Microstructure and mechanical properties of electron beam welded dissimilar steel to Fe-Al alloy joints

Electron beam welding (EBW) technique was used to perform dissimilar joining of plain carbon steel to Fe-7%Al alloy under three different weld conditions such as with beam oscillation, without beam oscillation and at higher welding speed. The effect of weld parameters on the microstructure and mechanical properties of dissimilar joints was studied using optical microscopy, SEM, EBSD, hardness, tensile and erichsen cup tests. Microstructure results show that the application of beam oscillation resulted in uniform and homogeneous microstructure compared to without beam oscillations and higher welding speed. Further, it was observed that weld microstructure changes from equiaxed to columnar grains depending on the weld speed. High weld speed results in columnar grain structure in the weld joint. Erichsen cup test results show that the application of beam oscillation results in excellent formability as compared to high weld speed. Tensile test results show no significant difference in strength properties in all three weld conditions, but the ductility was found to be highest for joints obtained with the application of weld beam oscillation as compared to without beam oscillation and high weld speed. This study shows that the application of beam oscillations plays an important role in improving the weld quality and performance of EBW dissimilar steel to Fe-Al joints.