EFFECT OF ELECTRIC ARC WELDING ON IMPACT OF DIFFERENT MILD STEEL WELD GEOMETRIES

The effect of welding parameters (current, electrode diameter) on the impact of low carbon steel specimens was investigated in this work. Two different geometries namely square butt welded joint and double V welded joint were created. The welding operation was carried out at three different current for welding currents of 90, 110 and 130 amps and electrode diameters of 2.5, 3.2 and 4mm respectively. A Charpy impact testing machine was used to evaluate the impact of the welded samples. It was observed that a low current of 90 Amps for all the welding electrode diameters produced high impact values for both the welding geometries. Also, the 3.2 mm electrode diameter was found to be more suitable for welding the square butt and the double V geometry as it yielded higher impact values. Additionally, the double V geometry showed better performance when compared to the square butt geometry for all the combinations of welding currents and electrode diameters.