al.

Figure 5. Distribution of the mean length of the dendrites (a) and the equiaxed structure of the grains (b) in relation to the method of
producing the welded joint.

Table 4.
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Regime No. Defect L (mm) K ¼ b/L H # (MPa) DH # (MPa) b (8) Bend angle (8) Fracture
1.1 Slag inclusions 1.1 0.2 2240 ^ 440 980 68 124 HAZ
1.2 No defects 0.65 0.3 2220 ^ 590 800 70 130 No
00
1.3 1.3 0.18 2030 ^ 490 500 10 85 Weld
2.1 Slag inclusion 0.74 0.3 2380 ^ 370 1700 56 69 HAZ
00
2.2 No defects 0.9 0.25 1930 ^ 740 850 67 101
00
2.3 1 0.22 1910 ^ 350 900 15 62 HAZ, weld
3.1 Slag inclusions 0.95 0.3 2190 ^ 514 900 70 130 No
3.2 No defects 1.1 0.24 2180 ^ 470 850 67 127 Weld
00
3.3 1.41 0.18 1820 ^ 350 1000 10 90 HAZ, weld

The most uniform distribution of microhardness in the
thickness of the deposited metal was observed in the
welded joints produced by the second variant irrespective
of the type of the electrode, with the pulsed current time of
250 ms. The general level of microhardness of the welded
joints, produced with the OZL-8 electrodes, is higher as a
result of the smaller length of the dendrites, the higher
degree of development of the equiaxed structure, and the
angle of misorientation of the grains (Table 4).
Taking into account the fact that welding with the
austenitic electrodes may result in the formation of non-
equilibrium structures in the fusion zone with steel 20, the
distribution of microhardness in the weld centre –heat-
affected zone (HAZ) –steel 20 direction was plotted for all
variants of the welded joint. It may be seen that the largest
difference DH0 between the microhardness values of the
fusion boundary-steel 20 interface is recorded for the
welded joints produced by the first variant with NIAT-5
electrodes. The welded joint produced by the second
variant has the lowest microhardness at the fusion
boundary with steel 20, regardless of the type of electrode.
The large difference in the hardness of steel 20 and the
deposited metal, especially in the vicinity of the fusion
boundary, may have a negative effect on the area of
nucleation and nature of propagation of cracks in the static
bend test. Table 4 shows the results of the static bend test
of the investigated welded joint with the root weld
positioned in the tensile-welded fibres.
The high-bend angle was recorded for the welded
joints produced by pulsed-arc welding with the OZL-8 and
EA-395/5 electrodes. No cracks were found in the welded
joints produced with the OZL-8 electrodes by the second
variant and the electrodes EE-395/9 by the first variant.
However, the first variant of the welded joint is
characterized by the formation of defects in the form of
slag inclusions in the deposited metal (Figure 3(a,d,g)),
irrespective of the electrode grade. Evidently, this is
associated with the fact that the active pulse of the welding
current influences the slag pool through the pressure of the
arc column in addition to influencing the structure of
the deposited metal. As the ratio of the pulse current to the
break current increases, the efficiency of the process of
penetration of the parent metal and the geometrical
dimensions of the welded joint increases and this results in
an increase in the arc pressure and penetration of the arc
into the deposited metal. The conditions of transfer of the
thermal power of the arc to the parent metal are improved
resulting in more efficient melting of the metal. The
penetrating capacity of the arc in pulsed-arc welding
depends on the intensity and duration of pulsed current.
With the increase in the pulse time at constant pulse
current, break current, and break time, the dimensions of
the penetration zone increase.18 Too long periods of the
effect of the break current and short active pulse do not
have any effective influence on the penetrating capacity of
the arc nor on the fracture of the liquid slag pool and its
complete displacement from the surface of liquid metal in
the arcing area. Consequently, during transfer of liquid
metal droplets into the weld pool, the droplets trap slag
particles and solidify together with them.
 Welding International
Regardless of the fact that the UA-395/9 and NIAT-5
electrodes belong to the same grade, welding with the
NIAT-5 electrodes does not result in the bend angle
corresponding to GOST 6996, irrespective of the welding
variant. The formation and propagation of the cracks takes
place at the fusion boundary and in the HAZ of the
specimens. Evidently, these differences in the behaviour in
the static bend test of the welded joints produced with the
EA-395/9 and NIAT-5 electrodes are associated with the
effect of nitrogen on the structure and phase composition
of the deposited metal. This can be explained only by
carrying out more detailed investigations of the structure
of the metal of the welded joint using the methods of X-ray
diffraction analysis and transmission electron microscopy
of thin foils.
In the welded joints produced at a constant arc power,
the stress concentrator at the interface of the tool steels
is the area of crack nucleation with cracks propagating into
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the deposited metal or the HAZ. The bend angle does not
exceed 908 and this does not satisfy the GOST 6996
standard.
The results of the static bend test of the specimens with
the facing welded joints situated in the tensile welded
fibres show the high-bend angle irrespective of the
technological variant.
Thus, analysis of the data obtained in the welding trials
producing welded joints in two-layer pipes
(12Cr18Ni10Ti-20 steel) (Table 4) shows the most
significant characteristics influencing the properties of
the welded joints. They include the length of packets of
dendrites L, which provides the main contribution to the
equiaxed structure of the grains k, the angle of
misorientation of the dendrite packets b, the level of
microhardness of the deposited metal, and its variation
DH0 at the fusion boundary with steel 20.
Taking into account these criteria, the optimum
conditions of welding the two-layer steel resulting in
strong welded joints are obtained in pulsed-arc welding
with the pulse current passage time of 250 ms and the
break current time of 260 ms, using OZL-8 electrodes. The
first regime of pulsed-arc welding (I p ¼ 80 ms,
Ib ¼ 260 ms) with the UA-395/9 electrodes results not
only in a high-bend angle but also in the formation of slag
inclusions in the deposited metal which act as additional
stress concentrators, in addition to the concentrator in the
contact area of the dissimilar steels.
449
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