Note: [1] Reprinted from Welding & Metal Fabrication, publication The International Nickel Company (Mond) Ltd., London, sent by Centre d’Information du Nickel, Bruxelles.
Note: [*] Dr. P. Hancock, formerly with the same organization, is now with the University of Glasgow.
Note: [**] Mr. D.J. Heath and Dr. N. Stephenson are with The International Nickel Company (Mond), Ltd., Birmingham.
Abstract: Sound fine-wire butt welds have been made positionally in sheet and plate of ‘AT’ nickel, MONEL 400 alloy and INCONEL 600 alloy (MONEL and INCONEL are trade marks of Henry Wiggin and Co., Ltd.), using 0.030 in. diameter filler wires of appropriate compositions; various power sources were employed. Metal transfer was predominantly by “droplet-dip”; heat-input, weld preparation and torch manipulation were varied, according to the thickness of the material, to obtain full fusion and good weld profile. The plate welds developed satisfactory tensile properties, but dressed single-pass sheet welds showed comparatively poor transverse ductility, which was ascribed to the columnar microstructure of the weld bead. When reinforcement was maintained, the welded sheets exhibited good transverse ductility. The low ratio of heat-input to rate of metal deposition, characteristic of the process, prevented hot-cracking of the weld metal in joints produced in thick sections of age-hardenable nickel-chromium alloy. Further, it appears that in positional welding procedures involving dissimilar compositions, the shallow penetration of the weld beads obviates undue dilution of the weld metal; for example, the method is potentially suitable for welding steels to nickel alloys, joining highly-alloyed steels with nickel-alloy fillers, welding clad steel, and lining steel vessels with nickel-alloy sheet.
