TIG Narrow Gap Welding of Titanium Alloys

摘要

Structures of titanium alloys of rather considerable thicknesses (to 70 mm and over) are widely used in the shipbuilding industry. The weld reinforcement to a considerable extent is required when welding traditionally grooved parts (double V, single V, etc.) of the above thickness and welding wire of lower strength as compared to the base metal. A process of argon tungsten-arc welding along a narrow gap has been developed and brought to a commercial level for titanium alloys. The method allows to reduce the volume of deposited metal to a great extent and due to it to reduce the labor intensity, the consumption of welding materials and power. If the difference in strength of the base metal and the deposited one is within 200 MPa, the full strength of welded joints is provided due to the effect of contact strengthening of the weld even without its geometrical reinforcement. Presented in the paper are problems of providing the strength and technical and economical indices of joints made along the narrow gap when welding α - and pseudo α - titanium alloys