Microstructure and mechanical properties of stainless steel clad plate welding joints by different welding processes

This work aims to study the microstructure and mechanical properties of stainless steel/carbon steel clad plate joints with three welding types: welding without transition layer, welding with transition layer using tungsten inert gas arc welding and shielded metal arc welding, respectively. Both of transition layer-weld metals contain ferrite + austenite phases obtained by different solidification modes. The brittle martensite zone is formed in the stainless steel weld metal without the transition layer because of the excessive diffusion of Cr, Ni elements. The clad plate joints with transition layer welded by shielded metal arc welding achieved the best welding quality without excessive alloy element dilution or formation of brittle phase, which reveals a perfect welding joint without obvious hardness gradient and obtains outstanding mechanical properties.