The shape of weldment obtained during the fusion welding play a vital role in inducing residual deformation and stresses. Submerged arc welding (SAW) process is a high metal deposition process and used for thick plate welding. During SAW the high heat input is applied for joining thick plates. Improper process parameter setting during SAW can lead to excessive residual stress and deformation as the weldment cooling rate of thicker plate is drastic in nature. Hence optimization of SAW process parameter is required to minimize the occurrence of distortion and residual stresses. The present investigation is aimed at prediction of optimized SAW weldment shape profile which also includes the shape of heat affected zone (HAZ). In the contemporary literature modeling works related to weldment only give the overall bead height and width of the weldment. Very rarely a complete picture of weldment including that of HAZ is predicted. The present research is aimed at predicting the entire weldment shape profile characteristics during SAW. A design matrix was used for SAW butt bead-on plates with a range of input process parameters. The beads were cross sectioned polished and etched for measuring the various zones of macrostructures including that of HAZ. The output of the welding i.e. the macrostructure characteristics, were modeled with respect to the input process parameters. The present modeling technique can be used for optimization of the weldment shape profile based on input process parameters for minimizing the distortion and residual stresses. The modeling technique developed can also be conveniently used for prediction of fusion zone boundary and HAZ boundary.
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