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Post-weld heat treatment effects on the tensile properties of cold metal arc
welded AA 6061-T6 aluminum joints

Article in Materials Testing · January 2020

DOI: 10.3139/120.111454

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 Materials Performance and Characterization
doi:10.1520/MPC20190123
Manuscript received May 18, 2019;
accepted for publication
November 21, 2019; published
online January 10, 2020.
1
Department of Manufacturing
Engineering, Centre for Materials
Joining & Research (CEMAJOR),
Annamalai University, Railway
Station Back Entry Rd., Annamalai
Nagar, Tamil Nadu 608002, India
(Corresponding author), e-mail:
ramaswamy_311@yahoo.com,
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-
6258-3227
2
Department of Manufacturing
Engineering, Centre for Materials
Joining & Research (CEMAJOR),
Annamalai University, Railway
Station Back Entry Rd., Annamalai
Nagar, Tamil Nadu 608002, India
Copyright © 2020 by ASTM International, 100 Barr Harbor Drive, PO Box C700, West Conshohocken, PA 19428-2959
/ Vol. 9 / No. 1 / 2020 / available online at www.astm.org
Addanki Ramaswamy,1 S. Malarvizhi,2 and V. Balasubramanian2
Influence of Metal Transfer Modes and
Postweld Heat Treatment on Tensile
Properties of Gas Metal Arc–Welded
AA6061-T6 Aluminum Alloy Joints
Reference
A. Ramaswamy, S. Malarvizhi, and V. Balasubramanian, “Influence of Metal Transfer Modes and
Postweld Heat Treatment on Tensile Properties of Gas Metal Arc–Welded AA6061-T6 Aluminum
Alloy Joints,” Materials Performance and Characterization 9, no. 1 (2020): 9–24. https://
doi.org/10.1520/MPC20190123
ABSTRACT
The issues of dissolution or overaging of precipitates in the weld metal or heat-affected zone
of aluminum alloy joints welded by conventional or constant-current gas metal arc welding
(CC-GMAW) process are the key factors responsible for the formation of softening region,
which leads to the degradation of the mechanical properties of the joint. In order to prevent
the precipitate dissolution, a low heat input welding process is required. Further, to improve
the mechanical properties of the welded joints, reprecipitation is necessary, and this can be
achieved by postweld heat treatment (PWHT). The main aim of this investigation is to study
the combined effect of metal transfer modes (i.e., CC-GMAW, pulsed-current gas metal arc
welding [PC-GMAW], and cold metal transfer gas metal arc welding [CMT-GMAW]) and heat
treatment on the tensile properties of gas metal arc–welded AA6061 aluminum alloy joints.
This investigation effectively implements the low heat input GMAW variants like PC-GMAW
and CMT-GMAW to control the dissolution of precipitates. Moreover, PWHT procedure (sol-
utionizing at 530°C for 1 h, followed by quenching in water and then artificial aging at 170°C
for 19 h, and finally cooling in air at an ambient temperature) was imposed on the specimens in
order to recover the mechanical properties of the welded joints. It is observed from the tensile
properties that PWHT joints exhibited improved mechanical properties compared with the
as-welded joints. But the joint welded by CC-GMAW process has shown no improvement
in the tensile properties because of the segregation of alloying elements that are observed
along the grain boundary. The PWHT CMT-GMAW joint showed huge improvement in tensile
properties (i.e., 13 % higher than the CC-GMAW joint and 9 % higher than the PC-GMAW joint)
because of the controlled segregation of alloying elements with nucleation of β″ precipitates.
9
10 RAMASWAMY ET AL. ON INFLUENCE OF METAL TRANSFER MODES

Keywords
aluminum alloy, gas metal arc welding, pulsed metal transfer, cold metal transfer, postweld heat treatment

Introduction
Aluminum alloys have a huge demand in many manufacturing sectors (such as automobile, aerospace, and mili-
tary) because of its inherent characteristics like low density, high strength-to-weight ratio.1 Aluminum alloys,
especially the 6xxx series, are known for being lightweight materials that are used in various applications in
the automotive sector, such as side, rear, and front fender and door outer sections in the car body because
of the low density and better forming, weldability, and corrosion resistance characteristics with medium strength.2
T6 heat treatment is commonly applied to 6xxx series aluminum alloys because of the generation of needle-like
precipitates such as β″ Magnesium Hexa-Silicide (Mg5Si6) in the solid solution of magnesium and silicon that are
responsible for excellent mechanical properties as reported by Yao et al.3 AA6061 aluminum alloy is a precipi-
tation hardening alloy that has good mechanical properties, such as medium strength and good corrosion re-
sistance, because of the presence of hardening precipitates such as β″ (Mg5Si6) in its microstructure.4,5
In general, precipitation hardening alloys are susceptible to softening mechanism in the heat-affected zone
(HAZ) region whenever it is subjected to weld thermal cycle. This softening mechanism leads to the reduction of
mechanical properties, causing the strengthening precipitates to dissolute.6 Even though the low heat input weld-
ing processes (such as pulsed-current gas metal arc welding [PC-GMAW] and cold metal transfer [CMT] welding
process) result in better joint efficiency compared with the conventional gas metal arc welding (GMAW) process,
there is a large difference in tensile strength between the base material and welded joint. This is because CMT-
GMAW process undergoes phase transformations and softening mechanism that leads to the reduction of the
mechanical properties.7 Therefore, in order to retain the mechanical properties of the welded joint, postweld heat
treatment (PWHT) is necessary.
Numerous investigations have been done to study the influence of PWHT on mechanical properties of
GMAW aluminum alloy joints. Elangovan and Balaubramanian8 found that the strength loss can be recovered
in the friction-stir-welded AA6061 aluminum alloy joints after heat treating the welded specimens. Krishnan9
examined the influence of PWHT on the mechanical properties of the AA6061 aluminum alloy joints and
concluded that Ozturk et al.10 studied the influence of aging treatment and summarized that the existence
of β″ precipitates has a remarkable effect on the mechanical properties, i.e., the yield stress increases, and
the hardness values are in direct proportion to the yield stress, whereas the strain hardening values decreases.
They further stated that the microstructural variations due to aging treatment have a minor influence on the
mechanical properties of the material. Daniel Bryant et al.11 studied the mechanical properties and kinetic
behavior of the AA61111 aluminum alloy in various preaging conditions and stated that activation energy
for cluster dissolution of β″ precipitates increases. In addition to that, precipitation process develops in
the material. Zhu et al.12 studied the influence of PWHT on the corrosion and microstructural characteristics
of variable polarity tungsten inert gas–welded AA2219 aluminum alloy joints. They concluded that by adopting
the PWHT, the tensile strength and the joint efficiency have been improved because of the homogenization of
the joint microstructure.
Xuefeng et al.13 investigated the tungsten inert gas–welded AA2219-T87 plates and reported that the mini-
mum microhardness was recorded in the weld center because the as-cast microstructure consists of coarsened
dendritic grains with more segregation of eutectics at the grain boundary. Further, they stated that solution is
close to supersaturated solid solution, and hence, the solution strengthening only functions wherever the pre-
cipitation strengthening and grain boundary strengthening are weak. This results in the lower hardness in the
weld metal (WM) region. They also reported that with the decrease in the heat input from the weld center to the
base metal, the process of dissolution or overaging of precipitates decreases, which results in the improvement
in the grain boundary strengthening and precipitation strengthening process. This is the reason why the hard-
ness values decreased from the weld center to the base metal region. Zhen and Kang14 reported that the

Materials Performance and Characterization

RAMASWAMY ET AL. ON INFLUENCE OF METAL TRANSFER MODES 11

generation of silicon precipitates and β-phase by the silicon coclusters of silicon and magnesium atoms with the
help of quenched-in vacancies during the natural aging leads to the effect of natural aging time on the further
precipitation behavior in aluminum–magnesium–silicon alloys. Feng et al.15 studied the effects of PWHT on
mechanical and metallurgical characteristics of friction-stir-welded AA2219-O aluminum alloy joints and
stated that the presence of the precipitate-free zone on the side of grain boundaries and coarsening of grain
structure are responsible for the fracture locations of the joints in PWHT joints. This signifies that PWHT has a
remarkable effect on the fracture location of the joint. They also stated that the fracture has occurred in the base
material when the solutionizing temperature is less than 500°C, and for temperatures greater than 500°C, the
fracture took place in the WM zone (WMZ). Moreover, they observed the coarsening of grains in the WMZ
with the increase in the solution temperature and the strength of the joint increases with increasing the solution
temperature.
Many studies16,17 have emphasized only the effect of PWHT on the mechanical and microstructural char-
acteristics of the aluminum alloy joints welded by the conventional GMAW process. But very few studies4,17–19
focused on the influence of PWHT on the aluminum alloy joints welded by variants of the GMAW process, such
as CMT. Therefore, this work aims to investigate the combined effect of metal transfer modes and heat treatment
on the microstructure and mechanical properties of GMAW AA6061 aluminum alloy joints.

Experimental Work
Thin sheets of AA6061-T6 aluminum alloy were chosen as the base material. Then, they were prepared to the
required dimensions of 150 by 75 by 3 mm using machining process with an included grove angle of 60° between
the plates. The filler wire used for joining these sheets was 1.2-mm-diameter ER4043. The chemical composition
and mechanical properties of the base material and the filler wire are illustrated in the Table 1 and 2, respectively.
Welding was done using the CMT welding machine, which is capable of welding in all the metal transfer modes
(i.e., CC-GMAW, PC-GMAW, and CMT-GMAW), and the parameters are shown in the Table 3. In the

TABLE 1
Chemical composition (wt. %) of the base material and filler wire

Si Cu Fe Mn Mg Cr Zn Ti Al

AA6061-T6 0.56 0.31 0.28 0.052 0.98 … 0.024 0.018 Balance

ER4043 5.6 0.3 0.8 0.05 0.05 0.05 0.1 0.02 Balance

TABLE 2
Mechanical properties of base material and filler metal

0.2 % Yield Strength, MPa Ultimate Tensile Strength, MPa Elongation in 50-mm Gage Length, %

AA6061-T6 275 318 16

ER4043 164 190 …

TABLE 3
Welding parameters used to fabricate the joints

Arc Length Wire Feed Pulse Current Welding Speed, Heat Input,
Variants Welding Current, A Arc Voltage, V Correction, % Speed, mm/min Frequency, Hz mm/min kJ/mm

CC-GMAW 125 16.1 … 5,600 … 400 0.242

PC-GMAW 102 19.1 … 4,600 160 430 0.229
CMT-GMAW 116 14 15 5,600 … 480 0.177

Note: For PC-GMAW, Ib = 76.2 A, tb = 4.45 ms, Ip = 240 A, and tp = 1.80 ms.

Materials Performance and Characterization

12 RAMASWAMY ET AL. ON INFLUENCE OF METAL TRANSFER MODES

PC-GMAW process, the pulsing parameters, such as peak current (Ip), base current (Ib), peak time (tp), and base
time (tb) are considered, along with the arc voltage and welding speed.
The PWHT condition chosen was solutionizing the joints at 530°C for 1 h, followed by quenching in
water at 20°C, and then artificial aging was done at 170°C for 19 h with a heating rate of 5°C/ min (fig. 1).
Schematic representation of the joint configuration is shown in the figure 2. The dimensions of the smooth
and notch tensile specimens are shown in the figure 3. The tensile test was performed using the universal
testing machine at a cross head speed of 2 mm/min and strain rate of 1.3×10−3 s−1. The microhardness
profile was drawn by recording the hardness values along the cross section of the joints using an inden-
tation load of 500 g and a dwell time of 15 s at a distance of 0.1 mm between each indentation. The etchant
used was Keller’s reagent to reveal the microstructure. Microstructural characterization was done using the
optical microscopy (OM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The grain size was measured across
the various regions of the cross section of the joint using the imageJ analysis software by the line in-
tercept method. XRD analysis was done in the WM region of all the joints to identify the presence of
various phases.

FIG. 1
PWHT cycle employed in
this investigation.

FIG.2
Scheme of extraction of
the tensile specimens
from the welded joint.

Materials Performance and Characterization

RAMASWAMY ET AL. ON INFLUENCE OF METAL TRANSFER MODES 13

FIG. 3
Dimensions of the
(A) smooth and
(B) notch tensile
specimens.

Results and Discussion

TENSILE PROPERTIES
The tensile-tested specimens’ photographs before and after testing are shown in figures 4 and 5, respectively.
Table 4 presents the tensile properties of the welded joints in as-welded and postwelded conditions. The results
presented in the table are the average of three tensile-tested specimens. An engineering stress–strain graph of both
the as-welded joints and PWHT joints is shown in the figure 6. A tensile strength of 195 MPa for the CC-GMAW
joint, 206 MPa for the PC-GMAW joint, and 215 MPa for the CMT-GMAW joint was recorded in the as-welded
condition, whereas in the PWHT condition, an improvement of tensile properties was observed (i.e., 214 MPa for
CC-GMAW joint, 222 MPa for PC-GMAW joint, and 242 MPa for CMT-GMAW joint).
It can also be seen that the failure location of PWHT joints has shifted some distance (in mm), i.e., 12 mm for
PC-GMAW and 15 mm for CMT-GMAW joint from the weld center, which is 1 mm more than the PC-GMAW
joint and 3 mm more than the CMT-GMAW joint in as welded (AW) condition. PWHT shows a marked im-
provement in the notch tensile strength (NTS) for all the joints. It is well known that NTS is the tensile strength of

FIG. 4
Photograph of the
tensile specimens before
test (A) Smooth
(B) Notch; 1. CC-GMAW,
2. PC-GMAW,
3. CMT-GMAW.

Materials Performance and Characterization

14 RAMASWAMY ET AL. ON INFLUENCE OF METAL TRANSFER MODES

FIG. 5
Photograph of the
tensile specimens after
test (A) Smooth
(B) Notch; 1. CC-GMAW,
2. PC-GMAW,
3. CMT-GMAW.

TABLE 4
Transverse tensile properties of base metal and welded joints

0.2 % Yield Ultimate Elongation in

Joint Strength, Tensile 50-mm Gage Joint Fracture
Joint Condition MPa Strength, MPa Length, % NTS, MPa NSR Efficiency, % Location

Base metal (BM) 275 318 16 325 1.02 … …

CC-GMAW AW 177 195 7.08 196 1.005 61.3 HAZ
PC-GMAW AW 182 206 7.38 208 1.009 64.7 HAZ
CMT-GMAW AW 190 215 9.02 220 1.02 67.6 HAZ
CC-GMAW PWHT 186 214 6.21 216 1.009 67.2 WM
PC-GMAW PWHT 188 222 10.11 225 1.01 69.8 HAZ
CMT-GMAW PWHT 198 242 9.63 247 1.02 76.1 HAZ

the notched specimen. The properties, like NTS and notch strength ratio (NSR), can be evaluated by conducting
the tensile test on the notch tensile specimens. The NSR is determined by the equation (1).

Tensile strength of the notched specimens

NSR = (1)
Tensile strength of the unnotched specimens

The NSR for both the as-welded and PWHT specimens is greater than one, and there is no noticeable differ-
ence in the NSR ratio. Another important aspect in the tensile properties is the joint efficiency, which decides the
soundness of the joint, as calculated by equation (2). In the case of as-welded joints, the joint efficiency is 61.3 %
for CC-GMAW, 64.7 % for PC-GMAW and 67.6 % for CMT-GMAW joints, whereas it is 67.2 % for CC-GMAW,
69.8 % for PC-GMAW and 76.1 % for CMT-GMAW joints in the case of PWHT joints.

Tensile strength of the joint

Joint Efficiency ðηÞ = (2)
Tensile strength of the base metal

Materials Performance and Characterization

RAMASWAMY ET AL. ON INFLUENCE OF METAL TRANSFER MODES 15

FIG. 6
Engineering stress–strain
curves recorded during
tensile test.

Heat treatment plays a key role in enhancing the mechanical properties of the welded joints. From the tensile
test, it is inferred that all tensile specimens failed at HAZ irrespective of metal transfer modes used to fabricate the
joints. The reason behind the failure at the HAZ region is the presence of softened precipitates. But CC-GMAW
joint in postwelded condition failed in the WM region.

MICROHARDNESS
Distribution of microhardness across the cross section of the welded specimens for all the joints in both AW and
PWHT condition is depicted in the figure 7. Significant difference is observed between the regions of base
material, HAZ, and the WM regions for both the as-welded and postwelded joints. In the WM region, a hardness
of 66 HV for CC-GMAW joint, 69 HV for PC-GMAW joint, and 72 HV for CMT-GMAW joint are recorded,
whereas a low hardness of 56 HV for CC-GMAW joint, 58 HV for PC-GMAW joint, and 60 HV for the CMT-
GMAW joint in the HAZ are recorded. It is clearly observed from the hardness profile that hardness recorded in
the WMZ is higher in comparison with that of HAZ irrespective of the welding processes; the opposite is true for
the CC-GMAW with PWHT specimens. This is because the HAZ region experiences a softening mechanism
where the dissolution of precipitates occurs.20 This is the reason why the lowest hardness is recorded in the
HAZ region irrespective of the welding process. The location of the failure corresponds with this soft zone,
and hence, the low hardness results are consistent with the failure location. The CMT-welded joints record higher
hardness in the WM compared with the other joints because of the shorter solidification time resulting from the
low heat input process. The softened zone, which is formed symmetrically on both the sides of as-welded joint,
gets recovered by employing the PWHT procedure.21
In the PWHT condition, a low hardness of 70 HV for PC-GMAW joint and 74 HV for the CMT-GMAW
joint in the HAZ is noted, whereas the high hardness of 75 HV for PC-GMAW joint and 78 HV for the CMT-
GMAW joint in the WM region is recorded. The CC-GMAW joint records a low hardness of 63 HV in the WM
region and high hardness of 66 HV in the HAZ region. From the hardness results, it is observed that the low
hardness is recorded in the HAZ region for the as-welded joints and postwelded joints, except for the PWHT CC-
GMAW joint.22 It is also observed that among the three joints, PWHT CMT-GMAW joint records the highest
hardness in the HAZ compared with the other heat-treated joints. This signifies that the softening can be con-
trolled by employing the CMT-GMAW process.
By applying the PWHT procedure, the WM hardness was improved in all the joints, except in the
CC-GMAW joint. The reason for the decrease of WM hardness in the PWHT CC-GMAW joint can be

Materials Performance and Characterization

16 RAMASWAMY ET AL. ON INFLUENCE OF METAL TRANSFER MODES

FIG. 7 Microhardness distribution showing soft zone (SZ) across the welded joint: (A) CC-GMAW, (B) PC-GMAW,
and (C) CMT-GMAW.

explained as follows. It is known that during solutionizing the joints at 530°C for 1 h, supersaturated vacancies
and solute atoms are produced in the solid solution.23 Then, quenching the joint in water at 50°C helps to make
the solution supersaturated. At the time of artificial aging, the existence of vacancies in higher concentration
and solute supersaturation stimulates the nucleation of precipitates.24 It is said that the segregation of
magnesium atoms along the grain boundary forms because of the coherency of the precipitates (i.e.,
Guinier Preston (GP) zones) with the aluminum matrix. Hence, the segregation of alloying elements occurs
along the grain boundary by the application of heat treatment. Therefore, the PWHT enhances the segregation
mechanism in the CC-GMAW joints, which are already segregated.25 This is the reason why the CC-GMAW
joints failed in the WMZ.

MICROSTRUCTURE
The microstructure of the base material consists of an elongated and equiaxed grain structure. The microstruc-
ture of the WM, interface region, and the HAZ are shown in figures 8–10, respectively. Upon welding, the

Materials Performance and Characterization

RAMASWAMY ET AL. ON INFLUENCE OF METAL TRANSFER MODES 17

FIG. 8
OMs of the WM region of
welded joints.

grain orientation varies from the base metal to the WM region (i.e., elongated grain structure in the base metal,
equiaxed grain structure in the HAZ region, equiaxed to columnar grain structure in the partially melted zone
[PMZ], and columnar grain structure in the WM region).26 The width of the PMZ can be controlled by the heat
input generated by the welding processes. It is clearly evident from the interface region microstructure that the
PMZ width for the CMT-GMAW joint is less compared with the other joints. It is also noted that there are no
significant microstructural variations observed in grain sizes of the heat-treated joints, as shown in Table 5,
i.e., only 2–3 % variation in the grain size between the AW and PWHT joints. According to Genevois et al.,27
the eutectics that are grown along the grain boundaries in the PMZ of as-welded condition are subjected
to dissolution process, and reprecipitation may be possible during the artificial aging process of PWHT con-
dition. From the microstructural characteristics, it is clearly seen that there is no change in the grain size in the
PWHT joints.
Figure 11 represents the XRD patterns for the as-welded and PWHT joints. The phases that are identified in
the WM region of CC-GMAW joint in both the AW and PWHT conditions are aluminum, magnesium silicide
(Mg2Si), iron aluminide (FeAl2), iron disilicide (FeSi2), aluminum di-iron silicon (Al8Fe2Si), and aluminum-iron
(Al5Fe2). In case of PC-GMAW joint, the identified phases are aluminum, Mg2Si, Al8Fe2Si, FeSi2, and Al5Fe2 in
both the AW and PWHT conditions. Similarly, the phases found in the CMT-GMAW joint are aluminum, Mg2Si,
Al8Fe2Si and FeSi2 in both the AW and PWHT conditions. But their intensities differ between the as-welded and
PWHT specimens, i.e., the intensities of the phases are low in case of PWHT specimens. SEM with Energy
Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy (EDS) analysis of the grain boundary region in the WM is shown in the figure 12,
and the results are tabulated in the Table 6. Therefore, it is inferred that the segregation of alloying elements along
the grain boundary region is greater for CC-GMAW joints, lesser for CMT-GMAW joints, and PC-GMAW joints
lie in between. This is because CMT-GMAW joints have a stronger constitutional supercooling effect compared
with the CC-GMAW joints.

Materials Performance and Characterization

18 RAMASWAMY ET AL. ON INFLUENCE OF METAL TRANSFER MODES

FIG. 9
OMs of the interface
region of welded joints.

FIG. 10
OMs of the HAZ of
welded joints.

Materials Performance and Characterization

RAMASWAMY ET AL. ON INFLUENCE OF METAL TRANSFER MODES 19

TABLE 5
Effect of GMAW variants and PWHT on the grain size

Variant WM, μm HAZ, μm PMZ, μm

CC-GMAW 27.4 63.9 59.2

29.02 60.3 61.8
PC-GMAW 22.05 54.4 48.5
24.5 53.1 48.2
CMT-GMAW 20.3 47.4 41.7
21.2 46.7 43.1

FIG. 11 XRD results of the WM region.

Materials Performance and Characterization

20 RAMASWAMY ET AL. ON INFLUENCE OF METAL TRANSFER MODES

FIG. 12
Spot EDS results along
the grain boundary of
the WM region.

TABLE 6
Spot EDS results (wt. %) of the WM regions in the welded joints from figure 12

Al Mg Si Fe Mn Cu Cr Ti Zn

CC-GMAW AW 97.45 0.64 1.10 0.45 0.05 0.29 0.02 … …

PWHT 97.24 0.89 1.17 0.46 … 0.23 … … 0.01
PC-GMAW AW 97.41 0.75 1.01 0.50 … 0.27 0.01 0.01 0.04
PWHT 97.16 0.91 1.21 0.49 … 0.21 0.01 0.01 …
CMT-GMAW AW 95.86 1.40 2.07 0.61 0.04 … … 0.02 …
PWHT 94.69 1.64 3.57 … 0.09 … … 0.01 …

HAZ softening is the most common issue in fusion welding of aluminum alloys. This phenomenon occurs
only when the alloy is subjected to temperatures above 250°C.28 Because of this phenomenon, the mechanical
properties are deteriorated. It is said that the HAZ softening can be controlled to some extent by employing a low
heat input process. Hence, in this study, low heat input welding processes such as PC-GMAW and CMT-GMAW
were chosen to weld AA6061 aluminum alloy sheets, and the properties of the aforementioned joints were com-
pared with the CC-GMAW joint.
Generally, in the CC-GMAW process, the solidification moves forward in a low temperature gradient in
the direction of the center of the arc as the welding continues leads to the columnar grains and causes the mag-
nesium to segregate along the grain boundary.29 In contrast, in the PC-GMAW process, the solidification is
sent backward repeatedly, which results in restricting the growth of columnar grains, thus reducing segregation.30

Materials Performance and Characterization

RAMASWAMY ET AL. ON INFLUENCE OF METAL TRANSFER MODES 21

FIG. 13
SEM fractographs of the
smooth tensile
specimens.

The distribution of magnesium in the matrix and lowest level of magnesium segregation contributes to the im-
provement in strength of the welds. In the CMT-GMAW process, the stronger constitutional supercooling effect
helps to control the segregation tremendously.31

FRACTURE SURFACE ANALYSIS

The mode of failure is another important aspect that can be determined by the fractography obtained by
SEM. SEM fractographs of the smooth and notched tensile specimens are shown in figures 13 and 14,
respectively. It can be confirmed from the failure specimens that the joints have undergone sufficient plastic
deformation because of the occurrence of necking phenomena associated with tearing ridges and fibers in
the failed specimens of AW specimens.32 All the smooth tensile specimens failed in the ductile mode irrespec-
tive of the welding processes and heat-treated condition, except for the CC-GMAW joint subjected to heat
treatment.
The fracture surface of smooth tensile specimens extracted from PWHT CC-GMAW joint contains both
cleavage and dimples, which means the failure had to happen in a quasi-cleavage mode, whereas the notched
failed specimens consist of a uniform amount of dimples and lower amount of cleavage, except the as-welded
CC-GMAW joint. Therefore, it is confirmed that the notched tensile specimens have failed in the quasi-
cleavage mode, except the as-welded CC-GMAW joint. Dimples and cleavages are distributed in a uniform
manner in the PC-GMAW and CMT-GMAW notched specimens, where the distribution of cleavage is
greater in the CC-GMAW notched specimens irrespective of the heat-treated condition.33 Hence, the notched
tensile specimens, irrespective of the welding processes and heat-treated condition, have failed in the quasi-
cleavage mode.

Materials Performance and Characterization

22 RAMASWAMY ET AL. ON INFLUENCE OF METAL TRANSFER MODES

FIG. 14
SEM fractographs of the
notched tensile
specimens.

Conclusions
The conclusions drawn from this investigation are as follows:

1. Because of the shorter solidification time and continuous breaking of primary and secondary dendrites
arms in the WM, the CMT-GMAW process led less diffusion of elements across the interface. This may be
the probable reason for the improvement in mechanical properties of the CMT-GMAW joint compared
with the other joints.
2. The softening in the HAZ region was eliminated completely by applying the PWHT procedure regardless
of the metal transfer modes. It is noted that the hardness values in the HAZ region for CMT-GMAW joint
is 74 HV, which is 12 % higher than the CC-GMAW joint and 5.7 % higher than the PC-GMAW joint.
Therefore, the softening can be controlled by employing the CMT-GMAW process.
3. By adopting the PWHT procedure, superior mechanical properties of the welded joints are observed,
irrespective of the metal transfer modes. It is inferred that CMT-GMAW joints in PWHT condition
yielded higher tensile strength compared with the other joints, i.e., 13 % higher than the CC-GMAW
joint and 9 % higher than the PC-GMAW joint in the PWHT condition. The improvement in the tensile
properties of the PWHT CMT-GMAW joint is due to the low heat input that controls the segregation
mechanism with the nucleation of β″ precipitates.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support rendered by the Science and Engineering Research
Board (SERB), DST, Government of India to carry out this investigation through a Research and
Development (R&D) project No. SB/S3/MMER/0108/2013.

Materials Performance and Characterization

RAMASWAMY ET AL. ON INFLUENCE OF METAL TRANSFER MODES 23

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Materials Performance and Characterization

24 RAMASWAMY ET AL. ON INFLUENCE OF METAL TRANSFER MODES

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