TECHNICAL SEMINAR REPORT ON

“Gas Metal Arc Welding of Super

Duplex Stainless Steel”

Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirement for the award of

BACHELOR OF ENGINEERING
IN
MECHANICAL ENGINEERING

Submitted by:

UJJWAL
MATHURIA
(1SI20ME105)

Under the guidance of:

Dr. Sunil B

DEPARTMENT OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING

SIDDAGANGA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY, TUMAKURU
(An Autonomous Institute Affiliated to visvesvarya Technological University,Belgaum)
Recognized by AICTE and Accredited by NBA, New Delhi
2023-24
1
 Sree Siddaganga Education Society (R)

SIDDAGANGA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY

(An Autonomous Institution Affiliated to Visvesvaraya Technological University-Belagavi, Approved by AICTE, Program
Accredited by NBA, New Delhi& ISO 9001:2015 Certified)
Tumakuru-572103, Karnataka India

Department of Mechanical Engineering

CERTIFICATE
This is to certify that the Technical Seminar report entitled “Gas Metal Arc Welding for Super
Duplex Stainless Steel” is prepared and presented by Ujjwal Mathuria (1SI20ME105) bonafide
student of Siddaganga Institute of Technology, Tumakuru, have submitted in partial fulfillment of
the requirement for the award of Bachelor of Engineering in Mechanical Engineering of
Visvesvaraya Technological University, Belagavi during the year 2023-24. It is certified that all
corrections/suggestions indicated for Internal Assessment have been incorporated in the report and
same is deposited in the departmental library. The Technical Seminar report has been approved as
it satisfies the academic requirements in respect of Technical seminar prescribed for the said
degree.

Signature of Guide Signature of HOD

Dr.Sunil B Dr. U.S Mallikarjuna

Assistant Professor Professor and Head
Department of Mechanical Engineering Department of Mechanical Engineering

Siddaganga Institute of Technology Siddaganga Institute of Technology

Examiners:

1.
2.

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 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

First and foremost, we wish to offer our sincere pranams and gratitude to Dr. Sree Sree
Shivakumara Swamigalu, founder president and Dr. Sree Siddalinga Swamiji, president
of Sree Siddaganga Educational Society.

I would like to thank Dr. M N Channabasappa, Director, Siddaganga Institute of

Technology, Dr. Shivakumaraiah, CEO, Siddaganga Institute of Technology and Dr.
Dinesh S.V, Principal, Siddaganga Institute of Technology for providing an excellent
academic environment in the institution.

I would like to thank Dr. U.S Mallikarjuna, Professor and HOD, Department of Mechanical
Engineering, Siddaganga Institute of Technology for his support and encouragement.

I’m also thankful to my academic guide Dr. Sunil B, Assistant professor, Department of
Mechanical Engineering, SIT, Tumkur for his guidance in preparation of the Technical
Seminar report.

I’ll make the best use of this knowledge in my coming steps of career development. I’ll put
my effort to improve my skills and knowledge gained here in crossing career hurdles.

Ujjwal Mathuria
1SI20ME105

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 ABSTRACT

The effect of gas metal arc welding techniques on some mechanical properties of super duplex
stainless steel has been studied for oil and gas industry applications since the 90 s, but their
welding always is a technical issue. Then different methods were developed to meet all
requirements presents in ASME standards, where most of are applied for lower production,
when compared to other materials such carbon steel. This study accomplished welding
experiments in base material (BM)-UNS S32750 Super Duplex Stainless Steel with a thickness
of 3.68 mm. Welding was performed using GMAW (Gas Metal Arc Welding) process with
CMT (Cold Metal Transfer) control and the aid of a Motorman robot and a turntable device,
Then the samples after welded were given post weld heat treatment (quenching in engine and
neem oil). After the analyses, it was established that duplex stainless steel can be weld
successfully using gas metal arc welding process (GMAW). Both Lubricating oil and neem oil
can serve as quenching medium for post welding heat treatment of duplex stainless steel. The
results of the studies also show that welding and heat treatment really affect the mechanical
properties of the alloy [1][2].

Keywords: Duplex Stainless Steel; Welding Techniques; Heat Treatment.

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 CONTENTS

SL TITLE Page No.

No.
1 CHAPTER-1 6-7

INTRODUCTION
2 CHAPTER-2 8-9
LITERATURE REVIEW
3 CHAPTER-3 10-13
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
4 CHAPTER-4 14-15
ADVANTAGES AND LIMITATIONS
5 CHAPTER-5 16
CONCLUSION
6 REFERENCES 17

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 CHAPTER-1
INTRODUCTION

Stainless steel is a type of metallic material that has mechanical properties and high corrosion
resistance, suitable for use in many different segments. It could be applied to various
geometries, especially pipes for applications in the chemical and petrochemical industry, as
well as in cutlery, civil construction, furniture industry, food industry and hospitals. Currently,
stainless steel pipes are used in the manufacture of several types of equipment, such as:
condensers, heat exchangers and pipes, with the main support of ASTM A249, ASTM A269,
ASTM A270 standards, including ASTM A312, for high temperature corrosive products and
ASTM A213, for the use of heat exchangers.

New requirements, not only in the nuclear sector but, also, in the oil and gas areas,
including Brazilian pre-salt, require materials with improved mechanical properties, which
interfere in the mentioned manufacturing processes. Pipeline welding is a manufacturing
process that plays a significant role, with its main requirements defined in ASME Section IX
and ASME B31.3. The super duplex steel UNS S32750 has been applied for this circumstance,
because it meets the needs for new alloys with superior mechanical properties and resistance
to corrosion, when compared to duplex stainless steels. The increase in tensile strength and
hardness, as well as the increased corrosion resistance of this material, could increase the use
of UNS S32750 steel in aggressive environments containing chlorides, such as sea water in
tropical (hot) locations, which is the case of pre-salt oil exploration. This material also affords
to be used in tertiary systems of nuclear reactors, since this system could use saline water on
its cooling system, which may be heated to temperatures above 70˚C (158˚F) [1].

The main issue for the super duplex steel UNS S32750 application is the microstructure
balance of the phases, in values nears 50:50 of austenite and ferrite, which results in highest
corrosion rate when this proportion is not achieved. To avoid this problem and allow high
welding productivity, the present work focused on GMAW (Gas Metal Arc Welding) process
with CMT (Cold Metal Transfer) control. The results obtained were satisfactory, but the
welding reinforcement would be a problem, since this process results in greater welding
deposits when compared to TIG welding process, which may lead to a lower fatigue resistance,

6
although the others mechanical properties are improved or, at least, preserved.

Duplex stainless steels are two phase alloys based on the iron-chromium-nickel system.
These alloys usually comprise of equal proportions of the body centered cubic (BCC) ferrite
and face centered cubic (FCC) austenite phase in their microstructure and generally have low
carbon content as well as additions of molybdenum, nitrogen, tungsten, and copper. Typical
chromium contents range from 20% to 30% by weight, nickel ranges from 5% to 10% by
weight [2].

Duplex stainless steels solidify as 100% ferrite, but about half of the ferrite transforms
to austenite during cooling through temperatures above 1040˚C. This behavior is accomplished
by increasing Cr and decreasing Ni content as compared to the austenitic grades [2]. Duplex
stainless steels are ferromagnetic, a property that can easily differentiate them from common
austenitic grades of stainless steels. Generally, the ratio of ferrite to austenite in duplex stainless
steels depends mainly on the chemical composition. The presence of ferrite with austenite
provides better intergranular corrosion (IGC) resistance, other advantages offered by these
alloys over convection 300 series stainless steels are strength, chloride stress-corrosion
cracking resistance, and pitting corrosion resistance.

With all their afore-mentioned favorable properties, the duplex stainless steels still fail
mostly at the weld points which can be as a result of the welding process, process variables
used and the welding environmental contamination. Hence, this research work is targeted to
verify the effect of welding process and heat treatment on the mechanical properties of duplex
stainless steels. The mechanical properties that are to be investigated are; tensile strength,
impact strength and hardness, as we already know that the durability of a welded structure
directly depends on the resulting mechanical properties after welding. This work will also look
at the effect of stress relief, full annealing, normalizing, and hardening heat treatment methods
on the mechanical properties of duplex stainless steel [2].

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 CHAPTER-2
LITERATURE REVIEW

1. Mechanical Properties for Circumferential Welding Applied to UNS

S32750 Super Duplex Stainless Steel Using the GMAW Process with
CMT Control [1].

Stainless steel could be classified according to the type of predominant microstructure in ferrite,
austenitic, martensitic and duplex. Figure 1 shows the Schaeffler diagram, where the
microstructure obtained from these steels depends on the chromium and nickel equivalent. The
increase in tensile strength and hardness, as well as the increased corrosion resistance of this
material could increase the use of UNS S32750 steel in aggressive environments containing
chlorides, such as sea water in tropical (hot) locations, what is the case of pre-salt oil
exploration. This material also affords to be used in tertiary systems of nuclear reactors, since
this system could use saline water on its cooling system, which may be heated to temperatures
above 70˚C (158˚F).

Figure 1. SCHAEFFLER Diagram

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2. A Study on Effect of Various Process Variables in Gas Metal Arc Welding
[2].

GMAW can be done in three different ways:

 Semiautomatic welding: equipment controls only the electrode wire feeding.

Movement of welding gun is controlled by hand. This may be called hand-held
welding.
 Machine welding: uses a gun that is connected to a manipulator of some kind (not
hand-held). An operator has to constantly set and adjust controls that move the
manipulator.
 Automatic welding: uses equipment which welds without the constant adjusting of
controls by a welder. On some equipment, automatic sensing devices control the
correct gun alignment in a weld joint.

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 CHAPTER-3
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

 Selection of Base Metal:

The base material was a UNS S32750 super duplex stainless steel plate.

Table 1. Chemical Composition of Material

 Joint Preparation:
For duplex stainless steels, a weld joint design must facilitate full penetration and avoid
undiluted base metal in the solidifying weld metal.

Table 2. Joint design for both sides butt-welding

Table 3. Joint design for one side butt-welding

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 Figure 2. Joint preparation for V-groove welding

 Welding Procedure:

The gas metal arc welding process was used to weld over one hundred samples respectively.
They were laid on an angle bar with their beveled edges parallel and facing each other, leaving
a root face and root opening of 2 mm with an included angle of 60˚ then an arc was struck. The
first bead was laid down at the root of the joint to ensure equal fusion in both rods, before the
second bead was laid the first bead was allowed to cool down to about 150˚C. In case of any
slag noticed was removed before an additional bead was laid. The welding parameters are
shown in Table 4. The number of passes used was two on each of the sample; the second pass
was to fill the grove and to produce a crown. Both welded samples were cleaned of dirt and oil.
The grinding machine was used to grind the surfaces of samples after welding in order to have
smooth and uniform surfaces.

Table 4. Welding parameter

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 Figure 3. Gas Metal Arc Welding Diagram

 Post-Welding Thermal Treatment:

Two post thermal heat treatments were adopted are:

 Stress relieves annealing:

Stress-Relieve Annealing This treatment was done by heating the samples from ambient
temperature up to 600˚C, and then soaked at this temperature for 30 minutes. After
which they were removed from the furnace and air cooled back to ambient temperature.

 Quenching and Tempering:

Samples, that had been previously stress relieved were again heated to the temperature
of 900˚C and remained at this temperature for 30 minutes, they were then quickly
removed and plunged into a can of engine oil or Neem oil at room temperature. The
quenched samples were tempered slowly by reheating them to 300˚C and allowed to
soak for 30 minutes, after which they were removed from the furnace and allowed to
cool to room temperature in air.

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 Mechanical Test Procedure:

 Tensile Strength Test: Tensile strength indicates the ability of a composite material to
withstand forces that pull it apart as well as the capability of the material to stretch prior
to failure. Tensile tests were carried out using a Hounsfield Tensiometer, with
maximum load of 250 KN. The standard samples were mounted by their ends into the
holding grips of the testing apparatus. The machine is designed to elongate the sample
at a constant rate, and to measure the instantaneous applied load and the resulting
elongations simultaneously using an extensometer. Samples were prepared as shown in
Figure 4 according to BS18 standard. Proportional sample (BS18) are given by the
relationship 2 A  πd 4 L 5 56 A O  . Since ,then A d   π 2 0 88d. Thus LO = 5.65
× 0.88d ≈ 5d.

 Charpy Impact Test: Charpy Impact tests were conducted in accordance with ASTM
A370 “Standard Methods and Definitions for Mechanical Testing of Steel Products”,
and ASTM E23, “Standard in this evaluation, were machined according to the
specification in ASTM E23 as shown in Figure 5.

 Hardness Test: The hardness values of the samples were determined according to the
provisions in ASTM E18 - 79 using the Rockwell hardness tester with a 1.56 mm steel
ball indenter, minor load of 10 Kg, and major load of 150 Kg and harness value of 56.4
HRC as a standard block. Before the test, the mating surface of the indenter, plunger
rod and the test samples were thoroughly cleaned by removing the dirt, scratches and
oil.

Figure 4. Standard sample for tensile test

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Figure 5. Standard sample for charpy impact test

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 CHAPTER-4
ADVANTAGES

1. Because of continuously fed electrode, it is much faster as compared to TIG or stick

electrode welding.

2. Large metal deposition rates are achieved.

3. The ability to join a wide range of material types and thicknesses.

4. All position welding capability.

5. Less operator skill is required than in other conventional processes.

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 LIMITATIONS

1. It is slightly more complex as compared to TIG or stick electrode welding because a number
of welding parameters, like electrode stick out, torch angle, type and size of electrode,
welding torch manipulation, etc., are required to be controlled effectively to achieve good
results.

2. Welding equipment is more complex, costlier and less portable.

3. It is more difficult to use in hard-to-reach places because the welding gun is larger than a
shielded melt arc electrode. The welding gun must be 10-20 mm close to the joint to ensure
that the weld metal is properly shielded.

4. The welding arc must be protected against air drafts that will disperse the shielding gas.
This limits outdoor applications unless protective shields are placed around the welding
area.

5. Because the process produces relatively high levels of radiated light, heat and arc intensity,
some operators may find it uncomfortable, especially in confined areas.

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 CHAPTER-5
CONCLUSION

Duplex stainless steel welded through GMAW process and their following conclusions can
be summarized:

1. The heat input under the used conditions did not influence the mechanical properties of the
welded joint. If increase of heat input caused an increase of austenite percentage.

2. Both lubricating oil and neem oil can serve as quenching medium for post weld treatment
of duplex stainless steel. But lubricating oil gives better results compared to neem oil in
terms of toughness, elongation.

3. Tempering after quenching improved the mechanical properties of the alloy.

4. The tensile test, impact test and the hardness test shows that welding has a negative effect
on the mechanical properties of this alloy.

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 REFERENCE
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
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
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
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 A. K. Bhaduri, S. K. Albert, S. K. Ray and Rodriguez, “Recent Trends in Repair and
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