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Laser welding of ASTM Corten A588 grade steel - a case study

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DOI: 10.1016/j.matpr.2021.06.052

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Laser welding of ASTM Corten A588 grade steel - a case study

J.R. Deepak ⇑, V.K. Bupesh Raja, Hemanth Soundararajan, Prashant Bhumireddy
School of Mechanical Engineering, Sathyabama Institute of Science and Technology, Chennai 600119, India

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Corten A588 grade structural steel is a high strength low carbon alloy with high atmospheric corrosion
Received 9 April 2021 resistance. A significant defect in Corten A588 grade steel is its mechanical, metallurgical and corrosion
Received in revised form 2 June 2021 properties gets altered and gets affected after post welding process. This is due to the Corten A588 grade
Accepted 5 June 2021
steel during welding process gets exposed to high temperature in and around the weld zone making it
Available online xxxx
less reliable after the fabrication. Laser beam welding (LBW) is an autogenous welding method in which
the heat affected zone and weld zone formed is considered to be very narrow. In this research Carbon
Keywords:
dioxide laser beam welding (CO2 - LBW) is performed on a 2 mm thick Corten A588 grade steel under
Laser welding
Carbon dioxide laser
optimal welding condition. Then the mechanical property such as tensile, impact, bending and hardness
CortenA588 of the LBW Corten A588 grade steel weld joints are evaluated as per ASTM standards. This research gives
Weathering steel detailed information about laser beam welding (CO2 - LBW) of Corten A588 grade steel, various issues
Mechanical properties faced by the material and helps in widening the applications of this material in various other sectors.
Welding Ó 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Selection and peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of the International Confer-
ence on Futuristic Research in Engineering Smart Materials.

1. Introduction due to the rigorous conditions. LBW is also used in welding of plas-
tics and polymers, which are employed in manufacturing of the
Laser beam welding (LBW) is a high-tech welding process that smart garments or advanced garments where Fabrics made with
once had very scarce practical industry usage. But now LBW has some content of thermoplastic fiber can be welded together
evolved as one of the most widely used metal joining processes instead of being stitched. In case of metals, laser beam welding
in the industry owing to increase in automation and demand for can be used to weld plates with less distortion, giving it greater
high production rate [2]. The foremost laser processing application precision and maximizing the time for welding by recovering the
in the industry is laser welding which is due to its notable advan- time used up in beating panels flat. LBW is widely used in automo-
tage over the traditional processing methods in terms of the short biles, shipping, and various large scale industries [6]. The major
processing time for welding. The LBW welding operation is very flaws that arise while using the laser beam welding are porosity,
precise, wherein the start and stop during welding can be made humping and spatter. Few other welding defects like lack of fusion,
very quickly. The heat-affected zone (HAZ) formed during LBW is lack of penetration, and weld undercut may also arise during laser
very narrow because of the local heat treatment on the base metal beam welding process due to small laser beam diameter. When
(BM). Hence LBW method can be employed in joining heat react- welded without use of the filler material viz. autogenous weld,
able and volatile materials. LBW weld can be performed in atmo- the plates to be joint has to be placed close to one another without
spheric condition with negligible contamination employing the any root gap [9]. Due to faulty beam positioning, defects like con-
expedient shielding gas. Mostly LBW welding process is autoge- cave root surface, lack of fusion, and sagged welds are formed.
nous because of which a pleasing weld bead profile is obtained Quick cooling rates may sometimes lead to pore development in
for which no clean-up is required after post weld process [3,5]. deep welds with inadequate degassing. Modeling and experimen-
Laser beam welding (LBW) has a wide range of applications such tal investigation on laser beam weld parameters helps us to under-
as being used in underwater laser welding; this is considered as stand the welding process and also the defect provoking factors
one of the best welding method for deep-sea welders consequently and supplementing the weld quality [14]. Some of the defects
and the reasons for their occurrence are summarized in Table 1.
The CO2 laser generally has a high wavelength of 10.6 mm which
⇑ Corresponding author.
is 10 times longer than the wavelength of the solid-state lasers. The
E-mail address: [email protected] (J.R. Deepak).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matpr.2021.06.052
2214-7853/Ó 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Selection and peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of the International Conference on Futuristic Research in Engineering Smart Materials.

Please cite this article as: J.R. Deepak, V.K. Bupesh Raja, H. Soundararajan et al., Laser welding of ASTM Corten A588 grade steel - a case study, Materials
Today: Proceedings, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matpr.2021.06.052
J.R. Deepak, V.K. Bupesh Raja, H. Soundararajan et al. Materials Today: Proceedings xxx (xxxx) xxx

Table 1 Table 2
Types of laser welding defect. Types and characteristics of laser beam welding.

Type of defect Nature/Cause of weld defect Type of laser Wavelength Laser media Average power
(um) (CW) in (kW)
Pores in the weld pool The keyhole collapses too soon and does not
enable the molten metal to drain through the CO2 laser 10.6 Co2 N-He mixed 50
core of the keyhole until solidification causes gas (gas)
pores in the weld pool. Porosity increase with Lamp-pumped 1.06 Nd3+:Y3Al5o12 10
rise in power density and pulse time in pulsed YAG laser garnet (solid)
lasers. LD-pumped solid- 1.00 Nd3+:Y3Al5o12 13.5
Cratering When pulsed laser is used, the transition from state laser garnet (solid)
conduction to keyhole welding is often Fiber laser 1.07 Yb3+:SiO2 (solid) 100
followed by occluded gas pores in the root and Laser diode (LD) 0.8–1.1 InGaAsP (solid) 10
crater is formed on the top surface, particularly Disk laser 1.03 Yb3+:YAG or YVO4 16
at higher power densities. Cratering increases (solid)
rapidly as the power density and pulse time
increases.
Undercutting Undercut is formed when the weld’s edge is
lower than the weld’s middle. The height beam is consumed and the heat generated allows the metal pro-
difference between the highest and lowest duce a thicker and sharper weld [4].
points on the top surface of the weld is the sum
of undercut. Undercut becomes more
consistent at higher speeds. 2. Studies on Laser beam welding
Humping Longitudinal weld defect characterized by
frequent weld face bumping and restraint is
Shu Zhen et al. (2014) carried out his research on 16 mm weath-
humping. The weld metal creates humps above
the work piece’s surface line which occurs due ering steel thick plate of standard S355J2W + N, with hybrid laser-
to high weld speed. Hump creation depends on MAG welding and investigated the mechanical property of the
the shape of the weld pool. weldments. The transverse tensile strength, yield strength, per-
Blow-holes Due to keyhole instabilities, blow-holes are centage of elongation of the base metal is 380.9 MPa, 502.6 MPa
formed on the top weld bead. Blow holes are
and 28.8% respectively where as for the weldments is 387 MPa,
formed as the welding speed of laser welding is
too fast. 504 MPa and 30.8% respectively. The necking and fracture in the
Drop The distance between the lower surface of the weld samples took place at the base metal. The factography studies
weld and the weld’s protrusion is drop. revels, plastic deformation with small and big dimple distribution,
Cracking Cracks were found to grow mostly in the upper
containing granular phase of the base metal. The micro hardness
portion of weldments.
Non-uniformity and Welding speed, laser power, pulse length,
survey conducted 2 mm above and below the center of the welded
surface roughness average peak intensity, and density of a pulsed with a load of 200 g for a time interval of 10 s. When micro hard-
laser are the factors that affect the surface ness values were plotted a symmetrical ‘‘M” shape pattern was
roughness along the centerline of the top weld observed and the peak hardness was found at the overheated zone
surface. The sensitivity of the weld bead
due to the formation of Widmanstatten structure from the shear
roughness is affected by the welding speed it
can be less pronounced as laser power is transformation. The micro hardness from the base metal to the
increased. weld center varied from 165 to 175 HV to 254.3 HV due to the high
Alloy loss andchanges in At high energy inputs, elements with low cooling rate and low heating rate during solidification after the
chemical composition melting temperature get vaporized and losses
laser welding process. The impact strength of the LBW weldments
its original property. Weld speed has no impact
on weld elemental composition until a stable
at different temperatures showed that impact strength decreases
keyhole is formed; indicating that alloy losses is with the decrease in the temperature. The impact strength of base
very minimum when compared to other arc metal is low due to the slippage of the amount of ferrite in the
welding process. body-centered cubic structure. During high temperature, slippage
Hardness The hardness at the weld pool viz. weld zone is
is minimized but strengthens the twinning deformation, reducing
higher than that of the hardness at the base
metal. This change in hardness might be due to the toughness. The 180° lateral bend test showed no crack forma-
change in microstructure, precipitation, or the tion on most of the tested samples. But few lateral bend test sam-
development of inter-metallic particles on the ples showed a crack of 0.9 mm on the transition zone of the welds
weld zone.
[11].
X. Y. Gu et al. (2015) did his experiment on a hot rolled 16 mm
thick S355J2W steel plate with hybrid laser-MAG with Ar 85% and
interaction of the laser-produced with the materials, the plasma, CO2 15% shielding gas mixture and investigated the mechanical
and the type of shielding gas used in turn influence the traits of properties of it. The transverse tensile tests showed that the tensile
the system and its operation [1]. When we compare CO2 type of strength of 502.6 MPa, yield strength of 380.9 MPa, and elongation
laser with the Nd: YAG and fibre laser, the quality of the beam pro- percentage of 28.8%. The weld samples failed at the base metal
duced is much sizable. The type of laser beams and their character- region where necking took place and the fracture surface shows
istics are tabulated in Table 2. significant deformation. The heat-affected zone was not much
The keyhole and the conduction mode are the two fundamental affected, which signifies that the plasticity and strength over the
modes of laser welding, wherein the significant disparity is the different regions are not uniform. The failure at the base metal is
power density employed on the laser weld area. The conduction due to the overmatching of the strength in the base and the
setting of the laser beam welding system prevents the vaporization heat-affected zone. The micro hardness test reveals high hardness
of the elements from the material when high power density is of 280 HV was observed in the weld zone due to formation of Wid-
applied, whereas in the keyhole settings, the density of the laser manstatten structure. The micro hardness of the fine grain zone is
power is sufficient enough to evoke vaporization of elements by lower than the overheated zone which is due to change in
starting a keyhole cavity in the weld pool. In this conduction set- microstructure during post-weld cooling process. The 180° bend
ting of the laser beam welding, almost the entire incoming laser test showed a crack of 2 mm on one sample closer to weld zone
where as other samples did not show any formation of crack. The
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J.R. Deepak, V.K. Bupesh Raja, H. Soundararajan et al. Materials Today: Proceedings xxx (xxxx) xxx

absorbed impact energy on the weldment decreases with the fiber core diameter 0.3 mm, weld speed varied from 12 to 16 m/
decrease in the temperature which can be inferred from the defor- min with an intermediate speed right between them to prepare a
mation in the fracture surface [12]. butt weld joints. The tensile properties of the different weld speeds
Xiong Zhang et al. (2018) prepared 20 mm thick 16MnDR weld are observed like yield strength, ultimate tensile strength in MPa,
joints using laser weld (LW) and hybrid laser weld (HLAW) keeping and elongation % for 12 m/sec welding speed on DP980 is
the laser head tilted at 5°along the welding direction. The two dif- 736 MPa, 1081 MPa, 3.9%; for 14 m/sec welding speed on DP980
ferent shielding gases of 100% Ar and 80% Ar + 20% CO2 were used is 721 MPa, 1085 MPa, 4.8%; for 16 m/sec welding speed on
at a flow rate of 1.5 m3 /h. The weld parameters for sample 1 and 2 DP980 is 725 MPa, 1041 MPa, 4.7%, while DP980 base metal has
are current of 220–260 amps, voltage of 24–28 V, and welding 719 MPa, 1097 MPa, 12.9% respectively. For HSLA at 12 m/mm
speed of 0.35–0.55 m/min. Similarly the weld parameter for sam- weld speed 412 MPa, 534 MPa, 20.0%; at 14 m/min 414 MPa,
ple 3 and 4 are current of 240–280 amps, voltage of 26–30 V, 538 MPa, 20.2%; at 16 m/min 404 MPa, 530 MPa, 20.0% respec-
and welding speed of 0.30–0.45 m/min. The average micro hard- tively are observed. The un-welded HSLA base metal showed a
ness of the fusion zone for layer 1, 2, 3, and 4 is 438.9, 308.8, property of 401 MPa, 548 MPa, 20.0%. The DP980 base metal had
258.7, and 234.9 HV respectively which is greater than the hard- the highest ultimate strength whereas the base metal had the least
ness of the base material. The hardness at the weld centre yield strength. When the weld speed is varied the ultimate tensile
decreases from layer 1 to layer 4, but significantly in inter laminar strength decreased but the yield strength was nearly constant as of
space which clearly indicates that the hardness distribution is the base metal. Fracture was observed in the subcritical heat
uneven at the weld zone. The variation in the hardness distribution affected zone (SCHAZ). In the HSLA the fracture took place on the
on the weld is due to the in homogeneity of micro structure. The base metal which shows the strain localization and a high necking
average yield strength and the tensile strength were was also observed before the final fracture as the plastic deforma-
362.069 MPa and 524.319 MPa, respectively. The weld specimen tion occurs, while the fracture was ductile in nature. The micro
failed at the weld joint has yield strength and the ultimate tensile hardness in SCHAZ is 50 HV less than the hardness of DP980. The
strength were 348.276 MPa and 412.358 MPa respectively, where hardness of the soft region varies between 288 HV to 303 HV [16].
both yield strength and the ultimate tensile strength of the speci- M.J. Torkamany et al. (2012) found that the size of the fusion
men failed at the weld joint are lower than the yield strength and zone of the low carbon steel sheet is a determining factor for
ultimate tensile strength of the specimen that failed at the base mechanical strength of different austenitic/ferritic laser spot
metal. Charpy V-notch impact tests specimens of layers 1, 2, 3, welds. The low carbon steel plate of 0.8 mm thickness was taken
and 4 had impact-absorbing energies of 21.64, 18.84, 17.89, and and the laser welding was performed using pulsed Nd: YAG laser
16.88 J, respectively. All the samples failed in ductile fracture mode with laser power of 400 W, beam diameter of 0.3, frequency of
and the impact-absorbing capability of the first layer was higher 14 Hz, weld speed of 8.5 m/sec, shielding gas of 99% pure argon
than other layers. From fractrography larger dimples were gas with a flow rate of 5 to10 l/min. The ultimate tensile strength
observed on the fracture surface indicating high energy absorption and yield strength of low carbon steel Base material before welding
and ductility, where small dimples observed indicates low energy were 370 MPa and 180 MPa respectively. A sharp rise in the FZ
and high strength. The layers with strong plastic deformation region of the low carbon steel side can be observed as the laser
showed resistance to crack propagation [13]. mean (average) power increases from 210 W to 240 W. The key-
R. Palanivel et al. (2020) studied the 4 mm Corten A588 grade hole is formed at a mean power of roughly 210 W. The keyhole
steel by the Nd: YAG laser by varying the rate of weld speed traps the laser beam and considerably increases the amount of
between 1.5 and 3.5 m/min having five different equal intervals energy absorbed from the incident laser beam. The laser beam gets
of weld speed by keeping 3 kW power as constant. The laser spot reflected and absorbed several times in the keyhole; this case is
size of 300 mm kept at an angle of incidence of 5° on the top surface known as Fresnel absorption. In other words, switching from con-
with 1.5 lpm of argon gas as shielding gas. The tensile strength of duction to keyhole absorption increases laser power coupling effi-
585 MPa was observed on the base metal. The weld speed of 3.5 m/ ciency by 4 to 5 times. The FZ size of low carbon steel grows more
min has a tensile strength of 567 MPa accounting to joint efficiency rapidly as the heat input is increased by increasing the laser mean
of 97%, percentage of elongation 20.5% with marginal necking. The power. The micro hardness of the low carbon steel base metal is
fibrous structure and large amount of shallow micro voids are 170 HV. The horizontal hardness profile for 240 W mean power
observed in the fracture zone which signifies less plastic flow. is 2.5 times more than that of low carbon steel. The average hard-
The laser joint prepared with weld speed of 1.5 m/min has tensile ness of the metal in the weld zone is significantly greater than the
strength of 367 MPa percentage of elongation of 5.5% and has the base metal’s hardness which is due to the martensite formation on
least joint efficiency of 63%. The fracture surface was rough and flat the weld nugget [17].
without any micro voids indicating a brittle failure mode. The ten- Kun Yu et al. (2014) studied 4 mm thick plate GH3535 super
sile strength and percentage of elongation of the laser joint alloy, which is a low carbon steel in which Laser beam welding
increases with the increase in weld speed for the given weld speed was performed with a weld speed of 3.0 mm/min. The micro hard-
range. It is also observed that the tensile strength increases the ness of FZ was greater than that of HAZ and BM. The tensile
residual stress decreases due to the decrementing effect of heat strength of base metal and weld at room temperature is
generated during the laser welding process. When the weld speed 805 MPa, 792Mpa, at 650 °C is 551 MPa, 553Mpa, and at 700 °C
increases the fracture location was shifted towards the base metal. is 499 MPa, 496Mpa respectively. The strength coefficients of the
The laser weld joint with highest weld efficiency failed in the base weld joints, which are the ratios of joint strength to BM strength,
metal while other joints failed on the fusion zone, in which no at room temperature, 650 °C and 700 °C are 0.98%, 0.97%, and
pores and cracks were observed. The failure on the base metal with 0.99%, respectively. The percentage of elongation at room temper-
high weld speed is due to strain localization [15]. ature, 650 °C and 700 °C are 55%, 37% and 36% respectively. The
D.C Saha et al. (2014) studied dissimilar welding of 1.2 mm laser welded joints has lower percentage of elongation than BM
thick DP970 and HSLA materials having an ultimate tensile joints. As-welded joints had an ultimate tensile strength of
strength greater than or equal to 980Mpa and 500 MPa respec- 497 MPa, while BM had strength of 550 MPa at 650 °C. All of the
tively. The welding was performed with a fiber laser with 6 W welded joints tested in tension failed at the FZ [18].
power, focal length of 200 mm, laser beam diameter of 0.6 mm,

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J.R. Deepak, V.K. Bupesh Raja, H. Soundararajan et al. Materials Today: Proceedings xxx (xxxx) xxx

3. Materials and method The Fig. 1 shows the laser beam weld being performed on ASTM
Corten A588 grade steel plate and the resultant welded plate with
3.1. Material a weld width of 1.6 mm. The laser welding process parameters
uses 70% power of the machine capacity for welding which is tab-
ASTM Corten A588 grade steel is weathering steel which are ulated in Table 4.
low alloy structural steel, in which alloying elements such as Ni,
Cu, Mo, and Cr alloyed up to 3 to 5 percent of the total elemental 4. Results and discussion
composition. Weathering steels are highly anti-corrosive nature
as it prevents the progression of corrosion by the formation of a 4.1. Tensile property
thick stable oxide layers on the exposed surface [7]. This property
makes weathering steels to be used unpainted on construction of The tensile test sample were prepared and assessed in accor-
bridges, railway wagons and buildings. Weathering steels are also dance to ASTM - E8/E8M 11 standards of tension test for metallic
being used in pressure vessel, waste disposal and storage tanks testing and the tensile samples are shown in the Fig. 2. The LBW
applications but being used in very small fraction due to the con- sample shows fracture very close to the weld zone with mild neck-
cerns in the toughness and the property of it after heat treatment ing near the heat affected zone. But in case of base metal the tensile
and the type of weld being used [10]. Weathering steels are dual- specimen breaks at the middle of the gauge length with necking.
phase steels having a microstructure which consist of Pearlite and The tensile properties are taken from an average of five trials on
ferrite. When weathering steels are heat treated the microstructure the base metal and LBW Corten A588 Grade steel is tabulated in
changes to martensite particles particle dispersed in primary Table 5.
matrix of soft ferrite. When weathering steels are further heat trea- From the tensile results the average ultimate tensile strength of
ted at inter critical temperature forms a small pool of austenite the LBW Corten A588 Grade steel joint is 480 kgf/mm2 whereas the
with high carbon content leading to augmented hardenability in base metal has average ultimate tensile strength of 484 kgf/mm2
the ferrite matrix. When weathering steels are quenched after heat which signifies that the UTS of the laser beam weldment and the
treatment the austenite changes to martensite and resulting in for- base metal is almost the same. The yield strength of the laser weld
mation of ferrite-martensite steel [8]. This research study, laser joint is 374 kgf/mm2 and the base metal is 303 kgf/mm2. The yield
beam welding (LBW) is performed on the weathering steel ASTM strength of laser beam weldment is increase by 23.43% than that of
Corten A588 grade steel of 2 mm thick plate. The elemental com- the base metal. The joint efficiency of the laser beam welded Cor-
position and the melting points of all the alloyed elements of ASTM ten A588 Grade steel joint is 99.17%. The difference in percentage
Corten A588 grade weathering steel is tabulated in table 3. of elongation between the LBW joint and the base metal is one per-
cent. Oblique fracture occurs on the Laser beam welded joint, with
a mild necking near the heat affected zone and occurs very close to
3.2. Sample preparation and cleaning the weld zone. In case of the base metal the tensile specimen of the
un-welded base metal brakes horizontally at the gauge’s centre.
Prior to the laser beam welding, the ASTM Corten A588 grade This indicated that the tensile strength of the LBW weld joint is
steel plate surface was polished and cleaned with 120 grade emery almost equivalent to that of the base metal.
wheel in order to remove the rusty patina on top surface and fur-
ther polished using soft wheel till it gets a shiny metallic finish. The 4.2. Impact property
polished plate was cleaned with acetone and subsequently dried
out in the air. After welding the plates, the specimens for mechan- The Charpy impact test is conducted on ASTM Corten A588 grade
ical property examination were prepared according to ASTM stan- steel base metal and LBW Corten A588 grade steel welded sample at
dards i.e. Tensile Test - ASTM - E8/E8M 11, Impact test - ASTM - E room temperature condition. The Charpy impact test samples car-
23 12c, Bend Test - ASTM E190 and Hardness test - ASTM E92 ried out as per ASTM - E 23 12c standard test methods for notched
using the laser cutting method. The mechanical properties of the bar impact testing of metallic materials is shown in Fig. 3.
Laser beam welded (LBW) joints is examined for finding tensile, Impact testing determines the relative toughness which is the
impact, bending and micro hardness property of the welded Corten resistance of the metal against fracture, after plastic deformation.
A588 plate. According to ASTM - E 23 12c impact testing standard, the
Charpy impact test is carried out and the average energy absorbed
in joules are tabulated in Table 6. The effect of impact strength on
3.3. Laser beam welding laser welded Corten A588 Grade steel is observed to increase than
that of the Corten A588 Grade steel base metal.
Balliu Belgium 3 kW CO2 transverse flow laser beam welding The average energy absorption of LBW welded specimen is 20 J,
machine is used which uses a pre-mixed gas of CO2, Helium, and where as the average energy absorption of the Corten A588 Grade
Nitrogen. Helium acts as a cooling agent. Nitrogen acts as a catalyst steel base metal is 14 J. This increase in energy absorbed in LBW
to bombard the CO2 molecule. When excited, the unstable Carbon welded sample is due to the ductile mode of fracture. During
atom goes to a high energy level and while returning back it emits LBW welding process the metal rapidly gets heated and then fol-
photon. This process continues and large amounts of photons are lowed by sudden cooling. The average absorbed energy of the
released. The released photons with very high energy are passed LBW welded sample is increases approximately 1.42 times than
through reflecting mirrors and lenses as the source for laser that of the base metal which is due to the change in microstructure
welding. and the ductile mode of fracture.

Table 3
Elemental composition and melting point of Corten A588 grade steel.

Element Fe Cr Mn Si Cu Ni C P Mo ΑΙ W Co Ti V S
Percentage (%) 98.095 0.5 0.36 0.31 0.249 0.197 0.12 0.106 0.021 0.018 0.01 0.006 0.004 0.003 0.001
Melting point (°C) 1535 1857 1245 1410 1083 1453 3500 44.1 2617 660.37 3410 1496 1660 1890 115.2

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J.R. Deepak, V.K. Bupesh Raja, H. Soundararajan et al. Materials Today: Proceedings xxx (xxxx) xxx

Fig. 1. (a) Laser beam welding machine; (b) Laser beam welded Corten A588 grade steel joint.

Table 4
Laser beam welding process parameters.

Power output Continuous Power Laser Frequency Pulse Pulse Energy Shielding Gas flow rate Heat Input (Q) (Joule/
(KW) (KW) Source (Hz) (J) Gas (lpm) mm)
3 2.29 CO2 5000 51 0.302 Nitrogen 2 71.99

Fig. 2. Tensile Specimen (a) Base Metal; (b) Laser beam welded Corten A588 grade steel joint.

Table 5
Tensile property.

Sample Ultimate tensile strength (kgf/mm2) Yield strength (kgf/mm2) % of Elongation Joint Efficiency ɳ Joint (%) Fracture location
Base Metal 484 303 22 – Middle of the gauge length
LBW 480 374 21 99.17 Near HAZ and WZ

Fig. 3. Impact specimen (a) Base Metal; (b) Laser beam welded Corten A588 grade steel joint.

4.3. Bending property bend test for ductility of welds. The bend test results of base metal
and laser weld sample is tabulated in Table 7.
The bending property of Corten A588 grade steel base metal and During the bend test carried on both welded and base samples,
LBW Corten A588 grade steel welded samples are evaluated by root bend (RB) and face bend (FB) were performed to investigate
conducting 180°root bend (RB) and face bend (FB) test conducted the ductility property of the weldment and bonding strength of
according to the ASTM E190 92 standard test method for guided the weld. The 180°root bend (RB) and face bend (FB) for weld con-

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J.R. Deepak, V.K. Bupesh Raja, H. Soundararajan et al. Materials Today: Proceedings xxx (xxxx) xxx

Table 6
Impact property.

Sample Test temperature (°C) Average absorbed Energy Joules

Base Metal RT (+24 °C) 14
LBW RT (+24 °C) 20

figuration was carried out using 8 mm diameter mandrel. The

results of the bent test were found to be satisfactory as no cracks
or fissures were observed on the root and face side of the base
metal and the weldment which is shown in Fig. 4.

Fig. 5. Micro hardness survey.

4.4. Hardness property

The Vickers microhardness survey on the LBW Corten A588 heat applied gradually reduces till the end of the laser beam diam-
grade steel welded samples was conducted with respect to ASTM eter to 353 HV. As the laser beam moves further continuously, the
E92 17 the standard test methods for Vickers hardness to inves- heat gets dissipated towards the outer side of the plate forming
tigate the hardness property of the LBW weld. A total of fourteen heat affected zone (HAZ) and base metal. The hardness suddenly
micro hardness survey points have been taken at the cross- reduces from 353 HV to 179 HV due to the slow cooling rate of
section from the weld centre to the base metal Corten A588 Grade the base metal. In the heat affect zone the hardness further drops
steel. This survey is carried out by making the indentation at an to 179 HV to 175 HV due to the partial heat treatment of the
interval of 0.5 mm distance along the transverse plane of the weld welded plate.
with 0.5 kg load. In this, the set of microhardness is taken from dis- The graphical representation of Vickers microhardness of LBW
tances (4–6.5) which spread out from the base material to the Heat Corten A588 grade steel weldments at base metal (BM), heat
Affected Zone. The second set of (2–3) points is taken from the affected zone (HAZ), and weld zone (WZ) are represented as a
Heat Affected Zone and the third set of microhardness points graph shown in Fig. 5. This sudden rise in the hardness of the
(0–1) is taken from the Weld Zone. The micro Vickers hardness LBW weld zone than the HAZ and the BM is due to the high intense
of the Corten A588 grade steel base metal is 175 HV. heating by the laser beam and followed by rapid cooling. This leads
From the Vickers hardness survey on the LBW Corten A588 to formation of hard martensite structures on the coring weld
grade steel weldment, the highest micro Vickers hardness is region i.e. Weld zone.
observed in the centre of the weld of 402 HV. When the laser beam
strikes the weld centre, enormous heat is produced due to the laser
5. Conclusion
beam source of heat input (Q) 71.99 Joule/mm. hence there is a
sudden rise in hardness at the core weld zone (WZ) region. The
From this research on Laser Welding of ASTM Corten A588
Grade Steel weldments preparation and mechanical property eval-
Table 7 uation it can be concluded that
Bending test results.

Sample Bead type Observation

 Laser beam Corten A588 Grade Steel weld joints are has a
appealing surface finish with a very narrow heat affected zone
Base metal Forward bend No cracks or fissures observed
Base metal Reverse bend No cracks or fissures observed
less than 1.6 mm.
Laser Forward bend No cracks or fissures observed  The LBW Corten A588 Grade steel joint has a ultimate tensile
Laser Reverse bend No cracks or fissures observed strength of 480 kgf/mm2, yield strength of 374 kgf/mm2, per-
centage of elongation is 21 J, and weld joint efficiency of
99.17% which is due to the strain hardening in the weld pool
during welding.
 Oblique fracture is observed on the LBW weld joint, with a mild
necking near the heat affected zone (HAZ) and occurs very close
to the weld zone (WZ) which is due to the high concentrated
low heat input applied during laser beam welding process.
 The average energy absorption of LBW welded specimen is 20 J
which is due to the high concentrated low heat input of
71.99Joule/mm leading to ductile mode of fracture. This
increase of impact toughness of the laser weld is also due to
increase in the yield stress and reduction in the modulus of
elasticity.
 No cracks or fissures were observed during the 180°root bend
(RB) and face bend (FB) on LBW Corten A588 Grade steel joint
which indicated that the bend test of weldments were having
satisfactory ductility property and improved bonding strength.
 The Vickers hardness survey on the LBW Corten A588 grade
steel weldment has a high hardness of 402 HV at the weld zone,
353 HV at the heat affected zone and 179 HV at the base metal.
This increase in hardness in the WZ is due to the high concen-
Fig. 4. Bend test samples (a) Base metal face bend; (b) Base metal root bend; (c)
LBW face bend; (d) LBW root bend.

6
J.R. Deepak, V.K. Bupesh Raja, H. Soundararajan et al. Materials Today: Proceedings xxx (xxxx) xxx

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