Research on Gas Tungsten Arc Welding of Stainless Steel – An Overview

Abstract

Abstract — Gas Tungsten Arc welding (GTAW) or Tungsten Inert Gas (TIG) is an electric arc welding process, which produces an arc between a nonconsumable tungsten electrode and the work to be welded. TIG is used very commonly in areas, such as rail car manufacturing, automotive and chemical industries. Stainless steel is extensively used in industries as an important material, because of its excellent corrosion resistance. TIG welding is one of the welding processes, often used to weld similar and dissimilar stainless steel joints. In this paper, an attempt is made to review and consolidate the important research works done on GTAW of stainless steel in the past, by various researchers. It has been observed, that most of the works done, is on austenitic stainless steel, which is the most widely used type of stainless steel in the world. Major areas of research have been in characterization of weld, dissimilar metal welding, parameter optimization, process modeling, failure analysis and automation of TIG welding process. This paper is aimed at, to give a brief idea about the research works done in the past, on TIG welding of stainless steel by various researchers, by highlighting the important conclusions and results arrived at and thereby providing the right direction for fresh researchers for future research in this particular area