Experimental Investigation on Microstructure and Mechanical Properties of 15CDV6 High Strength Low Alloy Steel Welded Using Spin Arc Gas Metal Arc Welding Process

Abstract

15CDV6 is one of the widely used high strength low alloy steels in the applications of aerospace, automotive, and defense components. Welding plays a key role in all these joining applications. In this research, an attempt is made to join 15CDV6 high strength low alloy (HSLA) steel using a spin arc gas metal arc welding process (SA-GMAW) with 3.7 mm thick 15CDV6 plates and joined in butt joint configuration at three different spin rotation speed (SRS), viz., 1200, 1500, and 1800 rpm. The effect of SRS on the weld quality was studied by measuring the depth of penetration, bead width, tensile strength, and microhardness. The results indicate that increasing the SRS increases the side wall fusion. A spin rotation of 1200 rpm with 230 A, and 24 V makes a good quality weld with comparatively better strength weldment (WM) than base metal (BM). The slower spin rotational speed maintains a moderate temperature in the weld pool, causing the creation of vanadium carbide precipitates that have an impact on the mechanical properties.