Double shielded gas tungsten arc welding (GTAW, also known as tungsten inert gas (TIG) welding) of an SUS304 stainless steel with pure inert argon as the inner layer shielding and the Ar-CO2 or CO2 active gas as the out layer shielding was proposed in this study to investigate its effect on the tungsten electrode protection and the weld shape variation. The experimental results showed that the inner inert argon gas can successfully prevent the outer layer active gas from contacting and oxidizing the tungsten electrode during the welding process. Active gas, carbon dioxide, in the outer layer shielding is decomposed in the arc and dissolves in the liquid pool, which effectively adjusts the active element, oxygen, content in the weld metal. When the weld metal oxygen content is over 70× 10-6, the surface-tension induced Marangoni convection changes from outward into inward, and the weld shape varies from a wide shallow one to a narrow deep one. The effect of the inner layer gas flow rate on the weld bead morphology and the weld shape was investigated systematically. The results show that when the flow rate of the inner argon shielding gas is too low, the weld bead is easily oxidized and the weld shape is wide and shallow. A heavy continuous oxide layer on the liquid pool is a barrier to the liquid pool movement.
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