IJE TRANSACTIONS B: Applications Vol. 28, No.

2, (February 2015) 290-295

International Journal of Engineering

Journal Homepage: www.ije.ir

Effect of Activated Flux on Properties of SS 304 Using TIG Welding

S. Choudhary*a, R. Duhanb
a Department of Mechanical Engineering, Ambala College of Engineering, Haryana, Ambala, India
bDepartment of Mechanical Engineering, E-Max College of Engineering,Haryana, Ambala, India

PAPER INFO A B S T R A C T

Paper history: This research presents the study on Manganese oxide (MnO2), Zinc oxide (ZnO), Iron oxide (Fe2O3) and
Received 03 May 2014 Magnesium chloride (MgCl2) used as activated fluxes to find out its effects on SS 304 in Tungsten Inert
Received in revised form 24 October 2014
Accepted 13 November 2014
Gas (TIG) welding. The Ultimate tensile strength, percentage elongation, Penetration depth, width and
depth to width ratio of SS 304 have been studied. The experiment indicates that the use of MnO2 and
Fe2O3 as flux increases the weld penetration depth and decrease the weld width. The use of ZnO and
Keywords: MgCl2 as flux also shows a little increase in penetration depth and weld depth to width ratio as compared
TIG Welding to conventional TIG process. The ultimate tensile strength and the percentage elongation have been
Different Fluxes increased in Activated Flux TIG welding.
Tensile Strength
Penetration Depth And Width

doi: 10.5829/idosi.ije.2015.28.02b.16

1. INTRODUCTION1 process [3]. The activated TIG flux-welding eliminates

the need of edge preparations in the work-material. So,
Welding is a fabrication process that is used to join in comparison to conventional TIG welding, there are
materials that can be either metals or thermoplastics. less number of welding passes required to complete the
The TIG welding is considered to be a pivotal arc joint which further improves the productivity [4]. To
welding processes. In this process, the heat which is enhance the joint penetration of TIG-flux welding, still
required for welding is generated by keeping an arc in more research is to be done in this field. The required
between a non-consumable tungsten electrode and the flux composition depends on the chemical, mechanical
base metal that is to be welded. The TIG welding and thermal properties of the various base metals to be
process provides high quality metallurgical weld and welded. It is being learnt from the Marya and Edwards
good mechanical properties. There are few limitations [5] work, if argon is used as a shielding gas along with
of the TIG welding process like low penetration depth chloride fluxes (LiCl, CaCl2, CdCl2, PbCl2 and CeCl3),
and low productivity. However, these limitations can be then it can increases the weld penetration up to one
recovered up to some extent by using activated flux [1]. hundred percent that has not been seen in conventional
Activated flux is the amalgamation of inorganic TIG welding process. Among all selected chlorides
powder that is suspended in an organic solvent [2]. It mentioned above, cadmium chloride proved to be the
applies on the surface of work piece prior to welding. most effective for welding process. Sun and Pan [6]
The flux vaporizes from the surface of metal as the weld observed that the use of activating flux on the Ti-6Al-
arc passes over the flux. In TIG welding process not 4V alloy surface increases the weld penetration. They
only the welding parameters, also the performance of also concluded that it is necessary to apply a consistent
the activating fluxes plays an imperative role for layer of flux on the surface. Huang et al. [7] observed
increasing the weld penetration and productivity of the that a mixture of 80% MnO2 and 20% ZnO provides full
penetration depth for stainless steel 304. It also gives a
1
*Corresponding Author’s Email: surajchoudhary786@yahoo.co.in
satisfactory surface appearance and also tends to reduce
(S. Choudhary) the hot cracking susceptibility in the welded structure.

Please cite this article as:S. Choudhary, R. Duhan,Effect of Activated Flux on Properties of SS 304 Using TIG Welding, International Journal of
Engineering (IJE), TRANSACTIONS B: Applications Vol. 28, No. 2, (February 2015) 290-295
291 S. Choudhary and R. Duhan / IJE TRANSACTIONS B: Applications Vol. 28, No. 2, (February 2015) 290-295

Liming et al. [8] investigated the effect of CdCl2 flux on 3. EXPERIMENTAL DETAILS
weld depth and depth to width ratio. They observed in
comparison to the conventional TIG welding, CdCl2 3. 1. Work Material The Stainless steel 304 is one
flux gave two times more joint penetration and weld of the most commonly used material in manufacturing
depth to width ratio. Venkatesan et al. [4] studied the industries because it has better corrosion resistance and
effect of SiO2, TiO2, Cr2O3 fluxes for welding of AISI good weldability. The composition and mechanical
409 ferritic stainless steel. They observed that SiO2 flux properties of Stainless Steel 304 are shown in the Tables
possesses maximum influence in improving depth of 1 and 2, respectively [7].
penetration and it can be increases up to 86%. Tseng
and Wang [9] investigated the effect of SiO2-TiO2 3. 2. Activated Flux The properties of various
mixed flux on SS 316 with TIG welding. They found fluxes used in experiments are shown in Table 3.
that the penetration capability up to 410% can be
obtained by using a mixture of 80% SiO2 and 20% 3. 3. Experimental Set-up The Tungsten Inert
TiO2. They considered the surface tension gradient Gas welding machine ‘TIG ESAB 400’ has been used
mechanism for increased penetration. Kuo et al. [10]
for the research work at Steel Arcthitect pvt. Limited,
compared the performance of CaO, Fe2O3, Cr2O3, SiO2
fluxes for mild steel. They observed that SiO2 powder Saha (Ambala) as shown in Figure 2. A water-cooled
increases joint penetration and depth to width ratio in torch with a standard 2% thoriated tungsten electrode
comparison to other fluxes. Tseng and Chuang [11] rod having diameter of 3.2 mm has been used for the
studied the influences of flux powders FeF2, FeO and experiment. The parameters selected for TIG welding
FeS on joint penetration, surface appearance and weld are shown in Table 4. The tensile test has been
aspect ratio in TIG welding. They found these
performed on Universal Testing Machine having
parameters improved considerably with FeO and FeS
powders but FeF2 is preferable only for good surface maximum load capacity of 90,000 N. The machine
appearance. After studying the previous research work, Model-UTM-100, S.N- 3/94, 1782, Make-FIE is shown
it is quite penetrating to know which activated flux in Figure 3. The proof stress has been taken as 2% of
should be selected for the welding process so that it may the actual load. The physical dimensions of tensile test
improvise the weld penetration and depth to width ratio. specimen are: Diameter =12.5 mm, Gauge Length = 80
This selection process has to be done to increase the mm.
productivity of welding process [12-14]. The present
work focuses on the study of effects of surface active
3. 4. Welded Specimens The dimensions of test
fluxes on strength and weld geometry (weld depth,
width and depth to width ratio) by using Gas tungsten specimen were 100 x100 mm and thickness was 6 mm.
arc welding (GTAW). The surface of each specimen was roughly grinded with
240 grit silicon carbide flexible abrasive paper to
remove all the impurities. It was subsequently cleaned
2. METHODOLOGY with acetone prior to welding. Each powder was mixed
with acetone to produce paint like consistency. The
The following steps have been followed for the 1500 mg of powder has been used along-with 1.5 ml of
completion of work as shown in the Figure 1.
acetone and then both were mixed in such a way that the
mean coating density of active flux was 5 mg/cm2 for
each specimen. The acetone was allowed to evaporate
due to which only the flux powder was left on the
surface of metal. The welded specimens were obtained
after applying different kind of activated fluxes (MnO2,
ZnO, Fe2O3 and MgCl2) are shown in Figure 4. The
weld beads were appearing at the center of welded
specimens.

TABLE 1. Composition of Stainless Steel 304

C Cr Ni Mn Si P S Fe
(%) (%) (%) (%) (%) (%) (%)

0.06 18.67 8.53 1.89 0.42 0.032 0.06 Left

Figure 1. Methodology
 S. Choudhary and R. Duhan / IJE TRANSACTIONS B: Applications Vol. 28, No. 2, (February 2015) 290-295 292

TABLE 2. Mechanical properties of Stainless Steel 304 4. RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS

Tensile stress Yield stress Possion’s Elongation
(MPa) (MPa) ratio % The comparative analysis of ultimate tensile strength
605 290 0.25 32 and percentage elongation, with and without using
different types of activated flux are shown in Figures 5
and 6, respectively. The MnO2 flux has given the
TABLE 3. Properties of flux highest tensile strength of 640.32 MPa along with
FLUX MnO2 ZnO Fe2O3 MgCl2 percentage elongation (ductility) of 39.20. This is very
high in comparison to the values of strength (605.42
Molar mass
86.93 81.408 159.69 95.21 MPa) and ductility (37.90) without using flux. The use
(g/mol)
of Fe2O3 flux results in significant increase in strength
Appearance Brown- White Red-
black solid brown
White from 605.42 MPa to 632.72 MPa and increase in
ductility from 37.90 to 38.92. A little variation has been
Density
5.026 5.606 5.242 1.569 observed in ultimate tensile strength and percentage
(g/cm3)
elongation by using ZnO and MgCl2 flux.
Solubility in Insoluble 0.16 mg/ Insoluble 72.6 g/
water 100ml 100 ml

TABLE 4. Process parameters of TIG welding

Welding current 150 A
Welding torch speed 2.3 mm/ sec
Gas flow rate 10 lit/min
Electrode tip angle 45 degree
Shielded gas used Pure argon
Electrode diameter 3.2 mm
Arc length 2 mm
Welding mode Direct current electrode negative Figure 4. Welded specimens
Weld type Autogenously

Figure 5. Variation between tensile strength and flux used

Figure 2. TIG welding set-up

Figure 3. Universal Testing Machine Figure 6. Variation between flux and % elongation
293 S. Choudhary and R. Duhan / IJE TRANSACTIONS B: Applications Vol. 28, No. 2, (February 2015) 290-295

The ultimate tensile strength of 628.15 MPa and welding is incorporated with MnO2, ZnO, Fe2O3 and
618.15 MPa has been obtained from ZnO and MgCl2, MgCl2 fluxes. Therefore, surface tension at the pool
respectively. The percentage elongation of 38.18 and center has been found higher than surface tension at the
37.98 has been obtained from ZnO and MgCl2, pool edge.
respectively. The present study shows that the MnO2 It indicates that the surface tension gradient
flux has given the highest value of ultimate tensile introduces centripetal Marangoni convection in the
strength and percentage elongation. The use of MgCl2 molten pool. In that condition, the fluid of the molten
has given the lower strength and very little change in pool flows towards the pool edge, center and then flows
percentage elongation for stainless steel 304. The tool downwards [15, 16]. That causes a narrow and deep
maker microscope has been used for checking the weld TIG weld which forms a peanut shell-like shape [15].
morphology. The weld morphology is characterized by
the penetration depth (D), bead width (W) and depth to
width ratio (D/W).
Figures 7 and 8 shows the weld morphology of SS
304 that has been produced without using flux and latter
shows MgCl2, respectively. The welds produced by TIG
welding without using activated flux has a wide and
shallow morphology, while the TIG welds produced
using different fluxes has a narrow and deep
morphology. It has been observed that the increase in
penetration depth and decrease in bead width are
significant when surface active fluxes have been used.
The MnO2 produces the greatest improvement in Figure 7. Weld morphology without flux
penetration up to 4.2 mm and width up to 2.8 mm. The
Fe2O3 increases the penetration from 1.2 mm to 3.8 mm
and decrease the width of weld from 5.2 mm to 3 mm.
The ZnO and MgCl2 show the penetration of 3.4 mm
and 3.8 mm, respectively. The increase in penetration
by using different fluxes is shown in Figure 9. The
depth to width ratio is an important parameter of weld
geometry, higher the value of this ratio results in greater
and better properties of weld joint [13, 19].
The maximum value of D/W ratio is 1.50 for MnO2
activated flux. According to Heiple and Roper, the Figure 8. Weld morphology with MgCl2 flux
direction of fluid flow in the molten pool can affect the
weld morphology. The temperature coefficient of
surface tension is an important factor for finding the
direction of fluid flow in the molten pool [12]. During
welding, it always has been a difficult task to measure
the temperature of the molten pool since this region has
been surrounded by hot plasma.
However, it is well known that the temperature
gradient always exists on the surface of the TIG molten
pool. That has been accompanied by higher
temperatures in the pool center under the arc and lower
temperatures at the pool edge. A conventional TIG
welding without using flux, the temperature coefficient
of surface tension on the molten pool exhibits a negative
value [12]. If the surface tension in the pool center is Figure 9. Comparison of weld morphology with and without
lower than the temperature at the pool edge, then the fluxes
surface tension gradient generates centrifugal
Marangoni convection in the molten pool [15].
In this condition, the fluid of the molten pool surface 5. CONCLUSIONS
easily transfers from the pool center to the edge,
yielding a wide and shallow TIG weld. The temperature In the present work, the effects of MnO2, ZnO, Fe2O3
coefficient of surface tension on the molten pool and MgCl2 fluxes on weld morphology (weld bead
changes from a negative to a positive value when TIG penetration, bead width and weld depth to width ratio)
 S. Choudhary and R. Duhan / IJE TRANSACTIONS B: Applications Vol. 28, No. 2, (February 2015) 290-295 294

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‫‪Effect of Activated Flux on Properties of SS 304 Using TIG Welding‬‬

‫‪S. Choudhary a, R. Duhanb‬‬
‫‪a‬‬ ‫‪Department of Mechanical Engineering, Ambala College of Engineering, Haryana, Ambala, India‬‬
‫‪bDepartment‬‬ ‫‪of Mechanical Engineering, E-Max College of Engineering,Haryana, Ambala, India‬‬

‫‪PAPER INFO‬‬ ‫ﭼﮑﯿﺪ‬

‫‪Paper history:‬‬ ‫اﯾﻦ ﭘﮋوﻫﺶ ﻣﻄﺎﻟﻌﻪ اي در ﻣﻮرد اﮐﺴﯿﺪ ﻣﻨﮕﻨﺰ ‪ ،‬اﮐﺴﯿﺪ روي‪ ،‬اﮐﺴﯿﺪ آﻫﻦ و ﮐﻠﺮﯾﺪ ﻣﻨﯿﺰﯾﻢ ﮐﻪ ﺑﻪ ﻋﻨﻮان ﺷﺎرﻫﺎي ﻓﻌﺎل اﺳﺘﻔﺎده‬
‫‪Received 03 May 2014‬‬
‫‪Received in revised form 24 October 2014‬‬ ‫ﻣﯽ ﺷﻮﻧﺪ را اراﺋﻪ ﻣﯽ دﻫﺪ ﺗﺎ اﺛﺮات آﻧﻬﺎ را ﺑﺮ اس اس ‪ 304‬در ﺟﻮﺷﮑﺎري ﮔﺎز ﺑﯽ اﺛﺮ ﺗﻨﮕﺴﺘﻦ )‪ (TIG‬ﺑﯿﺎﺑﺪ‪ .‬ﻣﻘﺎوﻣﺖ ﻧﻬﺎﯾﯽ‬
‫‪Accepted 13 November 2014‬‬
‫ﮐﺸﺸﯽ‪ ،‬درﺻﺪ ازدﯾﺎد ﻃﻮل‪ ،‬ﻋﻤﻖ ﻧﻔﻮذ‪ ،‬ﻧﺴﺒﺖ ﻋﺮض و ﻋﻤﻖ ﺑﻪ ﻋﺮض اس اس ‪ 304‬ﻣﻮرد ﻣﻄﺎﻟﻌﻪ ﻗﺮار ﮔﺮﻓﺘﻪ اﺳﺖ‪ .‬آزﻣﺎﯾﺶ‬
‫‪Keywords:‬‬ ‫ﻧﺸﺎن ﻣﯽ دﻫﺪ ﮐﻪ اﺳﺘﻔﺎده از اﮐﺴﯿﺪ ﻣﻨﮕﻨﺰ و اﮐﺴﯿﺪ آﻫﻦ ﺑﻪ ﻋﻨﻮان ﺷﺎر‪ ،‬ﻋﻤﻖ ﻧﻔﻮذ ﺟﻮش را اﻓﺰاﯾﺶ و ﻋﺮض ﺟﻮش را ﮐﺎﻫﺶ‬
‫‪TIG Welding‬‬
‫‪Different Fluxes‬‬ ‫ﻣﯽ دﻫﺪ‪ .‬ﻫﻤﭽﻨﯿﻦ‪ ،‬اﺳﺘﻔﺎده از اﮐﺴﯿﺪ روي و ﮐﻠﺮﯾﺪ ﻣﻨﯿﺰﯾﻢ ﺑﻪ ﻋﻨﻮان ﺷﺎر اﻓﺰاﯾﺶ ﮐﻤﯽ در ﻋﻤﻖ ﻧﻔﻮذ و ﻧﺴﺒﺖ ﻋﺮض ﺑﻪ ﻋﻤﻖ‬
‫‪Tensile Strength‬‬ ‫ﺟﻮش در ﻣﻘﺎﯾﺴﻪ ﺑﺎ ﻓﺮاﯾﻨﺪ راﯾﺞ ‪ TIG‬ﻧﺸﺎن ﻣﯽ دﻫﺪ‪ .‬اﺳﺘﺤﮑﺎم ﮐﺸﺸﯽ ﻧﻬﺎﯾﯽ و درﺻﺪ ازدﯾﺎد ﻃﻮل در ﺟﻮﺷﮑﺎري ﺷﺎر ﻓﻌﺎل‬
‫‪Penetration Depth And Width‬‬
‫‪ TIG‬اﻓﺰاﯾﺶ ﯾﺎﻓﺘﻪ اﺳﺖ‪.‬‬

‫‪doi: 10.5829/idosi.ije.2015.28.02b.16‬‬