Appropriate Technological Procedures for Fusion Welding of Low Alloy Carbon Steel

Abstract

Most welding products from unskilled welders in Nigeria have been observed to exhibit low values of mechanical properties, as well as high corrosion rates and incessant failure of the welded joints in service. In this research, unskilled welders in Akure, one of the major capital cities in Nigeria were used as case studies in which low carbon steel plate was made available for the unskilled welders to weld. Three different welding shops within the city were selected while welding of the same material was carried out by skilled welder at the workshop of Metallurgical and Materials Engineering (MME) Department of the Federal University of Technology, Akure; The latter served as a control. Tensile and hardness tests were carried out on the welded samples from where it was observed that the samples welded in the Metallurgical and Materials Engineering Department workshop had better mechanical properties than those welded by the unskilled welders. The best welded samples from among the unskilled welders were used to test for corrosion rates in comparison with the welded control sample. From the result, it was also observed that the welded control sample possessed higher resistance to corrosion in the selected corrosive media than the welded samples from the unskilled welders.

 

Keywords: Assessment, Improvement, Mechanical properties, Welded products, Nigeria