Microstructure and mechanical characterization of weldments of titanium alloy plates joined using different welding techniques

In the welding of materials, metal inert gas (MIG), gas tungsten arc welding (GTAW), and tungsten inert gas (TIG), are typical welding technologies. Welding titanium alloys involves several challenges due to their susceptibility to oxidation phenomena. Shielding arrangements of a relatively new type are tested to overcome this contamination. A proposed design and configurations are used to join commercially pure titanium sheets with variations in ARC, GMAW, and GTAW process parameters along with travel speed and welding current. Variations were made to process parameters toward full penetration butt joints in experimental bead-on plate (BoP) trials with a sheet thickness of 5 mm. Macrostructure images were subsequently captured. Analysing the microstructure of the heat-affected zone, base metal, and fusion zone is done using optical microscopy. TIG welding is 7.39% harder than MIG welding and 2.72% harder than Arc welding. A TIG welding joint exhibited 11% greater tensile strength than a GTAW joint, while a MIG welding joint possessed 6.7% greater tensile strength than a TIG joint. A TIG welding process elongates 15.5% more than a MIG welding process, and 3.31% more than an arc welding process. Titanium alloy plates are best joined by TIG welding because of its microstructure and mechanical properties. For aerospace and high-performance engineering parts, TIG welding offers excellent results due to the precise control of welding parameters.