Experimental study on effect of flux composition on element transfer during submerged arc welding

The effects of flux composition on transfer of the elements have been studied through developed agglomerated fluxes on mild steel plates. The elements transferred to the welds have been shown in terms of a delta (∆) quantity, which may be positive, negative or zero depending upon the composition of flux, wire and base plate. Carbon and manganese contents both show negative ∆ quantity for most of the welds, indicating that both have been transferred from the weld metal to the slag. The results of this study show that for most of the welds, desulphurization and removal of phosphorus have been reported. The amount of element transferred is different for different welds depending upon the flux composition, dilution and slag metal reactions. Response surface methodology has been used for developing models for element transfer. The suggested model has been given for sulphur transfer to the weld. In this study the transfers of carbon, manganese, sulphur, phosphorus, silicon and nickel have been studied.