International Journal of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Sciences, 4(1) January-June 2011, pp.
7-11 • ISSN : 0974-584X
Effect of Pulsing on Mechanical Properties of 70/30 CuNi Alloy Welds
1
M. P. CHAKRAVARTHY , 2N. RAMANAIAH AND 3B. S. K. SUNDARA SIVA RAO
1
PhD Scholar, Mechanical Engg. Dept. Andhra University Visakhapatnam, A. P., India
2
Associate Professor, Andhra University, Mechanical Engg. Dept. Visakhapatnam, A. P., India
3
Professor, Andhra University, Mechanical Engg. Dept. Visakhapatnam, A. P., India
ABSTRACT
This paper describes the effect of pulsing on the micro
structural, mechanical properties (hardness and tensile
strength) of 70Cu-30Ni alloy welds produced by Tungsten
Inert Gas (TIG) welding. The pulsed current (PC) has been
found beneficial due to its advantages over the
conventional continuous current (CC) process. It was
observed that the PC is used for effective improvement
in the mechanical properties (hardness and tensile
strength) of the welds compared to those of CC welds. In
cases of PC Weld metal and FZ were found stronger than
the CC. It was observed that pulse TIG welding produced
finer grain structure of weld metal than conventional TIG
welding.
Keywords: Pulsed current; Tungsten Inert Gas (TIG)
Welding; Cupronickel alloy (70Cu-30Ni), Mechanical
properties
1. INTRODUCTION
The increasing need to minimize the use of high-
priced energy has forced the shipbuilding industry
to explore more efficient forms of design and
construction to minimize fuel consumption.
Practically all ships that are in use employ painting
schemes to provide protection against corrosion and
biofouling. However, this type of protection is short-
lived and requires frequent maintenance during the
operating life of the ship. The maritime industry is
therefore exploring the possibility of either sheathing
or cladding ships with copper alloys to provide the
required protection without the necessity for frequent
maintenance.
Copper-nickel alloys possess excellent corrosion
resistance in sea water and the constant low-level
discharge of copper ions provides protection against
biofouling. The copper-clad ship hull thus remains
slick during service and surface induced drag is
minimized. Therefore, fuel or energy efficiency is
maximized and the need to drydock for surface
cleaning is reduced, resulting in lower maintenance
and service costs [1, 2].
Corresponding author: chakravarthymp@rediffmail.com
Earlier investigation shows that CuNi (70/30) has
been welded by Flux Cored filler using GTAW and
GMAW-p [3]. Structural integrity of copper-nickel to
steel using metal inert gas welding [4]. Temperature
field and flow field during tungsten inert gas bead
welding of copper alloy onto steel [5].
There were no evidence observed that using of
Pulsed TIG welding for joining of Cu-Ni alloys from
the earlier investigations.
Pulsed current tungsten inert gas (PCTIG)
welding, developed in 1950s, is a variation of tungsten
inert gas (TIG) welding which involves cycling of the
welding current from a high level to a low level at a
selected regular frequency. The high level of the peak
current is generally selected to give adequate
penetration and bead contour, while the low level of
the background current is set at a level sufficient to
maintain a stable arc. This permits arc energy to be
used efficiently to fuse a spot of controlled dimensions
in a short time producing the weld as a series of
overlapping nuggets and limits the wastage of heat
by conduction into the adjacent parent material as in
normal constant current welding. In contrast to
constant current welding, the fact that heat energy
required to melt the base material is supplied only
during peak current pulses for brief intervals of time
allows the heat to dissipate into the base material
leading to a narrower heat affected zone (HAZ). The
technique has secured a niche for itself in specific
applications such as in welding of root passes of tubes,
and in welding thin sheets, where precise control over
penetration and heat input are required to avoid burn
through. Extensive research has been performed in
this process and reported advantages include
improved bead contour, greater tolerance to heat sink
variations, lower heat input requirements, reduced
residual stresses and distortion.
Metallurgical advantages of pulsed current
welding frequently reported in literature include
refinement of fusion zone grain size and substructure,
reduced width of HAZ, control of segregation, etc.
[6]. All these factors will help in improving
 8 International Journal of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Sciences • ISSN: 0974-584X

mechanical properties. Current pulsing has been used
by several investigators to obtain grain refinement in
weld fusion zones and improvement in weld
mechanical properties [7, 8]. Hence, in this
investigation an attempt has been made to study the
effect of pulsing on mechanical properties (hardness
and tensile strength) and microstructure of Copper
Nickel alloy (70% Cu 30-% Ni ) TIG welds and
therefore assumes special significance since such
detailed studies are not hitherto reported.
2. EXPERIMENTAL DETAILS
The investigations were carried out on 70/30 CuNi
(5 mm thick) plates. The composition of the base CuNi
70/30 and filler wire was given in Table 1.
Autogenous, bead-on-plate, full penetration welds
were produced by alternate current (AC) GTAW
process. The weld bead was made perpendicular to
the sheet rolling direction (Fig. 1 and Fig. 2). Prior to
welding, the base material coupons, ER CuNi fillers
were wire brushed and thoroughly cleaned with
acetone. Details of the welding parameters are
presented in Table 2. Two types of current modes
were used: Continuous Current (CC) and Pulsed
Current (PC).
The microstructural characterization of the fusion
zones (FZ) were carried out by means of optical
microscope (OM). Samples for microstructural
investigations were cut from the base material (BM)
and fusion zone(FZ). The metallographic samples
were polished on Emery papers and disc cloth to
remove the very fine scratches. Polished surfaces were
etched in a solution of Glacial acitic acid and Nitric
acid (1:1). The microstructures were recorded with
an image analyzer attached to the metallurgical
microscope. Micro hardness was carried out using
LECO’s LV700 Vickers hardness testing machine with
2Kg load. Tensile testing was performed on a
computer controlled Universal Testing Machine using
transverse-weld specimens, cut from the fusion zones
and base metal, prepared according to ASTM E-8
(Fig. 3).

Table 1
Chemical Composition of 70/30 CuNi and Filler ERCuNi(70/30 CuNi)

Material Ni Fe Mn Pb Zn C Ag P Si Ti others Cu

70/30 CuNi 32.50 0.010 0.75 0.0025 0.025 0.04 0.15 - - - 0.1 REST
Filler ERCuNi 29.31 0.40 0.65 0.015 - - - 0.001 0.058 0.28 0.1 REST
(70/30 CuNi)

Table 2
Welding Parameters

Continuous current welds Pulsed current welds

Arc voltage 18 V Arc voltage 18V

Welding current 105A Peak current 210A
Welding speed manually operated Base current 105A
Pulse frequency 1Hz, 3Hz, 5Hz
Pulse on time 50%
Welding speed manually operated

Figure 1: Schematic View of the Tungsten Inert Gas (TIG)

Welding Process Figure 2: Tensile Test Specimen
 Effect of Pulsing on Mechanical Properties of 70/30 CuNi Alloy Welds 9

Figure 3: Tensile Test Specimen as Per ASTM- E8

Table 3
Mechanical Properties of the Base Materials

Sl. Material Ultimate Tensile Elongation Vickers

No. Strength (%) Hardness
(N/mm2) Number (HN)

1 70/30CuNi 412 39 140

3. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION Figure 5: Microstructures of 70/30 Alloy Weld (a) CC

3.1. Microstructure
The optical micro structure of the base metal (70/30
CuNi) as shown in Fig. 4. Which shows coarse grains
throughout the base metal. Optical micrographs of
both CC and PC welds regions of FZ was shown in
Fig. 5 . All fusion zone has equiaxed grains except FZ
made with CC, out of all PC technique,3Hz frequency
welds shows (Fig. 5.c) improved equiaxed grains
compared to all other welds.
3.2. Microhardness
The micro hardness of FZ made with CC and PC was
tabulated (Table.4). All FZ shows lower micro
hardness than the BM. In a precipitation hardened
Cu alloy, the mechanical properties of the weld zone
mainly depended on the precipitates behavior during
the welding thermal cycles. This result could be
attributed to the reason why lower hardness than that
of base metals. Hardness of the fusion zone showed
(b) PC, 1Hz (c)PC, 3Hz (d)PC, 5Hz
high values at 3 Hz frequency. A lower pulse
frequency welding resulted in homogeneously
dispersed Cu and Ni particles through out the weld
region. Therefore, larger difference of hardness with
hardness measured location was represented
compared to other PC and CC welding conditions.
Out of all frequencies (1 Hz,, 3Hz,5Hz) and CC welds,
3 Hz pulse frequency shows highest hardness value
.This was mainly due to the different thermal effects
with welding conditions. The thermal effect of TIG
depends on the welding condition [9].More thermal
effects were added when the Pulse frequency with 3
Hz. Therefore the grain size and precipitates might
grow at the lower welding condition.
Table 4
70/30 CuNi Micro Hardness-center of the Weld
70/30 CuNi Pulse Frequency Micro-hardness
Alloy welds / CC VHN
1 1 Hz 110.1
2 3 Hz 114.3
3 5 Hz 109.5
4 CC 108.3
5 BM 140.0

Figure 6: Micro Hardness Profiles on Top Surface of the

Figure 4: Optical Microstructures of Base Weld with Different Pulse Frequencies (1Hz, 3Hz, 5Hz)
Material (70/30 CuNi Alloy) and CC of 70/30 CuNi Alloy TIG Welds
 10 International Journal of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Sciences • ISSN: 0974-584X

The Hardness profiles are shown in Fig. 6, the

fluctuations were more in CC welds than PC welds
.this is due to more amount of heat is transferred to
the base metal in CC than PC. Out of all the fluctuation
are minimum with 3 Hz frequency, PC.

3.3. Tensile Strength

Tensile test results shown in Fig.7 and Ultimate
Tensile Strength (N/mm2), % Elongation of BM and
FZ were shown in Table. 5. Compared to all PC and
CC welds, the highest strength of the weld zone was
acquired for welding pulse frequency 3 Hz, PC shown
in Fig. 7. The reason of the different strength according
to the arc stability of each pulsing was explained by
the dominant microstructure in the fusion zone.
The fractured surface of the BM and FZ with 3Hz,
PC was further subjected to metallographic testing.
This result confirms that, although high strengths
were obtained in BM compared to 3Hz, PC condition.
Failure occurred at the FZ in all samples. In order to
understand the behavior of fracture the fractured
surfaces were analyzed by SEM. Fig. 8 shows the SEM
observation results on the fractured surface of the
tensile test specimen.

Table 5
Transverse Tensile Test: Mechanical Properties of the
Studied Joints (70/30 CuNi)

S. Base/Pulse frequency Ultimate Tensile % Elongation

No. (Hz)/CC strength(N/mm2)

1 Base material 412.3 13.3

2 1 Hz 405.1
3 3 Hz 406.0
4 5 Hz 402.2
5 CC 378.6
Figure 7: Transverse Tensile Properties to Welding Direction
of the Joints at Different Puls (1Hz,3Hz,5Hz) and
CC of 70/30 CuNi Alloy TIG Welds
10.9
11.0
12.8 Figure 8: SEM - Fractured Surface (a) BM (b) FZ, 3Hz, PC
8.4
4. CONCLUSION
The effect of pulsing on mechanical properties and
microstructure of 70/30 CuNi (Cupro-nickel) alloy
welds are investigated and the following conclusions
are drawn.
1. 70/30 CuNi alloy plates were joined
successfully by TIG welding Techniques (PC
and CC).
2. Of All welds, 3Hz frequency PC TIG welds
shows better hardness and CC shows lowest.
3. Micro hardness of welds shows distribution
near the weld zone was related to the
microstructure of each region.
4. The Hardness profiles are shown in Fig. 6, the
fluctuations were more in CC welds than PC
Welds .3Hz frequency welds shows less
fluctuation compare to all other welds.
 Effect of Pulsing on Mechanical Properties of 70/30 CuNi Alloy Welds
5. Transverse tensile strength of the 70/30 CuNi
welds showed the highest value in case of
pulse frequency 3 HZ with 105A.
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11
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