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Welding Feasibility of Copper and Mild Steel Using TIG Welding

Conference Paper · August 2016

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 Proc. of the Nat. Conference on Futuristic Advancements in Mechanical Engineering (FAME-2K16), Thalassery, 8-9 August, 2016
Welding Feasibility of Copper and Mild Steel
Using TIG Welding
Arjun G.1, Atheena J. R.2, Nithin V.3, Vyshakh P.4, Mebin T. K.5, James Valder6 and Rijesh M.7*
1,2,3,4,5 &7
Department of Metallurgy, Amal Jyothi College of Engineering, Koovapally, Kanjirapally, Kerala
6
Department of Mechanical Engineering, St. Joseph Engineering College, Mangalore, Karnataka
*
Corresponding author e mail :
Abstract— Joining of dissimilar metals like copper and mild steel
is indeed a challenge and limits the widespread application of
these materials. They find various applications in automobile
industries due to their complementary properties like high
thermal and electrical conductivity of Cu and good mechanical
properties of mild steel. They are usually welded by solid state
and friction welding processes. These welding processes are not
only expensive but have a low production rate. The present study
experiments joining them with a TIG welding processes which is
less expensive and promises higher rate of production.
Metallurgical analysis of the fusion zone has been done to
understand the mixing and solidification behavior. Microscopic
examination has been carried out to observe the segregation
pattern of Cu and Fe zones and the feasibility of fusion welding.
Keywords—TIG welding,copper, mild steel, segregation
I. INTRODUCTION
Joints of dissimilar metals to combine different properties in
a single component are getting popular in various industries
like power generation, chemical, electronics and nuclear
industries [1]. They are usually welded by solid state and
friction welding processes. These welding processes are not
only expensive but have a low production rate. Tungsten Inert
Gas welding is an arc welding process that uses a non
consumable tungsten electrode to produce weld. The weld area
is protected from atmospheric contamination by an inert
shielding gas and filler metals are normally used. Copper and
copper alloys are one of the most versatile engineering
materials. The combination of properties such as strength,
conductivity, corrosion resistance, machinability and ductility
makes copper suitable for a wide range of applications. Mild
steel on the other hand is an important structural material
having low thermal conductivity in comparison to copper and
its alloys. Joining of copper to mild steel can increase the heat
dissipation from these alloys during high temperature
applications and decrease the formation probability of
deterious phases after prolong heating, but high thermal
conductivity of copper is one of the main limitations regarding
to its welding. In other words, high thermal conductivity of
copper tends to rapidly dissipate heat away from the weld
Dept. of Mechanical Engineering
zone, leading to difficulties in reaching the melting
temperature [2]. In the present study an attempt is made to
study the feasibility of fusion welding mild steel and copper
by analyzing their micro structure
II. METHODOLOGY
The mild steel and copper specimens were cut into required
dimensions. A single bevel V-groove is made on the copper
plate and a root gap of 1mm is provided between the mild
steel and copper plate. A copper plate was placed beneath as a
backing plate for proper heat dissipation. The copper to be
welded was preheated for 1hr at 600ºC. A filler rod containing
67% Ni was selected for welding the two specimens together.
TIG welding was carried out at 17.2 V at a speed of 2 mm/s.
The welding torch was pointed towards the steel plate and
welding was carried out.
III. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Fig. 1 shows the microstructure of a weld metal interface in
which a miscibility gap is seen clearly. The miscibility gap is a
region of mixture of components where the mixture exists as
two or more phases. In the Fe-Cu binary phase diagram, two
liquid phases exist at high temperatures near the miscibility
gap. Ni has a high affinity towards both Cu and mild steel. Ni
filler used for welding considerably reduced the miscibility
gap.
Since copper is a highly conductive metal, heat dissipates
through the boundary very quickly. This implies very fast
solidification. Due to high solidification rate at the boundaries,
fine dendrites are formed as compared to farther areas having
coarse dendrites (Fig.2). Fig 3 shows the microstructure of the
weld zone. Here, Cu is surrounded by a matrix of Fe-Ni. Due
to difference is cooling rates, different morphologies of
dendrites are clearly seen. Nickel was found to be fully soluble
with copper in both liquid and solid and alloyed well with the
copper, without hot cracking.
Proc. 325 College of Engineering Thalassery
Proc. of the Nat. Conference on Futuristic Advancements in Mechanical Engineering (FAME-2K16), Thalassery, 8-9 August, 2016

Fig.1 Microstructure of weld metal interface showing the miscibility

gap
Fig. 3. Solidification in fusion zone

IV. CONCLUSIONS

Use of nickel as filler material was effective as it had

solubility with both copper and iron without producing
intermetallic compounds. Thus welding between copper
& mild steel using TIG welding is promising.

REFERENCES

[1] Sajjad Gholami Shiri1, Mohsen Nazarzadeh1. Gas tungsten arc

welding of cp-copper to 304 stainless steel using different filler
Fig. 2 Microstructure of weld metal interface showing grain size materials. Trans. Nonferrous met. Soc. China 22(2012)
2937−2942.
difference during solidification
[2] Magnabosco I, Ferro P, Bonollo F, Arnberg L. An investigation
of fusion zone microstructures in electron beam welding of
copper–stainless steel [J]. Materials Science and Engineering A,
2006, 424: 163−173.

Dept. of Mechanical Engineering Proc. 326 College of Engineering Thalassery

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