Minimizing Distortion by Transient Thermal Tensioning and Its Effect on Fatigue Crack Growth Behavior of Flux Cored Arc Steel Weld Joints

The need for weight saving and low distortion in structural design such us ship and railway structures is accomplished by the use of welding as a joining technique. This is becouse welding process allows to join thin plates despite the use of thin section material often produces distortion which leads to loss of precision and even structural integrity. One of welding techniques which is widely used for joining steel construction is flux-cored arc welding (FCAW). The aim of this study is to control distortion and improve fatigue performance using transient thermal tensioning (TTT). In this research, welding was conducted with and without TTT treatment. The secondary flame heating temperature for TTT treatments were 100 °C, 200 °C, and 300 °C and during welding process the thermal cycles were measured using a data acquisition. After the welding process was completed, a sequence of an experiment was conducted including chemical, distortion measurement and fatigue crack propagation test. Results show that TTT treatment reduces distortion and improves fatigue crack growth performance with the optimum heating temperature is achieved at 200 °C.