Ferrochrome and Graphite Transfer in Mild Steel Welds with E6013SS Electrode

Surface modification through welding is used to enhance the service life of a variety of engineering components. These components, due to the prolonged service, undergo wear and hence need a replacement or an attempt can be made to salvage them. Rebuilding of these components to the required size by welding can considerably reduce the cost. Weld surfacing is a cost effective and proven technique for depositing protective coatings. An attempt has been made to add ferrochrome LC and graphite to mild steel weld metal using E6013SS covered electrodes. The required surface was coated with a paste of ferrochrome LC and graphite in potassium silicate. The powders were mixed in a calculated proportions, and uniform thickness was maintained by using a fabricated height gauge. Substrate with a coated paste was preheated at 90 °C for 30 min and further heated to 110 °C for another 30 min. Weld runs were deposited over the preheated coating using E6013SS covered electrodes. Welds were made with nine different paste formulations. Effect of welding parameters on element transfer behavior was analyzed with Taguchi design of experiment using L9 orthogonal array. Four parameters with three levels were selected for these experiments.