Evaluation of Welding Techniques for Fabricating Corrosion-Resistant Marine Components

The fabrication of corrosion-resistant marine components is essential for improving the durability, safety, and reliability of ships, offshore structures, and marine equipment exposed to aggressive seawater environments. This review evaluates welding techniques used in fabricating marine components, focusing on their influence on corrosion resistance, mechanical properties, weld quality, and fabrication cost. The welding processes examined include gas tungsten arc welding, gas metal arc welding, shielded metal arc welding, flux-cored arc welding, submerged arc welding, and friction stir welding. The review discusses commonly used marine materials, including carbon steel, stainless steel, duplex stainless steel, aluminium alloys, copper-nickel alloys, and nickel-based alloys. It also examines major corrosion mechanisms, such as pitting, crevice, galvanic, intergranular, and stress corrosion cracking. Furthermore, the effects of welding parameters, heat input, filler-metal selection, and microstructural changes on welded-joint performance are highlighted. Corrosion evaluation methods, including immersion testing, salt spray testing, potentiodynamic polarization, and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, are discussed. The review emphasizes that welding performance depends on material selection, process control, surface preparation, and post-weld treatment. It identifies research gaps concerning standardized comparative testing and long-term seawater exposure. Overall, an integrated assessment of corrosion resistance, mechanical strength, productivity, and lifecycle cost is necessary for selecting suitable welding techniques for reliable marine component fabrication.