Abstract

The aim of this work is to characterize properties and microstructure of stainless steel used as a coating on welding of carbon steel sheets. Two carbon steel plates were set as the metal base and the stainless steel coating was applied on the weld bead. The applied process used was the submerged arc welding (SAW) and tests were carried out for the tensile strength and Vickers hardness, in addition to observation of the microstructure by optical microscopy. The results indicated that the stainless-steel coating applied on the weld bead provided relatively high values of tensile strength. Moreover, the hardness values suggest that the investigated innovative material can be applied in corrosive environments

A large number of metallic materials can be used in the manufacture of industrial equipment and pipes and, among them, the cost-effective carbon steel is the one that has the greatest application in the construction of most equipment such as pressure vessels. Indeed, carbon steels are known as general purpose materials, as they can be used in a variety of applications however they have technical limitations, especially at low temperatures and corrosive environments. By contrast, alloy steels and stainless steels have properties not found in carbon steels, but they are associated with much higher costs in relation to carbon steel, both in its production and also in the assembly and welding operations related to industrial installations .Stainless steel is a group of iron-based alloys that contain a minimum of approximately 11% chromium, a composition that prevents the iron from rusting, as well as providing heat-resistant properties. Different types of stainless steel include the elements carbon (from 0.03% to greater than1.00%, nitrogen, aluminium, silicon, sulfur, titanium, nickel, copper, selenium, niobium, and molybdenum.

For this reason, The most common metal coating process is cladding, where the clad materials consist of a plate of metal or alloy, resistant to corrosion as a coating, and protecting another metal, which has a structural function and can be applied by pressure, lamination, welding or explosion.