Finite element analysis for controlling heat affected zone, hardness and grain size evolution in plasma arc welding of AISI 304
Serafino CARUSO, Francesco BORDA, Luigino FILICE
Abstract. This study presents a finite element (FE) model to predict microstructural changes and hardness variations in the heat-affected zone (HAZ) during plasma arc welding (PAW) of AISI 304 austenitic stainless steel. PAW is an efficient welding technique offering better arc control, smaller HAZ and deeper penetration compared to conventional methods, making it particularly suitable for applications in solid expandable tube technology. A custom user subroutine was developed and implemented in SFTC DEFORM-3D™ software, enabling the simulation of grain growth and hardness changes in the HAZ. Experimental PAW trials were conducted, and the thermal field, grain size and hardness were measured to validate the numerical predictions. The numerical model demonstrated strong agreement with experimental data, successfully predicting the thermal phenomena and metallurgical changes during the PAW process validating the effectiveness of the implemented combined double three-dimensional Gaussian conical heat distribution model.
Keywords
Plasma Arc Welding, AISI 304, Solid Expansion Tube, Finite Element Modeling, Heat Source Model, Hardness, Grain Size, Heat Affected Zone
Published online 5/7/2025, 7 pages
Copyright © 2025 by the author(s)
Published under license by Materials Research Forum LLC., Millersville PA, USA
Citation: Serafino CARUSO, Francesco BORDA, Luigino FILICE, Finite element analysis for controlling heat affected zone, hardness and grain size evolution in plasma arc welding of AISI 304, Materials Research Proceedings, Vol. 54, pp 1442-1448, 2025
DOI: https://doi.org/10.21741/9781644903599-156
The article was published as article 156 of the book Material Forming
Content from this work may be used under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 license. Any further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the title of the work, journal citation and DOI.
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