Revestimento de ligas de níquel pelo processo MIG/MAG com transferência por curto-circuito

Abstract

This work aims to determine the welding process parameters that provide appropriate conditions for weld overlay with nickel alloy through the GMAW process in a short circuiting transfer mode indicated for applications in petroleum and natural gas Industry. Exploratory tests were conducted initially to determine the control factors and their levels to be used in the subsequent stage called the definitive tests. In the definitive tests to determine the number of tests to be accomplished, was chosen by the Taguchi method (Robust design of experiments) and thus with a limited number of tests achieve two objectives: the first was to obtain the influence of the control factors (welding parameters) on quality characteristics (weld bead geometry) and the second was to determine optimal conditions for weld overlay with nickel alloy. Six control factors were employed with three levels each: reference voltage (Ur = 20, 22, 24 V), welding speed (Vs = 0,2, 0,3 and 0,4 m/min), arc oscillation (linear, double 8 and triangular weaving) , welding gun orientation (perpendicular, forehand and backhand), shielding gas (100%Ar, 70%Ar+30%He and 99,97% Ar+0,03% NO) and filler metal (AWS ERNiCrMo-3, AWS ERNiCrMo-14 and AWS ERNiCrMo-4). These factors were divided into two L9 orthogonal array resulting in a total of 18 experiments. The employed quality characteristics were: Percent of dilution (D), the ration between reinforcement and bead width (R/L) and product of the dilution for the ratio R/L (DxR/L). The weldings were accomplished using a bead on plate (BOP) technique, flat position, in steel ASTM 516 Gr60 with dimensions of 200 x 50 x 12,7 mm. The other parameters which were kept constant were gas flow rate at 20 L/min, wire feed rate at 6,0 m/min and stick out was at 20 mm. Based in the definitive tests and in the weld costs weld overlay was accomplished. The results showed that the smallest levels of the reference voltage and of the welding speed provided the smallest dilutions. The use of arc oscillation promote weld bead with low values of the ratio R/L. The filler metal and the shielding gas were capable to alter the weld bead geometry significantly. The welding gun orientation forehand obtained the smallest values for the dilution and for the ratio R/L. Finally the welding parameters selected by the Taguchi method and the weld costs demonstrated to be capable for obtaining an overlay with a good superficial aspect and without welding defects.