Eliminating post-weld heat treatment in repair welding by temper bead technique: role bead sequence in metallurgical changes

There are several industry attractive aspects of flux cored arc welding (FCAW) process that need further investigation. Also, the welding parameters that can provide better microstructure, mechanical properties and minimum residual stresses in thick walled weldments need to be established to validate the application of FCAW process. This paper investigates two different welding sequences and studies their effects on the microstructure, the hardness and the size of the heat-affected zones (HAZs). The results show that there were no significant differences in the microstructure, hardness and the size of HAZ between the two proposed sequences. However, significant improvement in the microstructure and a reduction in the hardness and the size of HAZ were achieved after depositing the second welding bead irrespective of the depositing sequence.