Weld Quality Analysis of Tig, Laser and Electron Beam Welded Ss 304 and 316 Materials with Ndt Techniques

The development and fabrication of fusion reactor components utilize different grades of stainless steel materials and different welding techniques. Major candidates are TIG welding, Laser welding and Electron beam welding and Narrow Gap TIG welding. The weld joints quality evaluation and their mechanical properties are to be analyzed for performance of these developed components. The welded joint performance evaluation and analysis of the quality of welded samples can be done with Non Destructive examination with some existing and advanced techniques. NDT techniques are very helpful to meet the materials evaluation process challenges in this regard. The development work with different thick SS materials (304 and 316) is in progress with different range of thickness. Some samples are developed with thickness of 5 mm 20 mm range with TIG, Laser beam welding and Electron beam welding techniques. TIG weld process utilizes filler materials of suitable grade and there is some possibility of defects presence even when the weld process is taken proper procedures as the heating and cooling is involved with solidification process. In case of CO2 Laser key hole welding, possibilities of weld defects like under cut and lack of penetration are possible . Where in case of EB welding due to high speed weld process , the rapid melting and solidification processes can cause some defects. The different SS welded samples quality is analyzed with non destructive techniques X-ray radiography and Ultrasonic techniques. The results will be presented in this paper with detail analysis of interesting findings with tested samples with SS 304 and SS 316 materials by different welding techniques.