Product Code: ICA12_1407

Position Welding of 960 MPa Ultra-High-Strength Steel
Authors:
Jukka Siltanen, Rautaruukki Oyj; Hämeenlinna Finland
Sakari Tihinen, Ruukki Metals Oy; Raahe Finland
Presented at ICALEO 2012

High-strength and ultra high-strength steels are used more and more frequently in the engineering industry. The welding of high-strength steels requires lower heat input welding processes to achieve matching joints. Laser and laser-GMA hybrid welding processes are used for the welding of these kinds of steels. The Finnish steel maker Rautaruukki makes high and ultra-high strength steels under the trademark Optim. In earlier studies, the welding position for these steels has been a flat position (PA/1G). In this study, the welding position is again a flat position, but a horizontal (PC/2G) and an overhead position (PE/4G) were also tested. The laser GMA-hybrid welding tests were performed with a Trumpf 12 kW disk laser equipped with a Fronius TransPuls Synenergic 5000 GMA-power source. Some comparative tests were performed using pure GMA-welding. The filler materials used were Esab OK Autrod 12.50 (ISO 14341, G42 G3Si1) and Union X96 (ISO 16834, G89 Mn4Ni2CrMo) with 1 mm diameters. The welding energies used were 0.5 kJ/mm for the GMA-welding and 0.3 kJ/mm for the laser GMA-hybrid welding.