Swing-Arc Narrow-Gap Submerged Arc-Welding Process Assisted by Pre-Embedding Cold Wires

To solve the problems of poor weld formation, difficult slag removal, and inferior joint microstructure and hardness in conventional narrow-gap submerged arc welding (NG-SAW), a swing arc NG-SAW process assisted by pre-embedding cold wires was proposed. Synergistically optimizing the welding energy parameters and additional cold wires ensured sound weld formation and enhanced slag detachability, while the efficiency of multilayer welding was improved by reducing the number of weld layers by 33.3%. The slag adhesion mechanism is clarified as follows: a high welding heat input facilitates elemental diffusion at the weld–slag interface, leading to the formation of a continuous and thick interlayer composed of (Fe,Mn)O and MgO-Al2O3-CaO phases. This interlayer strengthens the chemical bonding between slag and weld, thereby impeding slag removal. Microstructure evolution analysis of the multilayer welded joint revealed that the variable-angle design increases the groove volume and, combined with the heat-absorbing effect of the additional wires, accelerates molten pool cooling, thereby refining grains in both the weld metal zone and reheat-affected zone. Meanwhile, the tempering exerted by the heat-affected zone (HAZ) of the subsequent weld layer on the previous layer is attenuated. This promotes the gradual transformation of hard-brittle lath martensite in the coarse-grained heat-affected zone (CGHAZ) of the bottom layer into tougher tempered martensite/bainite in the CGHAZ of the upper layers. As a result, the hardness uniformity within the HAZ, the critical weak region of the joint, was enhanced by 54%, enabling synchronous improvement in microstructural homogeneity, hardness distribution, and overall welding efficiency.