Science and Technology of Welding and Joining

ISSN: 1362-1718 (Print) 1743-2936 (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/ystw20

Effect of shielding gas and activating flux on weld

bead geometry in tungsten inert gas welding of
austenitic stainless steels
A. Rodrigues & A. Loureiro
To cite this article: A. Rodrigues & A. Loureiro (2005) Effect of shielding gas and activating flux
on weld bead geometry in tungsten inert gas welding of austenitic stainless steels, Science and
Technology of Welding and Joining, 10:6, 760-765
To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1179/174329305X68769

Published online: 08 Oct 2015.

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Effect of shielding gas and activating flux on

weld bead geometry in tungsten inert gas
welding of austenitic stainless steels

Downloaded by ["Queen's University Libraries, Kingston"] at 04:33 10 October 2015

A. Rodrigues1 and A. Loureiro*2

The aim of this study was to investigate the influence of three shielding gases (argon and argon
hydrogen and argonhelium mixtures) and two activating fluxes (a commercial flux and a TiO2
based flux) on the geometry of welds produced by the tungsten inert gas (TIG) welding process
on several casts of austenitic stainless steel AISI 316, using currents ranging from 100 to 300 A.
Penetration depth increases with increasing current for all shielding gases, but weld depth to
width ratio is higher for argon than for argonhydrogen shielded welds. Both activating fluxes
produce a substantial increase in penetration depth and in depth to width ratio of the welds. No
correlation was found between penetration depth and oxygen content in the melted material.
Some interaction exists between activating fluxes and shielding gases, which can affect the weld
geometry and/or the defect formation in the welds.
Keywords: A-TIG welding, Activating fluxes, Shielding gases

Introduction
The gas tungsten arc welding process (GTAW), also
known as tungsten inert gas welding (TIG), has been
used in the production of high quality welds in most
metallic materials for many years.1 Autogenous TIG
welding is used in thin, square edged sections, while V
and X type edge preparations are needed in thicker
sections, in which case the addition of filler metal is
necessary and the welding time is drastically increased.
GTAW in austenitic stainless steels usually results in
poor penetration, variable weld geometry, and defect
formation at high currents.2,3
Laser and electron beam welding processes can be
used in thicker sections with square edged preparations,
because of their better penetration depth, which
increases productivity, but they are very sensitive to
the accuracy of the joint fitting, and also have greater
capital costs.4 Plasma arc welding has been used with
success in the keyhole mode to improve productivity,
but is very sensitive to process parameter variations, as
well to joint preparation.5
In the last decade, several strategies have been
adopted to improve penetration depth or productivity
of the TIG process. Very high currents (I.300 A) can be
used in automated TIG processes to increase penetration
depth, but defects may form and the process becomes
unstable above 500 A. The keyhole mode GTAW
1

ISECIPC, Quinta da Nora, 3030 Coimbra, Portugal

DEMFCTUC, Polo II, Pinhal de Marrocos, 3030 Coimbra, Portugal

*Corresponding author, email altino.loureiro@dem.uc.pt

process, which was developed a few years ago, seems

to be suitable for ferrous and non-ferrous materials in
the range 312 mm.6 However, this keyhole technique is
extremely sensitive to arc voltage, and loss of material
may occur through the keyhole vent.
It has also been claimed that the application of a flux
coating containing active ingredients on the joint surface
can significantly increase weld penetration depth.79 The
shape and size of the molten pool are significantly
affected by the fluid flow and heat flow in the pool. The
surface tension forces (thermocapillary or Marangoni
forces) seem to be the main driving forces in the pool,
although electromagnetic forces and buoyancy forces
also play an important role.10,11 Some authors have
suggested a close relationship between the existing active
elements (O, S, Se) in the melted material, which
originate in the fluxes formed by oxides and halides,
and Marangoni forces and the fluid flow mode in the
weld pool.12 However, activating flux concentration may
affect weld pool shape and therefore penetration depth,
which is an area of concern in automatic welding
processes.2,13 In general, the effect of the flux seems to be
independent of the shielding gas.
Additional improvements in welding efficiency for
stainless steels can be achieved by controlling thermal
distortion. The application of a pulsed current in the
TIG process and judicious selection of welding parameters can allow this goal to be achieved.14
The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of
two activating fluxes and three shielding gases on the
weld bead shape for currents ranging from 100 to 300 A.
The problem of cast to cast variation of penetration was
also analysed.

2005 Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining

Published by Maney on behalf of the Institute
Received 11 April 2005; accepted 15 August 2005
DOI 10.1179/174329305X68769

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Experimental procedure
Autogeneous bead on plate welds were produced with a
TIG welding process, using arc currents between 100
and 300 A. Straight polarity was used in all cases. The
effect of the shielding gas on the weld bead shape was
analysed. Three shielding gas compositions (100%
argon, 95% argon plus 5% hydrogen, and 50% argon
plus 50% helium) were used in the tests. The remaining
welding characteristics used in all tests are indicated in
Table 1.
The current and the voltage were measured by using
the welding equipment meters and checked with an
external digital clamp meter.
Welds were also made using two activating fluxes, a
commercial aerosol activator PATIG, of unknown
composition, produced by INTERM, and a home made
flux composed basically of TiO2. The commercial flux
was sprayed onto the surface of the coupon plates
immediately before welding, following the manufacturers specified procedure. The TiO2 flux was mixed
with acetone and applied with a brush to the plate
surface.
Coupon plates of several commercial casts of an
austenitic stainless steel alloy AISI 316, with 6 mm and
8 mm thickness, were prepared. The chemical compositions of all the steel plates used are indicated in Table 2.
Low sulphur casts were used in all cases because they are
the most common in industrial applications, and also
because several problems have been reported with weld
geometry in these steels. The oxygen and nitrogen
contents of parent plates and deposited weld metals were
determined with an oxygennitrogen analyser (LECO
TC-136).
Coupon plates measuring 2006200 mm were prepared, and the oxide scale was removed by mechanical
abrasion, using 320 grit papers; the plates were then
degreased. One weld of length 150 mm was made in each
coupon plate, which was fixed with clamps to four
opposite points on a steel welding table 25 mm in
thickness. Five welds were produced in each case, and
specimens were obtained at right-angles to the welding
direction, as well as along the weld centreline.
Metallographic specimens were polished and prepared
by electrolytic etching at 2 V for 6 A, for 6 s, using an
electrolyte of 60 mL HNO3 and 40 mL H2O.
The geometrical parameters (penetration depth and
weld width) used to characterise the weld bead shape
were measured with a stereographic microscope provided with a table with two orthogonal micrometers.

1 Influence of current and shielding gas on weld penetration depth. Example of legend code: 316-St B,
ArzH2 represents AISI 316 steel, cast B, ArH2 shielding gas

Results and discussion

Effect of current and shielding gas
The effect of current and shielding gas on penetration
depth of welds in the three low sulphur steels tested is
illustrated in Fig. 1. Each point represents the average of
at least 10 measurements.
A substantial increase in penetration depth with
increasing current was observed in all steels. The
increase in penetration depth was proportionally
the same for welds made with all shielding gases. The
increase in penetration depth can be explained by the
rise in the electromagnetic (Lorenz) forces, which are
proportional to the square current density.15 This is in
agreement with some authors who state that high
electromagnetic forces and, consequently, arc pressure
can create an inward flow in the weld pool, which tends
to produce deeper weld penetration,16 although others
maintain that weld pool shape is a function of the
equilibrium between arc pressure and the sum of
hydrostatic and capillary forces.17,18
Argon shielded welds exhibit lower penetration than
argonhydrogen shielded welds for currents under
200 A. This can be related to the lower ionisation
potential of hydrogen, which facilitates the initiation
and maintenance of the electric arc mainly for lower
currents. For currents above 200 A, this tendency is not
observed, and in the case of steels A and B, penetration
is higher for argon shielded welds. Argonhelium
shielded welds show the lowest penetration, because
helium-rich gas mixtures produce lower arc forces than
the other shielding gases.19
Figure 1 illustrates the 95% confidence interval for
penetration depth in argonhydrogen shielded welds
carried out on steel cast A. Variability in penetration in
this cast is lower than that observed between casts A and
E, and does not decrease with increasing current as
stated before.17 This variability is commonly attributed
to variations in the proportions of trace elements, such

Table 1 Constant welding parameters

Electrode type
Electrode diameter, mm
Electrode tip angle, degrees
Arc length, mm
Shielding gas flow rate, L min21
Welding speed, mm s21

2% Thoriated tungsten
3.2
60
3
8
4

Table 2 Chemical composition of parent materials, wt-%

Steel ref.

AISI

Thickness, mm

Cr

Mn

Mo

Ni

Si

Cu

Ca

A
B
E

316
316
316

8
6
6

0.033
0.028
0.081

17
17.33
17.12

1.108
1.22
1.166

2.148
2.07
2.127

10.79
10.29
10.86

0.029
0.028
0.026

0.001
0.003
0.001

0.366
0.434
0.401

0.03

0.537

0
0.01
0.02

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2 Influence of current and shielding gas on weld depth

to width ratio. Example of legend code: 316-St A,
ArzH2 represents AISI 316 steel, cast A, Ar plus 5%
H2 shielding gas
20,21

as sulphur, calcium and oxygen, in the steel.

However, in this case, casts A and E have approximately
the same content of sulphur and oxygen, as shown in
Tables 2 and 3, which suggests that other factors affect
this variability. A small difference in calcium content is
observed between these two steels, as illustrated in
Table 2. A more detailed analysis is necessary in order
to quantify the effect of calcium content on weld
penetration. In addition to this, penetration variability
in argonhydrogen shielded welds is similar to that in
argon shielded welds, mainly for currents under 200 A,
as illustrated in Fig. 1 for steel A.
The influence of the shielding gas on the weld bead
shape is illustrated in Fig. 2. The aspect ratio, i.e. the
ratio between penetration depth and maximum width of
the weld (D/W), is used to characterise the weld bead
shape. Aspect ratio is almost independent of current for
argonhydrogen and argonhelium shielded welds. This
is not the case for argon shielded welds, in which the
ratio rises with increasing current. Furthermore, for
weld currents above 150 A, the aspect ratio of argon
shielded welds is higher than that of argonhydrogen
shielded welds in all steels tested. This is because the
width of argon shielded welds is, in general, 2025%
lower than the width of argonhydrogen shielded welds,
because the arc voltage of the latter welds is one or two
volts higher. These results suggest that the effect of
hydrogen in shielding gas is to expand the electric arc,
completely changing the weld bead shape. This is
illustrated in Fig. 3, in which argonhydrogen shielded
welds show a semicircular profile, as opposed to
approximately V-shaped argon shielded welds. Argon
helium shielded welds possess the lowest aspect ratio
because of the lowest weld penetration, as illustrated in
Fig. 1.

Tungsten inert gas welding of austenitic stainless steels

a 18 V, ArH2 shielded; b 16 V, Ar shielded

3 Cross-section of TIG welds performed at 200 A and
4 mm s1 welding speed

Effect of activating flux and shielding gas

The main effect of the commercial activating flux is a
substantial increase in the penetration depth of argon
hydrogen and argonhelium shielded welds over the
whole range of currents tested, as illustrated in Fig. 4.
This behaviour is quite evident for both casts (steels E
and B). A small effect is also obtained in argon shielded
welds, as is illustrated for steel E. The TiO2 based
activating flux also brings about an increase in penetration, even for argon shielded welds, as shown for steel B.
In addition, the argonhydrogen and argonhelium
shielded welds made with commercial flux tend to be
narrower than those made without flux, exhibiting a
higher aspect ratio; see Fig. 5. This effect is not observed
in argon shielded welds, for which the aspect ratio
remains almost unchanged (see welds in Fig. 6 carried
out in steels E and B with and without commercial flux).
However, when TiO2 based flux is applied, a substantial
increase in the weld aspect ratio is achieved, even for
argon shielded welds, as shown in Fig. 5 for steel B.
The increase in weld aspect ratio obtained with the
two activating fluxes is brought about by both the
increase in the penetration depth and the decrease in
the weld width. This result is compatible with the
constriction of the root anode of the electric arc due to
the action of the activating flux. The flux prevents the
temperature from becoming high enough to produce
metal vapour at the centre of the anode, increasing
electrical arc conductivity and concentrating current

Table 3 Oxygen contents of parent plates and deposited

weld metals, ppm
Reference

Steel A

Steel B

Steel E

9N

1N

9M

Oxygen
Nitrogen

126
450

97
344

122
439

222
1100

202
812

224
314

1N, 9N, 9M: argon shielded welds on steel B, using 300 A and
4 mm s21. 9N: without activating flux. 1N: with commercial flux.
9M: with TiO2 flux.

4 Influence of current,
on weld penetration
316-St E, ArzH2-CF
ArH2 shielding gas,

shielding gas and activating flux

depth. Example of legend code:
represents AISI 316 steel, cast E,
produced with a commercial flux

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5 Influence of current, shielding gas and activating flux

on weld penetration depth to width ratio. Example of
legend code: 316-St E, ArzH2-CF represents AISI 316
steel, cast E, ArH2 shielding gas, produced with a
commercial flux

6 ArH2 shielded welds produced on steel E, using

250 A and 4 mm s1: a without flux; b with the commercial flux. Ar shielded welds produced on steel E,
using 250 A and 4 mm s1: c without flux; d with the
commercial flux. ArHe shielded welds on steel B,
using 250 A and 4 mm s1: e without flux; f with the
commercial flux

Tungsten inert gas welding of austenitic stainless steels

7 Ar shielded welds produced using 300 A and 4 mm s1:

a without flux; b with TiO2 flux

path in this zone, thereby increasing current density and

electromagnetic force. A similar effect was reported by
Tanaka et al.,7 when using a TiO2 activating flux in
helium shielded TIG welds.
Basically, flux changes the weld shape, increasing
penetration and decreasing weld width (Fig. 7),
although some change in the cross-sectional area of
the welds is observed. Figure 8 shows the correlation
between heat input and weld cross-sectional area for
welds with and without activating flux. The welds
produced with both activating fluxes show crosssectional areas larger than those made without flux,
mainly for heat inputs higher than 0.6 kJ mm1, with the
exception of argon shielded welds carried out with
commercial flux. This increase in the melted area can be
brought about by a higher proportion of the total heat
generated in the arc being transmitted to the workpiece
or by higher melting efficiency of the electric arc. The
constriction of the electric arc and of the anode root can
improve melting efficiency, because heat is concentrated
in a smaller area. In addition to this, the increase in the
electromagnetic forces and arc pressure can also
improve fluid flow in the pool and increase the melted
material volume.
The effect of active elements of the flux on Marangoni
convection was not analysed in detail in this study.
However, the oxygen content was measured in argon
shielded welds produced on steel B with a heat input of
1.3 kJ mm1 (300 A), without using flux and using
commercial and TiO2 fluxes. A substantial increase in
the oxygen content was observed in the melted material
in all cases, as indicated in Table 3. A question arises
from these results: if the increase in oxygen content can
be explained by the effect of the activating fluxes in the
case of welds made with these products, as suggested by
Lu et al.,12 what is the origin of the oxygen increase in
welds performed without flux? In Table 3, the nitrogen
contents of parent and melted materials are also
indicated. The high nitrogen content of welds made
without any flux indicates poor argon shielding of the
weld pool, suggesting that the oxygen comes from the
atmosphere. If the oxygen comes from the electric arc
atmosphere during re-fusion, the application of a layer
of flux is not needed to increase the oxygen content in
the weld metal. In fact, Lu et al.2226 showed that the
addition of oxygen or carbon dioxide to the argon
shielding gas influences the oxygen content in the weld
metal and the depth to width ratio of the welds. They
found that the weld metal oxygen content increases with

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8 Influence of heat input, shielding gas and activating flux on the cross-sectional area of the welds

the oxygen concentration in the shielding gas for

concentrations up to 0.6 vol.-%. When the oxygen
concentration in shielding gas is over this value, weld
metal oxygen content remains nearly constant at around
200250 ppm,23 which is compatible with the average of
222 ppm measured in this work in welds made without
any flux.
In addition, if the oxygen content in welds made
without flux (9N, 222 ppm) is similar to that in welds
made with TiO2 flux (9M, 224 ppm) or commercial flux
(1N, 202 ppm), why is penetration depth higher in the
latter welds, as is illustrated in Fig. 4? These results seem
to contradict those of Lu et al.,12 and suggest that the

a Without flux; b With commercial flux

9 Appearance of Ar shielded welds made using 150 A
and 4 mm s1

oxygen content may not play such an important role in

the definition of the weld bead geometry.
Lu et al.23,25 mention the formation of a heavy oxide
layer with high oxygen concentrations in the shielding
gas, which controls the oxygen absorption by the melted
material and inhibits the Marangoni convection in the
pool. This could explain the poor penetration obtained
in welds made without flux; however, no significant
oxide layer was observed in these welds. In addition, this
effect should be observed in welds made with activating
flux, where a heavy oxide layer could form in several
situations, but does not.
The effect of activating flux is also dependent on
the shielding gas, as shown in Figs 4 and 5. The
geometry of argon shielded welds is not affected
by commercial flux, but shows a substantial
change when TiO2 based flux is applied. Additionally,
commercial flux is more effective in argonhelium
shielded welds than in argon shielded welds. This
reveals that some interaction exists between the shielding
gas and flux, but this is not well understood.
Furthermore, many of the argonhydrogen shielded
welds that were produced with the commercial surfactant revealed a substantial level of porosity (Fig. 6b).
The opportunity to form porosity increases with the
proportion of flux applied to the plate surface. Porosity
is due to the high temperature chemical reaction between
hydrogen and the surfactant, since it is not present in
argon or argonhelium shielded welds. In fact, the flux
manufacturer specifies that this activating flux should be
used in welds shielded with argon, helium or argon
helium mixtures.
The thickness of the flux coating is difficult to control
when it is sprayed or deposited on the plate surface, and
this has a direct influence on the weld appearance,
especially in argon or argonhelium shielded welds. In
fact, if a thick coating is deposited, the weld tends to
have a poor appearance, as illustrated in Fig. 9. This
happens because part of the flux does not completely
vaporise during welding, and tends to deposit on the
weld pool surface. This effect is reduced if the coating
thickness is decreased.

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Conclusions

References

The effects of current, shielding gas and activating flux

on the geometry of TIG welds in low sulphur content
stainless steels were investigated. The following conclusions were drawn:
1. Weld penetration depth increases with increasing
current for argon, argonhydrogen and argonhelium
shielded welds.
2. Variability in weld penetration between casts of
the same steel is higher than that observed between
welds carried out in the same cast. This variability does
not decrease with increasing current, being independent
of the sulphur and oxygen contents of the parent
material.
3. Argon shielded welds show higher depth to width
ratio (aspect ratio) than argonhydrogen welds for
currents above 150 A. This is because argon shielded
welds are 2025% narrower than argonhydrogen
shielded welds.
4. Both activating fluxes produce a substantial
increase in penetration depth and in depth to width
ratio in the welds. This is mainly due to the arc
constriction effect produced by the fluxes.
5. Some interaction exists between activating fluxes
and shielding gases, which can affect the weld geometry
and/or the defect formation in the welds.
6. No correlation was found between penetration
depth and oxygen content in the melted material.
7. The degradation of the weld appearance increases
with increasing thickness of the flux coating.

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Acknowledgements
The authors are grateful to the Fundacao para a
Ciencia e a TecnologiaFCT, which financially supported this research, through the Programme POCTI.
The European Union, the Portuguese Government and
FEDER take part in this programme.

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