Application of Taguchi method and ANOVA analysis for optimization of process parameters and exothermic addition (CuO-Al) introduction in the core filler during self-shielded flux-cored arc welding

The main factors affecting the mechanical properties of the deposited metal in arc hardfacing are primarily the chemical composition and the cooling rate. The latter depends on the filler materials composition, hardfacing condition (mode), and hardfacing technology, determining the geometric parameters and parameters of the welded bead shape, the amount of deposited metal dilution with the base metal, and the amount of the introduced heat. The goal of this work is to analyze the effect of exothermic addition introduction to the core filler and the effect of welding condition on weld bead morphology, thermal indicators, and mechanical properties of the deposited metal. The deposited metal of the Fe-C-Cr-Cu-Ti-V-Al alloying system was used. The Taguchi technique was adopted as the experimental plan design, as follows: the orthogonal array L9 (3 ^ 4) and signal-to-noise ratio (S/N). The analysis of variance (ANOVA) was also applied for determination of the variables contribution to the dependent parameters. Application of the Taguchi method is simpler, more efficient, and quicker. It requires fewer experiments to determine the optimal values of the studied variables. Microstructural studies using an optical microscope were additionally performed for individual samples of the weld metal with the best mechanical properties, for each of the experimental flux-cored wires. We determined that introduction of CuO-Al exothermic addition of to the core filler had a significant effect on such indicators of the weld bead morphology as the weld reinforcement height and the weld reinforcement form factor (WRFF). Introduction of exothermic addition (CuO-Al) to the core filler had a significant effect on the welding current (I), heat input rate (HIR), and microhardness. The arc voltage (Р(Ua) = 45.8 %) had the greatest influence on the microhardness value, while the percentage of exothermic addition in the core filler (P (EM) = 26.9%) and the wire feed rate (P (WFS) = 21.5%) had a smaller effect. It was shown that it is important to take into account complex parameters, such as dilution variation and weld reinforcement form factor (WRFF) for the geometric characteristics of the weld bead and heat input rate (HIR) for heat indicators in order to optimize hardfacing conditions and composition of the core filler (introduction of exothermic addition). According to the results of the article, the value is the most correlated with the average values of microhardness.