Effect of welding speed on microstructures, mechanical properties and corrosion behavior of GTA-welded AISI 201 stainless steel sheets

Three welding speeds designated as low (1.5 mm/s), medium (2.5 mm/s) and high (3.5 mm/s) were operated during the gas tungsten arc welding (GTAW) process and joints made were subjected to analysis of the microstructures, mechanical and corrosion properties of the joints. It was found that the joints made using the high welding speed exhibited smaller weld bead size, higher tensile strength and elongation, higher hardness and higher pitting corrosion potentials than those welded with medium and low welding speeds. The dendrite length and inter-dendritic spacing in the weld zone reduced when increasing the welding speed which was the main reason for the observable changes in the tensile, hardness and corrosion properties of the weld joints.