Finite element study of thermal behaviour in ultra-low nickel Cr-Mn ASS welded with SMAW & GMAW techniques

Cr-Mn Austenitic Stainless Steel (ASS) are utilized in nuclear reprocessing plants, fast-breeder reactors, pressurised water reactors and boiling water reactors because of their ease of fabrication and welding. In this study two fillers were used, ER308L and ER308L-16, to weld ultra-low nickel Cr-Mn ASS using gas metal arc welding (GMAW) and shielded metal arc welding (SMAW) process. The simulation of the welding processes was carried out for the evaluation of stresses induced in the welding. The heat input is employed at the weld bead for modelling and analysis. From analysis, it was found that the weld bead width is less in GMAW as compared to SMAW. The transient thermal and structural analysis was carried out for evaluation of stresses in the weld using ANSYS. The weld for both welding methods was analysed using varying welding speeds. It was revealed that as the welding speed increases there is a decrease in Von-Mises stresses in the weld.