Kovove Mater.

54 2016 289–296 289

DOI: 10.4149/km 2016 4 289

Effects of TIG welding process on microstructure, electrical

resistance and mechanical properties of Nichrome 8020

S. Afkhami*, A. Halvaee

1
School of Metallurgy and Materials Engineering, University College of Engineering, University of Tehran,
P.O. Box 11155-4563, Tehran, Iran

Received 26 September 2014, received in revised form 6 February 2015, accepted 12 October 2015

Abstract
This study investigates effects of TIG welding and welding heat input on microstructure,
hardness, tensile strength, fracture mechanism, and electrical resistance of Nichrome 8020 to
evaluate its efficiency after welding, especially as a heating element. The post-weld microstruc-
ture of the alloy remained austenitic. The microstructure of fusion zone consisted of columnar
dendrites, equiaxed dendrites, and intermetallic carbonitrides. These precipitates nucleated
and grew among subgrain boundaries. Because of grain growth, hardness and tensile strength
decreased after welding, and by increasing welding heat input, these mechanical properties
decreased more severely. Fractography analysis showed that fracture surfaces of all the welded
samples included both brittle and ductile features. Despite grain growth, which occurred as
a result of the welding process, the electrical resistance of Nichrome 8020 increased slightly
after welding. No signs of welding cracks and topologically close-packed phases were observed
in the heat affected zone and fusion zone of any sample.

K e y w o r d s : nichrome, welding, microstructure, mechanical properties, fractography, elec-

trical resistance

1. Introduction alloy may confront some difficulties, and welded mi-

crostructure may have some welding defects. These in-
Nichrome 8020, as a corrosion resistant alloy with clude the formation of carbides and intermetallic com-
high electrical resistivity, has many applications in to- pounds, solidification cracking, and heat affected zone
day’s industry. Benefits of nichrome as a resistance (HAZ) cracking [5, 6].
heating element is described by Davis et al. [1]. Lai Many studies are carried out in the field of weld-
explained utilization of nichrome coating for protec- ability of nickel-base alloys and superalloys. Ogborn et
tion of critical components of gas-cooled reactors [2]. al. investigated effects of segregation on microstruc-
Nowadays, nichrome is widely used as heating element tural evolution of Hastelloy C, Inconel 625, and In-
in industrial furnaces. For some applications, such as conel 718 [7]. Ojo et al. examined the fusion zone (FZ)
fabrication and maintenance of industrial furnaces, it microstructure of Inconel 738 and analyzed the micro-
is necessary to join nichrome to itself or other alloys. constituents and eutectic phases induced by microseg-
One of the joining methods, as an industrial technique, regation [8]. Xia et al. studied weldability of nichrome-
is welding. Amongst various welding techniques, Xia laminated powder alloy to 19%Cr-9%Ni austenitic
et al. introduced tungsten inert gas (TIG) welding steel using TIG welding process [3]. However, the lit-
as the most suitable method to study weldability of erature lacks a study of effects of TIG welding on
nichrome due to its flexibility in controlling welding wrought nichrome. This study investigates the effects
parameters [3]. of TIG welding process on microstructure and mecha-
Nichrome 8020 is a solid solution, nickel-base alloy, nical properties of Nichrome 8020 to evaluate its effi-
with an austenitic microstructure [4]. Welding such an ciency, especially as a heating element, after welding.

*Corresponding author: tel.: +98 21 61114104; fax: +98 21 88006076; e-mail address: [email protected]
290 S. Afkhami, A. Halvaee / Kovove Mater. 54 2016 289–296

T a b l e 1. Constant parameters of welding process

Welding voltage (V) 17

Type of welding current DCEN
Electrode diameter (mm) 1.6
Type of electrode W-Th2
Inert gas flow (l min−1 ) 10
Type of inert gas Argon
Welding speed (mm min−1 ) 30

2. Experimental

Nichrome 8020 strips of dimensions 100 mm ×

20 mm × 2 mm, with a chemical composition by
ASTM B.0344, were sanded with emery and cleaned
with acetone by ultrasonic cleaning technique before
welding. The welding current was changed to vary
welding heat input, and three different welding cur-
rents used to join the samples were 50, 65, and 80 A.
Table 1 shows constant parameters of the welding pro-
cess.
Chemical compositions were examined by quanti-
tative quantometer and scanning electron microscopy
(SEM), coupled with energy dispersive X-ray spec-
troscopy (EDS). Phase characterization was per-
formed by X-ray diffraction (XRD). SEM and opti-
cal microscopy were used for fractography and mi-
crostructural characterization. Microstructural obser-
vations were carried out after polishing every sample
and etching it for 90 s with Kaling’s No. 2 reagent. Fig. 1. (a) SEM image of Nichrome 8020 microstructure
Evaluation of mechanical properties was performed (etched for 90 s), (b) optical microscope image of Nichrome
8020 (etched for 60 s).
via tensile (in accordance with ASTM E0008) and
Vickers hardness (in accordance with ASTM E0092)
tests. Electrical resistance was measured by four-point
probe technique.
grains (indicated with black arrows in Fig. 1a). Aver-
age diameters of grains and precipitates were 10 and
3. Results and discussion 2 µm, respectively. Figure 2 indicates that these pre-
cipitates were titanium rich carbides. According to
3.1. Base metal microstructure EDS result, these precipitates dissolved chromium in
themselves and formed (TiCr)C particles.
Nichrome 8020, with a face-centered cubic (fcc) mi- The high density of straight-sided substructures
crostructure, is an austenitic alloy [9]. Table 2 presents was another feature within austenite grains (indicated
chemical composition of the base metal, and Fig. 1 with dashed arrows in Fig. 1b). According to Fullman,
shows microstructural features of the base metal. these are annealing twins. A lot of annealing twins in-
These features include many polygonal-shaped pre- dicates that Nichrome 8020 has a low stacking fault
cipitates located among grain boundaries and inside energy [10, 11].

T a b l e 2. Chemical analysis of Nichrome 8020 from quantitative quantometer

Element Fe Si C Mn Cr Ti Ni

(wt.%) <1 0.815 0.031 0.366 21.22 0.217 balanced

 S. Afkhami, A. Halvaee / Kovove Mater. 54 2016 289–296 291

Fig. 3. Grains and twins of the base metal (black arrows)

and HAZ (dashed black arrows) of the sample welded by
80 A.

T a b l e 3. Average grain diameters and twin lengths in

the HAZ

Welding Average grain Average twin

current (A) diameter (µm) length (µm)

50 87 27
65 108 34
80 142 42

Fig. 2. (a) SEM image of a precipitate in the base metal

microstructure, (b) EDS result of the same precipitate.

3.2. Heat affected zone microstructure

Figure 3 shows that, because of welding heat input,

grain growth occurred in the HAZ. Table 3 indicates
that average grain diameter and twin length have a
direct relationship with welding heat input. No sign
of welding cracks and other defects was observed in
the HAZ.

3.3. Fusion zone microstructure

Figure 4 shows that from the HAZ to the FZ, grains

Fig. 4. The microstructure of fusion line and epitaxial
nucleated and grew epitaxially. Within the FZ, com- growth from the welding boundary into the weld pool of a
petitive growth let some grains grew more easily and sample welded by 50 A welding current.
prevented others from growing into the FZ. Grains
that are adjacent to the FZ-HAZ borderline (fusion
line) consisted of cellular and columnar dendrites due Figure 5 shows these grains, which contain a fine tex-
to a decrease in the ratio of a temperature gradient ture of equiaxed dendrites.
to growth rate. This ratio reaches its minimum within Figure 5b shows that equiaxed dendrites near the
FZ (weld centerline). Thus, by reaching its minimum, weld bead surface were finer than dendrites located in
grains nucleated heterogeneously. As a result of higher the depth of fusion zone. During welding, weld bead
heat input, grains grew to greater sizes in this area. was in direct contact with argon and air, so it cooled
292 S. Afkhami, A. Halvaee / Kovove Mater. 54 2016 289–296

Fig. 5. (a) A solidified grain in the weld center line (welded

by 50 A), (b) equiaxed dendrites near weld bead surface
and half depth of fusion zone of the same sample.

down faster than its underlying regions. Weld metal

near the surface solidified faster, and dendrites in this
region did not have sufficient time to grow, unlike the
dendrites of underlying zone did.
As shown in Fig. 6, the FZ contained two types
of precipitates. Firstly, silicon and chromium rich car-
bonitrides. Secondly, titanium and chromium rich car-
bonitrides. Some of these precipitates were continuous
layers, located along subgrain boundaries, and others
were sporadic particles with irregular shapes.
XRD results of Nichrome 8020, before and after Fig. 6. (a) SEM image of precipitates of FZ (welded by
welding, are presented in Fig. 7. This figure indicates 80 A), (b) EDS result of precipitate A, (c) EDS result of
that microstructure of nichrome remained austenitic precipitate B.
after welding. Also, the microstructure of the FZ had
no twins due to melting and solidification of the alloy.
grains. Consequently, by increasing welding heat input
3.4. Hardness hardness decreased more drastically.

Hardness is inversely related to grain size [12]. As 3.5. Tensile strength

a result, hardness decreased after welding, as shown in
Fig. 8. Increasing welding heat input resulted in larger Table 4 indicates that tensile strength decreased
 S. Afkhami, A. Halvaee / Kovove Mater. 54 2016 289–296 293

Fig. 7. XRD results of Nichrome 8020, before and after welding by 80 A welding current.

Fig. 8. Hardness profiles across samples welded by different heat inputs.

T a b l e 4. Tensile strength of the samples

Welding current (A) Tensile strength (MPa)

0 = Not welded 764

50 500
65 487
80 459

after welding. According to Hall-Petch relationship,

grain diameter and strength have been inversely re-
lated. Thus, a sample with the maximum average
grain diameter (sample welded by the highest welding
heat input or welding current) had the lowest tensile Fig. 9. The fracture surface of the not-welded sample, ob-
strength. tained by SEM.

3.6. Fractography and fracture mechanism

by microvoid coalescence. The depth of the mi-
Figure 9 shows that the not-welded sample failed crovoids, known as dimples, is in direct relation to
294 S. Afkhami, A. Halvaee / Kovove Mater. 54 2016 289–296

Fig. 11. A crack propagated along a subgrain boundary in

the FZ of the sample welded by 50 A.

T a b l e 5. Electrical resistance of the samples

Welding current (A) Electrical resistance (Ω)

0 = Not welded 4.05

50 4.28
65 4.26
80 4.20

tile fracture) and cleavage (brittle fracture) marks.

Austenitic alloys do not normally undergo a brittle
fracture with cleavage marks. These marks indicated
that local brittleness occurred in welded samples. This
brittleness may take place due to piling up of brit-
tle precipitates along subgrain boundaries during weld
Fig. 10. Fractured specimen of (a) the not-welded sample metal solidification.
(up) and sample welded by 80 A welding current (down),
(b) microscopic picture of fractured area of the welded 3.7. Electrical resistance
sample.
Table 5 gives that electrical resistance increased
after welding. Grain growth decreases electrical re-
alloy ductility [13]. Uniform distribution of these dim- sistance, but subgrain microstructures, such as cells,
ples indicated that not-welded sample had undergone dendrites, and subgrain boundaries, act as barriers
a transgranular and ductile fracture. In this kind of against electrical current and increase electrical re-
failure, microvoids nucleate and grow on active sites, sistance [14]. As a result, despite grain growth in
such as precipitates. Some of these precipitates are welded samples, because of FZ dendritic microstruc-
indicated by black arrows. ture and intermetallic precipitates, electrical resis-
Figure 10 indicates that all welded samples rup- tance increased after welding.
tured from FZ. Figure 11 shows a micro-crack along
subgrain boundaries of a welded sample. The existence
of microcracks along subgrain boundaries showed that 4. Conclusions
continuous layers of brittle precipitates (as shown in
Fig. 6a) may have a major effect on crack propagation 1. Silicon-chromium and titanium-chromium car-
during fracture of welded samples. bonitrides nucleated between dendrites and subgrain
Figure 12 shows fracture surfaces of welded sam- boundaries in the fusion zone.
ples, which are comprised of both dimples (duc- 2. From fusion line to fusion zone center line, so-
 S. Afkhami, A. Halvaee / Kovove Mater. 54 2016 289–296 295

Fig. 12. (a) Fracture surface of a sample welded by 80 A welding current, (b) fracture surface of a sample welded by
50 A welding current, (c) dimples and precipitates in the ductile portion of the fracture surface of a welded sample, (d)
precipitates within dimples.

lidification mode changed from columnar to equiaxed [5] Ramirez, A. J., Lippold, J. C.: Journal of Mate-
dendrites due to a decrease of “temperature gradient rials Science Engineering A, 380, 2004, p. 259.
to growth rate” ratio. doi:10.1016/j.msea.2004.03.074
3. Hardness and tensile strength decreased after [6] Ramirez, A. J., Lippold, J. C.: Journal of Mate-
welding as a result of grain growth. rials Science Engineering A, 380, 2004, p. 245.
4. Fracture mechanism of welded samples consisted doi:10.1016/j.msea.2004.03.075
of both brittle and ductile fractures. [7] Ogborn, J. S., Olson, D. L., Cieslak, M. J.: Journal
5. Electrical resistance increased after welding due of Materials Science Engineering A, 203, 1995, p. 134.
to the dendritic microstructure of fusion zone and in- doi:10.1016/0921-5093(95)09832-1
termetallic precipitates. [8] Ojo, O. A., Richards, N. L., Chaturvedi, M. C.:
Journal of Scripta Materialia, 51, 2004, p. 683.
doi:10.1016/j.scriptamat.2004.06.013
References [9] Watson, R. A., Jonsson, B., Fielding, G. A.: Electrical
Resistance Alloys. ASM Metals Handbook. Volume 2.
[1] Davis, J R.: ASM Specialty Handbook: Heat Resis- Materials Park, ASM International 1995.
tance Materials. 1st Edition. Materials Park, ASM In- [10] Fullman, R. L.: Journal of Applied Physics, 21, 1950,
ternational 1997. p. 1069. doi:10.1063/1.1699536
[2] Lai, G. Y.: Journal of Thin Solid Films, 52, 1978, p. [11] Mahajan, S., Pande, C. S., Imam, M. A., Rath, B. B.:
343. doi:10.1016/0040-6090(78)90227-4
Acta Materialia, 45, 1997, p. 2633.
[3] Xia, C. Z., Wang, J., Puchkov, U. A., Juang, Y. N.:
Kovove Mater, 48, 2010, p. 257. doi:10.1016/S1359-6454(96)00336-9
[4] Dupont, J. N., Lippold, J. C., Kiser, S. D.: Welding [12] Shaw, L., Ortiz, A. L., Villegas, J. C.: Journal of
Metallurgy and Weldability of Nickel-Base Alloys. 1st Scripta Materialia, 58, 2008, p. 951.
Edition. Hoboken, John Wiley and Sons, Inc. 2009. doi:10.1016/j.scriptamat.2008.01.025
296 S. Afkhami, A. Halvaee / Kovove Mater. 54 2016 289–296

[13] Kerlins, V., Douglas, M., Phillips, A.: Modes of Frac- [14] Hosseini, M., Yasaei, B.: Journal of Ceramics Interna-
ture. ASM Metals Handbook. Volume 12. Materials tional, 24, 1998, p. 543.
Park, ASM International 1995. doi:10.1016/S0272-8842(97)00054-0