The effect of the gap between the materials on the weld penetration and mechanical values in the MAG butt weld joint

Abstract

The welding sector, which is developing and progressing rapidly, is one of the methods of combining the same or different material groups. The welding procedure should be capable of producing weldments with adequate strength, ductility, and toughness to satisfy the applicable specifications. Although the welding parameter values are adjusted according to the welding method verification reports, variations in the distance between the materials to be joined may occur due to reasons such as non-rigid or deformed fixtures, operator loading errors during application. These errors together with insufficient weld penetration error give variable shrinkage values in mechanical test results. In this study, S460M thermo-mechanically rolled fine-grained steel plate materials with the same thickness and same parameter values as robotic MAG welding were combined with three different joint gap distances (0 mm, 1 mm, and 2 mm) under shielding gas combinations using MAG welding method. The effect of the gap distance left at the joints of two plates before welding on the weld penetration depth and mechanical values was examined. As a result of the analysis, the best penetration depth and mechanical properties were obtained in the joint where the joint gap distance between the two welded parts was 2 mm.