DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT OF FRACTURE RESISTANT WELD JOINTS OF STAINLESS STEEL

Abstract

Stainless steel and its alloy have been used continuously from many years because of their good strength in simulated condition like corrosive environment and elevated temperature. The mechanical properties of stainless steel such as formability, ductility etc are much higher as compare to other materials. In addition with the above characteristics the stainless steels are easily weldable and exhibits better performance of the weld joint. All these properties favor the demand of current structural applications and it is widely used in various applications like automobile industry, structural component, marine engineering and in fabrication of railway wagon. For the last several years serious efforts have been carried out in the area of welding of stainless steel. While the problems associated with the performance of welded joints, made by ;s< using ferritic stainless steel, are still there which have to be minimized. These problems need an • s. immediate attention due to its increasing use in fabrication purpose of various products such as railway wagons. Only safe and successful solution of this problem would guarantee the long life of these railway wagons which would further ensure the ease of transportation, important for a daily human life. In this project work, an attempt is made to find out the various reasons which significantly affect the performance of ferritic stainless steel welded joints. The railway wagon (BOXN-HL goods wagon) has been taken into consideration and the weld joints of this railway wagon have been analyzed in the aspect of static and dynamic design of weldments. The microstructure and mechanical properties of the ferritic stainless steel weld joints (grade IRS-M44) have been determined experimentally and the various results obtained have been discussed.