BRADEESH MOORTHY S.: EXPERIMENTAL STUDY ON MAG WELDED E350 HSLA STEEL JOINTS
209–215
EXPERIMENTAL STUDY ON MAG WELDED E350 HSLA STEEL
JOINTS
EKSPERIMENTALNA [TUDIJA ZVARNIH SPOJEV IZ JEKLA Z VISOKO
TRDNOSTJO VRSTE 350, VARJENIH S POSTOPKOM MAG
Bradeesh Moorthy S.
1*
, Malayalamurthy R.
2
, Amirthagadeswaran K. S.
3
1
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Government College of Technology, Coimbatore, India
2
Government College of Engineering, Salem, India
3
Department of Robotics and Automation Engineering, United Institute of Technology, Coimbatore, India
Prejem rokopisa – received: 2023-12-04; sprejem za objavo – accepted for publication: 2024-02-07
doi:10.17222/mit.2023.1062
Activated flux has been used successfully to improve the penetration of Tungsten Inert-Gas (TIG) welding, which is normally a
welding process with low penetration. But the same activated flux when used for Metal Active Gas (MAG) welding showed a
moderate improvement in penetration. Hence only a few research articles reported on activated flux MAG welding. TIG dress-
ing is a post-weld treatment intended to improve the fatigue life of welded joints. The use of activated flux along with TIG
dressing were not yet reported. In this work, an experimental study was conducted on the metallurgical changes and their effects
on fatigue life in E350 steel welded by MAG welding with activated flux coating as well as toe TIG dressing. The metallurgical
changes induced by various weld conditions and the effect on the fatigue life of welded joints were discussed. Welding condi-
tions were categorised as: as weld (AW), weld with flux coating (FW), weld with TIG dressing (AWT), and flux weld with TIG
dressing (FWT). Fatigue tests at stress ranges closer to the yield stress (80 % to 90 % of yield) were studied. In comparison with
AW joints, the AWT and FWT showed a fatigue-life improvement of 60 % to 80 %, and 69 % to 103 % respectively. Whereas
the FW joints showed 10 % to 17 % deterioration in fatigue life. Upon investigation with electron microscopy it was found that
the variation in grain sizes and phase changes induced by the usage of flux and TIG dressing, as well as the changes in weld toe
radius by TIG dressing and root strengthening due to extra penetration induced by the use of flux were the reasons behind these
fatigue behaviours. In this work a novel effort is made to find a way to improve the fatigue life of a welded joint with a combina-
tion of two techniques. The activated flux is used to improve the penetration, whereas TIG dressing is performed to reduce the
stress concentration. This new combination of techniques has improved the fatigue life of the weld significantly, which can lead
to reduced maintenance costs of welded joints and a longer life.
Keywords: E350 Steel, microstructure, activated flux, fatigue, TIG dressing
Aktivno talilo se uspe{no uporablja za izbolj{anje penetracije (prodiranja) taline med postopkom elektro-oblo~nega varjenja z
volframovo elektrodo v za{~itni atmosferi (TIG; angl.: Tungsten Inert Gas welding). Podobno se je pri postopku
elektro-oblo~nega varjenja v prisotnosti aktivnega plina (MAG; angl.: Metal Active Gas Welding) pokazalo dolo~eno izbolj{anje
zaradi uporabe aktivnega talila. Avtorji tega ~lanka so v strokovni in znanstveni literaturi na{li le nekaj poro~il o MAG postopku
varjenja z uporabo aktivnega talila, usmerjenih v postopek naknadnega avtogenega varjenja (pretaljevanje kapic oz. vrhov
zvarov), ali tako imenovano TIG »dresiranje«, ki izbolj{a trajno trdnost zvarnih spojev. Vendar pa v raziskovalnih ~lankih niso
na{li poro~il o uporabi aktiviranga talila z nadaljnim postopkom TIG dresiranja. Avtorji v tem ~lanku zato obravnavajo
eksperimentalno {tudijo metalur{kih sprememb in njenih vplivov MAG postopka varjenja z aktivnim talilom in naknadnim TIG
dresiranjem na trajno trdnost zvarnih spojev malo legiranega jekla z visoko trdnostjo (HSLAS; angl.: High Strength Low Al-
loyed Steel). Avtorji v ~lanku obravnavajo metalur{ke sprememmbe mikrostrukture med razli~nimi pogoji varjenja, ki vplivajo
na trajno trdnost varjenih spojev. Pogoje varjenja so razdelili na obi~ajno varjenje (AW), varjenje s prevleko iz aktivnega talila
(FW), varjenje z naknadnim TIG dresingom (AWT) ter varjenje z aktivnim talilom in TIG dresingom (FWT). Nato so zvajali in
{tudirali preizkuse dinami~nega utrujanja zvarov v bli`ini njihove meje te~enja (od 80 % do 90 %). Primerjava dinami~nih
trajnih trdnosti oziroma njihove dinami~ne dobe trajanja je pokazala, da so imeli AWT v primerjavi z AW zvari od 60 do 80
%-no izbolj{anje in FWT od 69 do 103 %-no izbolj{anje oziroma podalj{anje dinami~ne dobe trajanja. Medtem, ko so imeli FW
zvari celo 10 do 17 %-no poslab{anje trajne trdnosti. Preiskave s pomo~jo vrsti~ne elektronske mikroskopije (SEM) so
pokazale, da je sprememmba velikosti kristalnih zrn posledica uporabe talila in TIG dresinga, kakor tudi sprememba velikosti
premera kapic zvarov. Pri uporabi talila je pri{lo tudi do oja~itve korena zvarov zaradi bolj{e penetracije taline. V tem ~lanku
avtorji opisujejo nov prispevek k izbolj{anju dinami~ne trajne trdnosti zvarov s kombinacijo dveh tehnik. Aktivno talilo prispeva
k izbolj{anju penetracije, medtem ko TIG dressing zmanj{a koncentracijo notranjih napetosti. Uporaba kombinacije dveh tehnik
varjenja mo~no izbolj{a odpornost zvarov proti dinami~nim obremenitvam in posledi~no zmanj{a stro{ke vzdr`evanja oziroma
obnove ali kontrole zvarov.
Klju~ne besede: jeklo z visoko trdnostjo vrste E350, mikrostruktura, aktivno talilo, utrujanje, TIG postopek dresiranja
1 INTRODUCTION
GMAW (Gas Metal Arc Welding) is the most fre-
quently used arc-welding technique. It is divided into
MAG and MIG. MAG is for ferrous materials and MIG
is for non-ferrous material.
1
MAG welding is simple with
low costs and high productivity.
2–4
In MAG welding, ac-
tive gases like oxygen (O
2
), carbon dioxide (CO
2
), etc.,
along with argon (Ar), were used as shielding gases.
E-350 steel is a structural steel used in onshore and off-
shore structures for its good weldability, strength and
corrosion resistance.
5
It is used in girders, piers, landing
gears, engine pylons, slat tracks, etc.
Materiali in tehnologije / Materials and technology 58 (2024) 2, 209–215 209
UDK 691.714:621.791.752.3 ISSN 1580-2949
Original scientific article/Izvirni znanstveni ~lanek MTAEC9, 58(2)209(2024)
*Corresponding author's e-mail:
bradeeshmoorthys@gmail.com (Bradeesh Moorthy S.)

Activated flux is commonly used to improve weld
penetration in TIG welding, which normally is a
low-penetration process. In MIG/MAG welding, the us-
age of activated flux has little effect on weld penetration
and the effect was not as high as it was for TIG welding.
7
Dynamic loading can cause fatigue failure of materials
even with load magnitudes below the yield point.
6,8
Post-weld treatment techniques minimize welding de-
fects, improve fusion, reduce thermal stress and thereby
improve its quality and fatigue life. Weld toe grinding
and toe defect rectification are common post-weld toe
treatments. Weld toe grinding eliminates fatigue crack
growth zones by grinding off the defected weld-toe re-
gion into a fillet depression.
9,10
In defect rectification, the
defect is removed by re-melting the toe,
11
mostly with a
TIG arc called TIG dressing. In TIG dressing, the
weld-toe region is re-melted resulting in improved fusion
and formation of a fillet depression by melting off a por-
tion of the weld reinforcement along the weld toe. This
creates a smooth cross-sectional transition from the base
metal to the weld reinforcement and reduces the chance
of crack growth.
12
The usage of the flux and TIG dress-
ing causes a change in energy supplied in different zones
and affects the formation of different phases and grain
sizes.
13
The fatigue behaviour of MIG/MAG weldments with
the combination of activated flux coating and TIG dress-
ing was not reported. In this study, an effort is made to
study the impact of activated flux and TIG dressing on
the fatigue life of MAG-welded E350 steel joints.
2 EXPERIMENTAL PART
E350 steel plates were purchased from
M/s.MatRICS, Nagercoil and subjected to welding. The
chemical composition of the base metal and the electrode
spool were tested and listed in Table 1.
Since the thickness of the plate is only 6 mm, it was
decided to perform MAG welding on top and bottom
sides without edge preparation. After cleaning the sur-
face, tack welding was applied on both ends of the plate,
with a gap of 1.5 mm between them. Butt welding was
applied by using a FRONIUS welding machine on the
steel plates. Welding was performed with ER70S-6 weld
wire of 1.2-mm diameter. The parameters were initially
selected from the welding machine’s user manual and
then fine tuned after several trials of welding and listed
in Table 2.
For the current investigation, a set of samples were
welded under the following conditions: weld without
flux (AW), weld with TIG dressing (AWT), TiO
2
flux
welded (FW), TiO
2
flux welded with TIG dressing
(FWT). Recent research has reported an improvement in
weld penetration and quality due to the application of
flux materials like TiO, TiO
2
,Fe
2
O
3
, MnO
2
, MgCl
2
, ZnO,
TiO
3
, and Cr
2
O
3
. Even three times higher penetration was
recorded with A-TIG welding.
23
Among various fluxes,
TiO
2
provides an increase in hardness as well as the
depth of penetration.
19–21
Even though the use of many
oxide-containing activated fluxes increase the weld pene-
tration, it is found that optimum amount of flux coating
is necessary for improved penetration. If not, the in-
creased penetration effect is nullified. TiO
2
has better
stability among most of the fluxes and it is recommended
for the welding of steel.
22
Hence, TiO
2
was selected for
this work. For making FW joints, The TiO
2
powder is
mixed with acetone to form slurry and is coated over the
surface to be welded with a brush and dried at room tem-
perature for 30 min. The TIG dressing is performed by
using standard TIG welding equipment following the
recommendations of IIW
14
and the parameters are listed
in Table 3. The fatigue-test results are presented in Ta-
ble 4.
After a visual inspection, the defect-free specimens
were machined per the ASTM standards for mechanical
and metallurgical characterization. The macrographic
and microstructural analyses were carried out using an
OLYMPUS optical microscope. The tensile samples
were machined on a wire EDM as per the ASTM
E8M-04 standard and tested on an INSTRON 8801 ma-
chine with a constant strain rate of 0.5 mm/min. Fatigue
samples were machined as per the ISO/TR 14345 stan-
dards and tested with a MTS servo hydraulic fatigue test-
BRADEESH MOORTHY S.: EXPERIMENTAL STUDY ON MAG WELDED E350 HSLA STEEL JOINTS
210 Materiali in tehnologije / Materials and technology 58 (2024) 2, 209–215
Table 1: Chemical composition of base metal and electrode.
Elements C % Mn P S Si Ni Cr Mo V Cu
Base metal 0.162% 1.24% 0.004% 0.025% 0.04% –––––
Electrode 0.06–0.15 1.4–1.85 0.025Max 0.035Max 0.80–1.15 0.15Max 0.15Max 0.15Max 0.03Max 0.5Max
Table 2: MAG welding conditions
Process
Parameters
Arc Voltage
Welding
current
Traverse
speed
Gas flow
rate
Shielding
gas
MAG torch
angle
Electrode
feed rate
Stick - out
Values 26 V 180 A 70 mm/min 7 lpm
90% Ar&
10% CO2
90° 5.7 m/min 2 mm
Table 3: TIG dressing parameters
Process Parameters Arc Voltage Dressing current Traverse speed Gas flow rate Shielding gas
Values 18 V 130 A 100 mm/min 7 lpm Ar

ing machine (Model 370.02) at a frequency of 15 Hz and
a stress ratio of 0.1. Using an SEM (JOELJSM 5610LV),
different locations on the transverse section of the weld
and fatigue fractured surface were analysed to under-
stand the nature and mechanism of the failure.
3 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
This study examined heat-induced microstructural
changes for all the weld conditions. The microstructure
of the base metal showed equiaxed ferrite and lamellar
pearlite phases with a grain size of about 10±3μm.
15–17
The different regions formed by welding are the weld
bead (WB), weld centre (WC), heat-affected zone
(HAZ), and intermediate heat-affected zone (IHAZ) and
TIG zone (TZ) when TIG dressing is used. The flux-
coated specimens before welding, the welding setup and
a schematic of the different zones in a weldment are
shown in Figure 1a to 1c.
The weld bead (WB) is the region where a weld seam
is deposited by melting filler material and parent mate-
rial to be welded. Since the WB is open to the atmo-
sphere, the solidification was quick. Due to melting and
solidification, the base metal’s ferrite and pearlite phases
collapse and form feathery ferrite. Moreover, the formed
lamellar pearlite phase collapses and transforms into tiny
phases. The WB of the AW and FW specimens were
similar. In the WB, nearer to the TIG zone of AWT and
FWT specimens, fine  -ferrite and pearlite were ob-
served. The effect was found much deeper in the WB of
the FWT than the AWT.
The weld centre (WC) is the region where weld roots
from both sides join. In the weld centre, solidification
was slower; hence coarse grains were found. Here, the
filler and base material mix to form a coarse feathery
structure. In comparison with the AW joints, the FW
joints have a much smaller and delicate microstructure at
the WC. This may be due to the fact that since the pene-
tration is deeper in the FW joints, the heat is transferred
to a larger area along the depth causing relatively quicker
solidification, resulting in a reduced grain size. Since the
heat input in TIG dressing is less there were no
microstructural changes in the WC. Hence the WC of the
AWT and AW as well as WC of FW and FWT were sim-
ilar.
BRADEESH MOORTHY S.: EXPERIMENTAL STUDY ON MAG WELDED E350 HSLA STEEL JOINTS
Materiali in tehnologije / Materials and technology 58 (2024) 2, 209–215 211
Table 4: Fatigue testing results
S. No
Weld
condition
Stress
Range
(Mpa)
Number of cycles to failure
Trial 1 Trial 2 Trial 3
1 PM 350 40335 40108 39863
2 PM 330 70635 70118 69545
3 PM 315 137920 133103 125018
4 AW 350 19261 20275 20682
5 AW 330 32322 33193 33892
6 AW 315 60131 54005 50036
7 AWT 350 32031 32507 32889
8 AWT 330 60420 59604 59236
9 AWT 315 91408 97591 103542
10 FW 350 15790 11305 11511
11 FW 330 30105 28938 30156
12 FW 315 42302 50400 43360
13 FWT 350 33080 34139 34571
14 FWT 330 65274 66383 67309
15 FWT 315 107304 112291 113075
Figure 1: Pre-arrangement for welding with schematic of weld joint a) Flux-coated plates before welding b) MAG welding machine c) Schematic
sketch of weld zones

The heat-affected zone (HAZ) is the region adjacent
to the weld zone, where the heating melts the base metal
to its semi-solid state. Heat from the WB and WC keeps
this zone hotter with cooling rate resembling an anneal-
ing heat treatment. This transforms a part of -ferrite and
cementite into austenite and bainite. The HAZ of the AW
and FW were similar. The micrograph of various weld
zones of the AW and FW are shown in Figure 2a to 2i.
Whereas in the HAZ closer to the TIG zone (AWT,
FWT) joints, grains were nearly half the size of grains in
HAZ. This smaller grain effect is found much deeper in
the FWT.
The region between the HAZ and the base material is
named the intermediate heat-affected zone (IHAZ). Here
the temperature was raised just above the recryst-
allization temperature and cools quickly, causing coarse
 - ferrite and cementite phases to evolve into finer
phases. The microstructure of the IHAZ was more or less
similar in all the weld categories, but in the AWT and
FWT the grains were slightly smaller. TIG dressing re-
duces possible flaws on the weld toe.
18,27
The additional
heat during the TIG dressing causes grain re-crystalliza-
tion and the grains were coarsened in the TIG zone (TZ).
The TZ is much more pronounced and deeper in the
FWT than the AWT. The prominent phase changes iden-
tified in comparison with the AW and FW joints is ob-
served is in the WC where the WC of the AW Figure 2c
has martensite phase as the prominent phase where the
WC of the FW Figure 2h has more pearlite phase.
The weld bead profiles of the AW and FW joints are
shown in Figures 3a and 3b respectively. The AW has a
bead width of 5.59 mm and depth of 2.89 mm. whereas
the bead width and depth of FW joint are 4.22 mm and
3.26 mm respectively. There is an around 12.8% increase
in penetration due to the use of flux. The percentage of
improvement is closer to the reported work where the
penetration increase was around 20 %
7
The macrographs
of all the weld conditions are shown in Figures 4a to 4d.
FW joints show deeper penetration than the AW Fig-
ures 4c & 4a. The WC is near the central plane in the
AW. Due to the deeper penetration in the FW, the root
formed previously was overlapped by the later root shift-
ing WC away from the central plane.
19
Marangoni forces
or surface-tension forces in a weld pool is one of the ma-
jor forces determining the penetration into the weld.
Normally, surface tension decreases with an increase in
the temperature. As a result, the edges of the weld pool,
which have a relatively lower temperature, have a higher
surface tension compared with the center of the weld
pool. Since fluid flow from a region of lower surface to a
region of higher surface tension, the movement of the
BRADEESH MOORTHY S.: EXPERIMENTAL STUDY ON MAG WELDED E350 HSLA STEEL JOINTS
212 Materiali in tehnologije / Materials and technology 58 (2024) 2, 209–215
Figure 2: Images of AW and FW joints: a) Macrograph of AW, b)
weld bead of AW, c) weld center of AW, d) HAZ of AW, e) IHAZ of
AW, f) macrograph of FW, g) weld bead of FW, h) weld center of FW,
i) HAZ of FW, j) IHAZ of FW
Figure 3: Weld bead profile of: a) AW, b)FW

molten metal in the weld pool is directed towards the
edges, causing a wider and shallow weld bead. In acti-
vated flux welding the oxides result in the presence of
oxygen content in the weld pool. This active element
causes a reversal of marangoni forces directing the mol-
ten metal more towards the center of the weld pool, re-
sulting in deeper penetration of the weld bead.
22
The ion-
ized flux particles around the arc create a constricted
path, resulting in a smaller bead width.
23,24
The reason
for this deep penetration is the Marongani effect and arc
constriction.
The weld-toe radius is made visibly larger due to TIG
dressing Figure 4b & 4d. The weld-toe radius was
smaller in the FW and it is the largest in the FWT, mak-
ing it nearly a straight line, enabling a smooth transition
from parent material to WB in the FWT.
All the tensile specimens ruptured away from the
weld zone with ultimate stress values not less than 90%
of that of parent material ,which is recorded as 500 MPa.
The fatigue testing was conducted on three stress levels,
at 80 % to 90 % of yield, and the results are shown in
Table 4.
The fatigue tests show an increase in the fatigue life
of the AWT and FWT in comparison with the AW speci-
mens. AWT has a fatigue-life improvement of 60 % to
80 %, whereas FWT shows improvement of 69 % to
103 %. The SN curve indicating fatigue life at different
stress levels is shown in Figure 5. The trend in the re-
sults is comparable with published work
12
where the im-
provement in fatigue life was greater at lower stress lev-
els and it is lower at higher stress levels. The TIG
treatment on the weld toe may have eliminated any weld
defects and reduced the stress concentration by increas-
ing the weld-toe radius, resulting in an improved fatigue
performance. The superior performance of the FWT may
be due to additional root strengthening due to improved
penetration with the use of flux. The FW joints showed a
reduction in fatigue life of 10 % to 17 %, but it was ex-
pected to show better performance in view of its im-
proved root penetration. The reduction in weld-toe radius
increased the stress concentration and thereby reduced
the fatigue life. A fatigue fractograph was made to verify
the above claims.
The fatigue fractograph was studied for the parent
material as well as different weld specimens. In the AW
and FW specimens the crack-initiation and crack-growth
BRADEESH MOORTHY S.: EXPERIMENTAL STUDY ON MAG WELDED E350 HSLA STEEL JOINTS
Materiali in tehnologije / Materials and technology 58 (2024) 2, 209–215 213
Figure 6: Fatigue fractograph of FWT: a) fatigue zones, b) magnified sudden failure zone, c) magnified crack growth zone
Figure 4: Macrograph of weld joints: a) AW, b) AWT, c) FW, d) FWT
Figure 5: SN curve of welded joint

zones were found in the weld-toe region, which is com-
mon in earlier work.
26
Whereas in the AWT and FWT
specimens the crack-initiation and crack-growth zones
were seen in the weld root Figure 6a and 6c. When TIG
dressed, (AWT, FWT) the crack initiation shifts from the
weld toe to the weld root, indicating reduction in possi-
ble weld defects by remelting and the reduction of stress
concentration by the formation of a larger weld toe ra-
dius, which is in line with reported work.
25
The fatigue
factograph of the FWT is shown in Figure 6a to 6c. The
improved penetration makes the second root to re-melt
the first formed root leading to better fusion at the WC.
4 CONCLUSION
An extensive study was conducted on E350-HSLA
MAG welded structural steel plates. The welding was
made with four conditions, AW, AWT, FW, and FWT,
with TiO
2
as the activated flux. The effect of activated
flux and TIG dressing on the fatigue life of the welded
joints were analyzed by conducting fatigue tests at stress
levels around 80 % to 90 % of yield stress. The conclu-
sions are as follows.
All the tensile specimens failed away from the weld
zone with ultimate stress values not less than 90 % of
parent material, indicating the weld is sound and the use
of flux has not deteriorated the strength of weld.
In comparison with AW specimens the AWT speci-
mens showed an improvement of 60 % to 80 %. A reduc-
tion in stress concentration by increased weld-toe radius
and reduction of toe defects by remelting in TIG dress-
ing were the reasons behind fatigue-life improvement.
The FWT specimens showed the best fatigue life
with improvement of 69 % to 103 % in comparison with
the AW joints. The reasons being (i) positive effects of
TIG dressing as in AWT and (ii) greater weld-root
strength due to improved penetration by flux.
The FW joints showed the least fatigue performance
with reduction in fatigue life by 10 % to 17 % in com-
parison with the AW. The improvement in weld-root
strength by activated flux usage was negated by the for-
mation of a small toe radius, resulting in increased stress
concentration and early failure.
The fractographic study revealed shifting of the
crack-initiation zone from the weld toe to the weld root
upon TIG dressing, and improved strength of weld root
with the use of flux.
The phase transformation due to TIG dressing caus-
ing the formation of much ductile fine  -ferrite phase
might have also reduced the crack growth near the toe
and shifted the crack initiation zone to the weld root.
The reduction of grain size at weld centre upon the
use of flux was found and this might have improved the
strength of the root. The formation of -ferrite phase im-
proved the ductility and slowed down the fatigue-crack
propagation near the weld toe. The combined effect of
these two phenomena of slowing crack propagation at
the weld toe and the improved strength of weld root re-
sulted in the superior performance of FWT joints.
From this study it is inferred that using activated flux
in conjunction with adequate TIG dressing can improve
the fatigue life of MAG welded joints.
Acknowledgement
The authors would like to thank MatRICS – Mate-
rials Research and Innovation Centric Solutions,
Vellimalai, Kanyakumari District, India, for providing
the characterization facilities; phone: +91 91766 06699;
website: www.matricstech.com
Conflicts of interest
The authors declare that they have no conflicts of in-
terest. All the original data are available from the corre-
sponding author.
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