1

1 Type of the Paper (Article, Review, Communication, etc.)

2 Investigation of Weld Geometry, Mechanical Properties, and

3 Metallurgical of Activated Tungsten Inert Gas (A-TIG)
4 Welding on 304 Austenitic Stainless Steel
5 Ario Sunar Baskoro*, Mohammad Azwar Amat, Agus Widyianto, Andriawan Dwi Putra and Sinatrya Azali
6 Aryadhani

7 Department of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Universitas Indonesia, Kampus UI Depok 16424, Indonesia; m.azwar@ui.ac.id
8 (M.A.A.); agus.widyianto@ui.ac.id (A.W.); andriawandwiputra (A.D.P.); sinatryaazaliaryadhani (S.A.A.)
9 * Correspondence: ario@eng.ui.ac.id

10 Abstract: The main disadvantage of Tungsten Inert Gas (TIG) welding is the difficulty of getting
11 deep penetration in single pass TIG welding for plates over 6 mm thick. The welding method with
12 flux or A-TIG welding can produce deeper penetration than conventional TIG welding. This study
13 carried out the welding process on stainless steel 304 with the Activated Flux Tungsten Inert Gas
14 (A-TIG) welding method. Welding is done without filler metal (autogenous). The fluxes used are
15 SiO2, TiO2, and NSN308. Weld geometry, mechanical properties, and metallurgical observations
16 were conducted to determine the effect of each flux. The results showed that there was an increase
17 in penetration up to 89.9% with SiO 2 flux. The ultimate tensile strength increased up to 17.2%
18 using flux, but there was a decrease in microhardness in the HAZ region. The disposition of the
19 element with the addition of flux is very small.

20 Keywords: A-TIG, Stainless steel 304, Weld geometry, Autogenous

21

22 1. Introduction
23 Stainless steel 304 is a type of austenitic stainless steel (ASS) widely used to
Citation: Lastname, F.; Lastname, F.;
24 manufacture pipes, power plants, refineries, pressure vessels, nuclear reactors,
Last-name, F. Title. Metals 2021, 11,
25 x. https://doi.org/10.3390/xxxxx
automotive and offshore structures [1]. Stainless steel has advantages in terms of
26 corrosion resistance, oxidation resistance and has a good combination of strength and
27 Received: date ductility [2]. One type of electric arc welding widely used in industry is Tungsten Inert
28 Accepted: date Gas (TIG) welding. TIG welding is used to join metal plates because it allows greater
29 Published: date control over the weld, resulting in a more robust and higher quality weld [2].
30 The main limitations of TIG welding of stainless steels are the limited material
31 Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays thickness that can be welded in a single pass, low tolerance for casting variations, and
32 neutral with regard to jurisdictional low productivity variations [3]. The thickness of austenitic stainless steels, which can be
33 claims in published maps and welded in one go, is usually limited to 3 mm with argon as the shielding gas [4].
34 institutional affiliations. Therefore, improved weld penetration has been investigated in stainless steel produced
35 by the TIG welding process because TIG welding produces high-quality welds and
36 provides precise heat input control and low equipment costs. A new variant of the TIG
37 process, known as active flux TIG welding (A-TIG), uses an activating flux to overcome
Copyright: © 2020 by the authors.
38 this limitation by significantly increasing the penetration achievable at a given current
Submitted for possible open access
39 publication under the terms and
[5]. This process involves applying a thin layer of activated flux to the joint before
40 conditions of the Creative Commons welding.
41 Attribution (CC BY) license Previous research used magnets to deepen weld penetration in TIG welding [6].
42 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses However, the results show that the applied magnetic field around the welding arc can
43 /by/4.0/). affect the shape of the arc. So indirectly, this will affect the depth of penetration.

3 Metals 2021, 11, x. https://doi.org/10.3390/xxxxx www.mdpi.com/journal/metals

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44 Furthermore, several other studies were carried out to deepen the weld penetration, one
45 of which was using activated flux. Many types of activated flux can be used to coat
46 materials such as TiO2, SiO2, ZnO, MnO2, Al2O3, AlF3, CaF2, CrO3, and Fe2O3 [7, 8].
47 Many researchers have conducted several studies related to the use of activated flux
48 in TIG welding. For example, Vidyarthy et al. [9] evaluated the effect of using activated
49 flux type SiO2 on 409 ferritic stainless steel on its mechanical properties and
50 microstructure. The results showed that A-TIG welding has deeper penetration, reduces
51 angular distortion, and improves its mechanical properties. The same thing was also
52 reported by several researchers [10-12] in their research. Furthermore, observations on
53 the welding arc in A-TIG welding have also been carried out by Guilherme et al. [13] on
54 austenitic stainless steel 304. The narrowing of the welding arc observed in A-TIG
55 welding causes the weld beads to be narrow but have deeper penetration. In addition,
56 several optimization methods are applied to find optimal welding parameters, such as
57 the technique for order preference by similarity to ideal solution (TOPSIS) [14] and heat
58 transfer search algorithm [15].
59 TIG welding requires a certain current to achieve a good penetration depth. The
60 depth of penetration can be achieved with a predetermined current to produce a
61 penetration of the weld. Welding penetration depth can be assisted by the A-TIG
62 (Activated Flux) method by reducing the current. The reduction of current in the
63 welding process of SS 304 stainless steel affects the mechanical properties and
64 macrostructure of the weld. The welding process is carried out with SiO 2, TiO2, and
65 NSN308 fluxes to improve welding results. This research uses a TIG welding machine
66 without added materials (autogenous). These parameters are used to obtain the tensile
67 test results, the hardness of the welds, and the penetration depth and bead width of the
68 welding results.
69

70 2. Materials and Methods

71 Stainless steel SS 304 plate was used as base metal with dimensions 125 mm x 50
72 mm and thickness of 5 mm. The activated flux variation was used as SiO 2, TiO2, and
73 NSN 308. The activated flux was mixed with acetone solution with the ratio of activated
74 flux and acetone for SiO2 was 1: 5 (gr.ml-1), while for TiO2 and NSN308 it was 1:2 (gr.ml-1)
75 (see Figure 1a). Before applying activated flux paste, the surface of the specimen was
76 sanded with sandpaper from the roughness of 200 to 800, then cleaned with acetone
77 solution from the remaining dirt. After that, the activated flux paste was smeared with a
78 brush on the specimen in the vertical and horizontal direction (see Figure 1b and 1c).

79

80 Figure 1. Schematic illustration of a) mixing of activated flux, b) dimensions of

81 coating flux for metallurgical, microhardness test, and c) dimensions of coating flux for
82 tensile test
83 Tungsten Inert Gas (TIG) welding method was applied with vertical and horizontal
84 directional welding in specimens. Vertical directional welding was used for
85 metallurgical and microhardness testing (penetration doesn’t penetrate the specimen),
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86 while horizontal directional welding was used for tensile testing (penetration until
87 penetrating the specimen). Table 1 shows the chemical composition of SS 304 plate
88 tested by optical emission spectrometer (OES) (Ametec materials division, Kleve,
89 Germany). The electrode used is 2% thoriated tungsten electrode with a diameter of 2.4
90 mm and a tip angle of 30°. Argon gas with a purity of 99.9% was used to protect the
91 specimen from oxidation. The flow rate for the upper gas is 11 L.min -1, and the lower gas
92 is 3 L.min-1 [16].
93 Welding parameters for welding in vertical and horizontal directions were shown
94 in Table 2 and Table 3.
95 Table 1. Chemical composition of SS 304 plate (wt %)

C Si Mn P S Cr Mo
0.36 0.456 0.906 0.24 <0.05 18.6 0.119
SS 304
Ni Al Cu Nb Ti V Fe
0.91 0.02 0.195 0.08 <0.02 0.73 bal.
96 Table 2. Welding parameters for vertical directional welding

Heat input Welding current Welding speed Upper flow rate

Flux type -1 -1
(kJ.mm ) (A) (mm.min ) (L.min-1)
No Flux
SiO2
0.508 100 120 10
TiO2
NSN 308
97 Table 3. Welding parameters for horizontal directional welding

Welding Upper
Welding current Heat Input Backing flow
Flux type speed flow rate
(A) (kJ.mm-1) rate (L.min-1)
(mm.min-1) (L.min-1)
No Flux 210 1.769
SiO2 150 0.870
120 11 3
TiO2 160 0.996
NSN 308 180 1.310
98
99 The welding geometry test was carried out by measuring top bead width (TBW) in
100 vertical directional welding, the depth of welding penetration at cutting one until cutting
101 three, and ratio depth/width (D/W ratio). Measurement of the top bead width starts
102 from 27 mm from the edge of the specimen, and there are eight measuring points with a
103 distance of 10 mm each. Figure 2c shows a schematic illustration of the top bead width
104 measurement. Measuring the bead width using a digital microscope (Dino-Lite AM 4115
105 Series) (AnMo Electronics Co., Taipei, Taiwan).
106 Metallurgical testing includes macrostructure and microstructure observations. The
107 specimens were cut in cross-section into three cutting were cutting 1 (25%), cutting 2
108 (50%), and cutting 3 (75%) pieces are shown in Figure 2a. Macrostructure observations
109 were carried out on one side of the three cutting, while microstructure observations were
110 carried out on cutting 2 (50%). The specimens for metallurgical testing involve sanding
111 the specimens with wet sandpapers of the roughness of 240, 600, 800, and 1500. Then the
112 specimens are polished with a mixture of titanium (IV) oxide and ethanol. Next, the
113 specimen was etched using a combination of 5 ml HNO 3, 5 ml HCl, 1 gr picric acid, and
114 200 ml ethanol. Macrostructure observations were carried out using a digital microscope
115 (Dino-Lite) to measure the depth of penetration and the width of bead so that the ratio
116 between depth and width is known (D/W ratio). Microstructure observations were
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117 carried out using an Olympus GX51 optical microscope (Euromex Microscopen, 6836 BD
118 Arnhem, The Netherlands) to evaluate the segregation in the Base Metal (BM), Heat
119 Affected Zone (HAZ) + Partially Melted Zone (PMZ), and Weld Metal (WM). Each layer
120 of weld joint of BM, HAZ, PMZ and WM will be analyzed for the formation of the
121 microstructure. An energy-dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) (FEI Company, Japan)
122 analysis was used to analyze the effect of activated flux on the chemical composition of
123 the weld metal (WM) in 3 areas (top, middle, and bottom) (see Figure 2e).

d e

124

125 Figure 2. Schematic illustration of top view: a) metallurgical test specimen, b) tensile test
126 specimen, c) bead width measurement, a cross-section of d) microhardness test
127 specimen, and e) chemical composition area
128 Mechanical properties testing includes tensile test and microhardness test. Tensile
129 test specimen preparation using ASTM E-8M standard. Figure 2b shows a schematic
130 illustration of cutting a tensile test specimen. The Tensilon RTF-2350 Universal Testing
131 Machine (A&D Company, Tokyo, Japan) was used for tensile tests with a maximum
132 load of 50kN at a constant cross-head velocity of 5 mm/min. Microhardness
133 measurement using a Mitutoyo 810 Vickers microhardness testing machine (Mitutoyo
134 Asia Pacific Pte. Ltd., Kallang Avenue, Singapore) with a load of 500 gr for a dwell time
135 of 15 s in three zones of weld joint of WM, HAZ, and BM. There were 3 points of
136 indentation with a distance of 250 μm per indentation. The indentations were made on
137 the horizontal distribution (see Figure 2d).

138 3. Results and Discussion

139 3.1. Weld geometry of TIG and A-TIG weldment
140 The weld geometry can be investigated from bead width, depth of penetration, and
141 the ratio of depth/width (D/W ratio). Figure 3 is an example of a specimen using the SiO 2
142 activated flux. The weld surface profile of vertical directional welding, horizontal
143 directional welding and cutting for metallurgical test specimen as shown in Figure 3a –
144 3c, respectively.
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145
Figure 3. The weld surface of (a) vertical welding, (b) horizontal welding, and (c)
specimens for metallurgical and microhardness test
Figures 4a and b show the average top bead width (TBW) and D/W ratio with the
activated flux variation. TIG welding without activated flux produces the widest average
TBW (5.574 mm) compared to A-TIG welding. Welding with the SiO 2 flux resulted in the
narrowest average TBW, which was 4.436 mm, followed by the NSN 308 and TiO 2 fluxes of
4.566 mm and 5.467 mm, respectively. In comparison, the largest D/W ratio is in A-TIG
welding with a SiO2 flux of 0.088 and TIG welding without flux, which produces the smallest
D/W ratio of 0.038. The difference in bead width and depth of penetration between
welding without flux and welding with flux is affected by Marangoni convection (see
Figures 6a-b). Marangoni convection will make the welding arc narrower and more pointed
when using flux [17]. This causes the welding with flux to have a deeper penetration but a
narrower weld bead.

(a) (b)

Figure 4. Weld geometry on various activated flux (a) average of top bead width and (b)
average of D/W ratio
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Figure 5. Macrographs TIG welding without and with activated flux

Observation of the macrostructure was carried out to determine the depth of
penetration between TIG welding without flux and TIG welding with flux. Observations were
made on three cross-sections of the welds, namely at 25%, 50%, and 75%. TIG welding
without flux produces an average penetration depth of 1.736±0.076 mm. Meanwhile,
welding with SiO2, TiO2, and NSN308 fluxes has an average penetration depth of 3.014±0.722
mm, 2.641±0.060 mm, and 2.068±0.064 mm, respectively. It can be seen that adding
activated flux into TIG welding can deepen the weld penetration. Activated flux type SiO 2 can
produce the deepest weld penetration among other types of flux. The increase in depth of
penetration occurred between welding without flux and welding with SiO 2 flux by 89.8%, in
TiO2 flux the depth of penetration increased by 47.9%, and at NSN308 flux the depth of
penetration increased by 23.5%. The specimen received the same heat input of 0.508 kJ.mm -
1
. Other studies also mention that SiO2-type fluxes can produce deeper penetration [12].

Figure 6. Schematic illustration of Marangoni convection in (a) conventional TIG, (b)

A-TIG welding process, direction of (c) Lorentz force, and (d) Buoyancy force in the molten
pool
The difference in depth of penetration between TIG welding without flux and TIG
welding with flux is due to the Marangoni force experienced by the material during the
welding process. Figure 6a shows the Marangoni force experienced during TIG welding
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without flux, where the force is directed to the left and right of the material, causing the
weld bead to become wider. While the Marangoni force experienced by TIG welding with
flux is shown in Figure 6b, where the force tends to point downwards, causing deeper
penetration with a narrower bead width. In addition to the Marangoni force, there is a
Lorentz force (see Figure 6c) which occurs due to a magnetic field during the welding process
between the welding current and the conductor. The resulting Lorentz force will cause the
weld pool to flow downward. The last force that affects TIG welding is the buoyancy force
(see Figure 6d), where this force can occur because the fluid flows from high density to low
density. Welding with flux, buoyancy force that always works upward towards the surface of
the weld pool. However, this force is less effective for plate types with less than 10 mm for
thickness [17].

146 3.2. Tensile test and fracture of a tensile specimen of TIG and A-TIG weldment
147 The tensile test was carried out for welding in a horizontal direction until the
148 specimen penetrates backward. The welding current used is different to achieve the
149 same weld penetration from each flux variation. Welding without flux requires a
150 welding current of 210 A, while welding with SiO 2, TiO2, and NSN 308 fluxes requires
151 welding currents of 150 A, 160 A, and 180 A, respectively. Thus, welding with flux
152 requires a lower heat input than welding without flux to achieve the same weld
153 penetration. This is confirmed by macrostructural observations, that the same welding
154 current at 100 A results in different penetration depths for each flux variation. Figures 7a
155 and b show the tensile test specimens before testing, while Figures 7c and d show the
156 tensile test specimens after testing on welding without flux and welding with SiO2 flux.

157

158 Figure 7. Photographs of tensile test specimen (a,b) before test, (c,d) after test, and
159 fracture location
160 The results of the ultimate tensile strength (UTS) and elongation from each flux and
161 base metal variation can be seen in Figure 8. A-TIG welding with SiO 2 flux produces the
162 highest UTS and elongation, respectively 679.5 MPa and 70.3%. Meanwhile, the lowest
163 UTS and elongation were 579.8 MPa and 34.51% for welding without flux, respectively.
164 The largest increase in UTS and elongation between A-TIG and TIG was 17.20% and
165 103.71%, respectively. This shows that flux has a positive effect on UTS. In addition, the
166 heat input used is much smaller to achieve the same penetration depth by using flux. It
167 is proved that welding with SiO 2 flux only requires a heat input of 0.870 kJ.mm -1 to
168 achieve the same penetration depth as welding without flux which requires a heat input
169 of 1.769 kJ.mm-1. The deeper penetration of the weld using flux, especially SiO 2, makes
170 the tensile strength much greater than welding without flux. Therefore, welding with
171 flux can produce tensile strength and elongation that is superior to welding without flux
172 [2].
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173

174 Figure 8. Ultimate tensile test (UTS) on a various activated flux

175 The tensile test results fracture occurred in the weld metal (WM) area. Scanning
176 Electron Microscope (SEM) testing was carried out on the fracture surface of the tensile
177 test specimen to determine the fracture structure. Figure 9 shows the fracture surface on
178 various activated flux. Welding with SiO2 flux is seen in area A, the structure formed is a
179 micro-void with relatively more ductile dimples. Furthermore, for area B the micro-void
180 structure is still visible with smaller dimples than area A. While in area C the dimples
181 are still visible dimples formed.
182 Welding with TiO2 flux can be seen in area A that the structure formed is a micro-
183 void with relatively more ductile dimples than ductile dimples in welding with SiO 2
184 flux. The micro-void structure is still visible in area B with more minor dimples than
185 area A but more than in the SiO 2 flux. In area C the dimples were still visible, and the
186 ductile dimples formed were more abundant than the SiO2 flux.

187

188 Figure 9. Fracture surface on various activated flux with low and high
189 magnification
190 Welding with NSN308 flux can be seen in area A that the structure formed is micro-
191 void with relatively more ductile dimples than ductile dimples in welding with SiO 2 flux
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192 but somewhat less than TiO2 flux. In area B the micro-void structure is still visible with
193 smaller dimples than area A but more than in the SiO 2 flux but relatively less than the
194 TiO2 flux. In the C area, the dimples were still visible and the ductile dimples formed
195 were more abundant than the SiO 2 flux but relatively less than the TiO 2 flux. Thus, the
196 fracture surface shows the presence of a dimples structure in flux welding. Ahmadi et al.
197 [12] reported that the fracture surfaces between welding without flux and welding with
198 flux have dimples structures.

199 3.3. Microstructural observation of TIG and A-TIG weldment

200 Microstructure observations were made on cutting 2 (50%) of each flux variation as
201 well as on the base material (BM). Figure 10 shows the microstructure of the BM region.
202 In the BM region, the austenite structure is dominated by large grain sizes. This is due to
203 the specimen used is SS 304 austenitic stainless steel.

204

205 Figure 10. Microstructure of the base metal SS 304

206 Figure 11a shows microstructure TIG welding without flux in interface HAZ – WM
207 area (i), HAZ region (ii), PMZ region (iii), and WM region (iv). In the HAZ region, grain
208 size tends to be large. This is due to a more even distribution of heat in the HAZ because
209 the more significant the heat applied to the material will cause the grain growth time is
210 longer, which causes larger grain size. In the PMZ region, the microstructure is
211 dominated by austenite, there are also a few horizontal ferrite lines that extend from the
212 fusion boundary (FB) with vermicular morphology. The austenite grain size in the area
213 close to the fusion boundary is, on average more excellent than the grain size in the
214 HAZ. This is due to the closer to the area of the hot weld metal received is getting
215 bigger. The microstructure of WM is dominated by δ-ferrite in the form of vermicular
216 and lacy, and austenite is seen as a secondary phase in this WM area.
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217

218 Figure 11. Microstructure of TIG and A-TIG welding (a) without flux (b) with SiO 2, (c) with TiO2, and
219 (d) NSN 308
220 Figure 11b shows microstructure A-TIG welding with SiO 2 flux in interface HAZ –
221 WM area (i), HAZ region (ii), PMZ region (iii), and WM region (iv). In the HAZ region,
222 the grain size of the A-TIG welding with SiO 2 flux specimen is smaller than welding
223 without flux. In the PMZ region, the microstructure is dominated by austenite. There are
224 also horizontal ferrite lines extending from the fusion boundary (FB) with vermicular
225 morphology. The amount of ferrite in PMZ for SiO 2 flux specimens is higher when
226 compared to welding without flux. The austenite grain size in the area close to the fusion
227 boundary is almost the same as the HAZ area. This can be caused by the heat that is
228 concentrated in the WM area so that the heat that propagates on the PMZ is less. The
229 WM area is dominated by δ-ferrite with vermicular and lacy forms, and austenite is seen
230 as a secondary phase in the WM region. Compared to welding without flux, the WM in
231 the SiO2 flux welded specimen has a higher amount of ferrite, this can be seen from the
232 density of the ferrite formed, the ferrite lines also look darker and more robust, this can
233 also be an indication of a large amount of ferrite.
234 Figure 11c shows microstructure A-TIG welding with TiO 2 flux in interface HAZ –
235 WM area (i), HAZ region (ii), PMZ region (iii), and WM region (iv). In the HAZ region,
236 the grain size of the A-TIG welding with TiO 2 flux specimen was smaller than that of the
237 welding without flux but slightly larger than the SiO 2 flux welding result. The smaller
238 grain size of welding without flux is caused by the heat generated in welding using a
239 more concentrated activating flux in the WM area so that the heat distribution in the
240 HAZ is less. Meanwhile, when compared with the SiO 2 welding result, the TiO2 welding
241 result has a larger grain size, this is because the welding with the SiO 2 hot flux
242 concentrated on WM is more excellent, this is indicated by deeper penetration of the
243 SiO2 flux [18]. In the HAZ area, the microstructure formed is almost the same as A-TIG
244 welding with SiO2 flux. The WM region is dominated by δ-ferrite with a vermicular
245 shape, a little δ-ferrite lacy, and austenite is seen as a secondary phase in the WM region.
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246 Compared with welding without flux, the result of welding using TiO 2 flux has a lower
247 amount of δ-ferrite than the result of welding with SiO 2 flux. This is because the heat
248 concentrated in the WM area for the TiO 2 flux is smaller, so the δ-ferrite formed is also
249 not as much as WM in SiO2.
250 Figure 11d shows microstructure A-TIG welding with NSN 308 flux in interface
251 HAZ – WM area (i), HAZ region (ii), PMZ region (iii), and WM region (iv). In the HAZ
252 region, the grain size formed on this NSN 308 flux specimen was smaller than that of the
253 welding without flux but was more significant than the result of welding with SiO 2 and
254 TiO2 fluxes. Meanwhile, compared with the SiO 2 and TiO2 welding results, the welding
255 results using the NSN 308 flux have a larger grain size. This can occur because the flux
256 used is the rutile flux of the SMAW electrode, whose main composition is TiO 2, but there
257 are other compounds or elements. Compared with the TiO 2 flux used has a purity of
258 more than 95%, so that the amount of oxide contained in the NSN308 flux is less than
259 that of pure TiO2. The WM region is dominated by δ-ferrite with a vermicular shape
260 with a slight δ-ferrite lacy visible and austenite as a secondary phase in the WM region.
261 When compared with the welding results with the other two fluxes, the results of
262 welding using the NSN 308 flux have a lower amount of δ-ferrite than the SiO 2 and TiO2
263 flux welding results, this is due to the fact that the heat is concentrated in the WM area
264 for the NSN 308 flux is smaller so that δ -ferrite formed is also not as much as WM on
265 SiO2 and TiO2.
266 Lu et al. [19] observed that the flux quantity was directly proportional to the flux
267 performance in increasing weld penetration, therefore with less oxide content, the weld
268 penetration would be shallower. This can indicate that the heat is concentrated in the
269 WM is less, with the same cooling rate for the more significant heat input in the HAZ
270 will cause the grain growth time to be longer so that the resulting grain is relatively
271 larger.

272 3.4. Microhardness test of TIG and A-TIG weldment

273 Microhardness measurements were carried out in cross-sections on the welds.
274 There are three areas for measuring microhardness, namely base material (BM), heat
275 affected zone (HAZ), and weld metal (WM), with three measurement points each. Figure
276 12 shows the microhardness results of TIG welding with flux and flux variations. It can
277 be seen that TIG welding without flux produces the highest microhardness value among
278 other flux parameters in each region. Meanwhile, welding with TiO 2 flux has the lowest
279 hardness value in the HAZ region.

280

281 Figure 12. Microhardness of horizontal distribution across WM, HAZ, and BM
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282 The highest microhardness in the WM region with TIG welding without flux was
283 221 HV, while the highest hardness occurred with TiO 2 flux welding of 211 HV. There
284 was an increase in microhardness in welding without flux in the HAZ region, with the
285 highest microhardness value of 229 HV. However, welding with flux in the HAZ region
286 decreased microhardness with the highest microhardness value in the TiO 2 flux type of
287 198 HV. The difference in the value of microhardness in the HAZ region is because
288 welding with flux has heat generated in welding using a more concentrated activating
289 flux in the WM area so that the heat distribution in the HAZ is less. As a result, welding
290 with flux produces a smaller grain size than welding without flux. In the WM region,
291 grain growth also occurs as a result of the use of flux. Finer grain was observed in
292 welding with flux so that the microhardness in the WM region decreased compared to
293 welding without flux [2].

294 3.5. Chemical composition of TIG and A-TIG weldment

295 Energy-dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) testing was used to determine the weld
296 metal’s chemical composition and level of chemical flux disposition. The test was carried
297 out at three positions in the top, middle, and bottom WM areas. Figure 13a-c was an
298 example of EDS analysis on welding without flux in the top, middle and bottom
299 positions, respectively.

300

301 Figure 13. Energy-dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) analysis without flux in positions
302 (a) top, (b) middle, and (c) bottom
303 Table 4. The chemical composition of EDS analysis with various flux

Elements
Flux type Al Si Cr Mn Fe Ni
Positions
Top 0.53 1.17 19.6 0.9 69.82 7.98
No flux Middle 0 1.04 20.29 1.20 69.69 7.78
Bottom 0.63 1.16 19.05 0.87 70.83 7.46
Top 0.65 1.21 19.7 1.06 70.82 6.55
SiO2 Middle 0.4 1.21 18.99 1.55 70.07 7.78
Bottom 0.71 1.18 19.33 1.37 69.13 8.28
TiO2 Top 0.2 1.05 19.37 0.67 71.89 6.83
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Middle 0.64 1.17 19.68 0.66 70.94 6.9

Bottom 0.26 1.14 18.97 1.58 69.7 8.34
Top 0.74 1.27 18.96 1.15 70.37 7.51
NSN 308 Middle 0.61 1.27 19.16 1.08 69.44 8.44
Bottom 0.6 1.32 19.66 0.78 69.89 7.75
304 Table 4 shows a summary of the chemical composition of the EDS test results at
305 several flux variations. The three positions of the EDS test were carried out to determine
306 the depth of the disposition of the flux in the weld metal area. Based on the results in the
307 table, it can be seen that there were no significant increase in chemical elements at the
308 top, middle and bottom positions. The addition of SiO 2 flux did not cause a significant
309 increase in the element silicon (Si) in the weld metal, and the same thing happened to
310 the addition of TiO2 and NSN 308 fluxes. This indicated the disposition of the flux
311 element to the weld metal was very small. According to Vidyarthi et al. [17] flux in A-
312 TIG welding will tend to evaporate and cause constriction in the electric arc. At the same
313 time, Lu et al. [19] observed that the elemental oxides in the flux mix in the weld metal
314 cause an increase in penetration depth.

315 4. Conclusions
316 In this experiment, the investigation of flux variations using TIG welding on
317 stainless steel 304 has been successfully carried out. Based on the results of data analysis,
318 several conclusions can be drawn, including:
319 1. TIG welding with flux can produce a deeper weld penetration than TIG welding
320 without flux. The increase in weld penetration for SiO 2, TiO2, and NSN308 fluxes
321 were 89.9%, 47.9%, and 23.5%, respectively.
322 2. The ultimate tensile strength increases by 17.2% when using TIG welding with flux,
323 while the increase in elongation is 103.7%. One of the reasons for increased tensile
324 strength and elongation in TIG welding with flux is the difference in the D/W ratio.
325 3. TIG welding without flux produces higher microhardness than TIG welding with
326 flux. The lowest microhardness is 198 HV using TiO2 flux in the HAZ region.
327 4. Microstructure observation showed differences in the HAZ region, where TIG
328 welding without flux had a larger grain structure while TIG welding with flux had a
329 finer grain structure. However, the microstructure formed for the WM region is
330 almost the same for both methods.
331 5. The element disposition of each flux used is very small, affecting the chemical
332 composition after the welding process.
333 6. TIG welding with flux requires less heat input to achieve the same weld penetration.
334
335 Author Contributions: For research articles with several authors, the following statements should
336 be used “Conceptualization, M.M.A. and A.S.B.; methodology, M.M.A.; software, A.W.;
337 validation, M.M.A. and A.S.B.; formal analysis, A.D.P. and S.A.A.; investigation, M.M.A.;
338 resources, A.S.B.; data curation, A.D.P. and S.A.A.; writing—original draft preparation, A.W.;
339 writing—review and editing, A.W. and A.S.B.; visualization, A.W.; supervision, A.S.B.; project
340 administration, A.W.; funding acquisition, A.S.B. All authors have read and agreed to the
341 published version of the manuscript.”
342 Funding: This research was funded by the Ministry of Higher Education of Indonesia, grant
343 number NKB-1696/UN2.RST/HKP.05.00/2020.
344 Institutional Review Board Statement: Not applicable.
345 Informed Consent Statement: Not applicable.
346 Data Availability Statement: Not applicable.
347 Acknowledgments: The authors would like to express their sincere gratitude for the financial
348 support from Directorate Research and Public Service, Universitas Indonesia, with contract
349 number NKB-1696/UN2.RST/HKP.05.00/2020.
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350 Conflicts of Interest: The authors declare no conflict of interest.

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