The investigatin of weldability of AISI 304 stainless steel and aisi 1040 Medium Carbon Steel by pta process

Plasma arc welding is a welding method in which an exact penetration is obtained by a very strong plasma beam just as in laser and electron beam welding. In an operation mode, plasma arc forms a keyhole throughout the dept of the material by melting all material. With this mode the parts upto 10 mm in thickness can be welded in one pass.There is a few study performed on plasma arc welding within the country upto now. The studies abroad mainly focused on welding of similar or same material couples. Electron beam welding methods have been used in welding of dissimilar materials, however the limitations in use make plasma welding an atractive alternative in welding dissimilar materials with recpect to the ease of preparation of the parts for welding. The aim of the study is to investigate plasma arc welding of a dissimilar steel couple (a stainless steel and a low carbon steel). The study will lead the future studies.The weldments were examined by optical microscope, SEM and EDX for the microstructural analysis. The mechanical properties of the joints were tested by charpy and microhardness at Firat University.