• Journal of Welding and Joining
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• v.27 no.5
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• pp.49-54
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• 2009

Recently, a demand of ferritic STS is increasing rapidly in automobile exhaust system. Exhaust manifolds are the part nearest to the engine so that the material is exposed to high temperature exhaust gas. Excellent heat resistant properties, especially high temperature strength, thermal fatigue resistance and high corrosion resistance are necessary for these parts. STS429L contains 15 weight percent of Cr and low Mo, so has good price competitive. And it has excellent high temperature strength and corrosion resistance, so receives attentions as material that applying to exhaust manifold. In tensile test of lap joint welded STS 429L, most of specimens are failed in base metal, but occurs brittle fracture in weld metals at some specimens in the face of good welding conditions. In the process of tensile test, lap joint welded STS429L specimens are transformed locally. The brittle fracture occurs that local transforming area exists in weld metals. But, butt welding specimens made by same materials showed ductile fracture in tensile test and bending test. In this study, suppose the reason of brittle fracture is in the combined local transform and tensile stress, through analysis of bead geometry, evaluate geometrical factor of brittle fracture in lap joint welded STS429L.

• Journal of Welding and Joining
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.27-31
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• 2009

Ferritic stainless steels have a good heat resistance and economic advantage. They are used for applications such as automotive exhaust systems where resistance to general corrosion is superior to carbon steels. However, there are not enough research for ferritic stainless steels on weldability mainly used as automotive exhaust manifolds. In this study, mechanical and microstructure properties of as-welded STS 429L and STS 444 ferrite stainless steels were confirmed by tensile, bending, hardness test, optical microscopy and scanning electron microscopy. Tensile strength of the STS 444 is higher than the STS 429L when it is a raw material. In contrast to this fact, STS 429L indicated higher tensile strength after butt welded. In addition, the hardness have a increasing tendency as getting down on the bead.