Abstract
Underwater wet bead-on-plate welds were experimentally performed on 11mm thick SS400 steel plate as base metal by using six different types of flux coated electrodes of 3.2mm diameter. Two kinds of different flux coated wet arc electrodes (UW-1, UW-2) were individually designed flux materials, three kinds of the electrodes (E4301, E4311, E4313) were terrestrial electrodes and the another one (TN20) was an imported underwater wet welding electrode. As results, the individually designed flux coated underwater electrode, UW-2 and TN20 had a good starting and the excellent arc stability compared with other electrodes. No significant difference of bead appearance could be detected, but the slag detachability of TN20 electrodes was relatively undesirable. By rapid cooling rate, the hardness value and the portion of martensite of HAZ were increased, but it was considerably maintain stable for TN20 and UW-2 electrodes. The individually designed flux coated electrode, UW-2 could be used in practice for underwater bead welds.