Abstract
Pure iron plates were welded using Fe-Al alloy electrode wires in a controlled arc atmosphere. The effects of aluminum on the oxygen contents and non-metallic inclusions were in the weld metals investigated under various welding conditions in Ar-O2 and Ar-CO2 welding atmospheres.
The oxygen contents of the Fe-Al weld metals decrease with an decreasing traveling speed at low oxidizing gas partial pressure. The oxygen contents of the Fe-Al weld metals increase with an increasing the partial pressure of oxidizing gases and decrease with an increasing aluminum contents in the weld metals. The oxygen contents of the weld metals welded in Ar-CO2 are lower than those in Ar-O2. The nonmetallic inclusions in the Fe-Al weld metals increase with an increasing oxygen contents of the weld metals. The nonmetallic inclusions are aluminum-oxide accompanying with iron-oxide. Behavior of the oxygen absorption by the steel weld metal is discussed using thermodynamic data.
