Trans Indian Inst Met
DOI 10.1007/s12666-016-0927-3
TECHNICAL PAPER
Plasma Arc Welding of High Strength 0.3 % C–CrMoV
(ESR) Steel
P. Ramkumar1,2 • M. K. Karthikeyan1 • R. K. Gupta1 • V. Anil Kumar1
Chidanand Magadum1 • V. Muthupandi2
Received: 15 December 2015 / Accepted: 20 June 2016
Ó The Indian Institute of Metals - IIM 2016
Abstract 0.3 % C–CrMoV (ESR) steel has been proposed
as an alternate cost effective material for fabrication of
solid boosters for satellite launch vehicles. PAW studies on
7.8 mm thick 0.3 % C–CrMoV (ESR) steel have been
conducted with filler wires of two different compositions.
Welding parameters have been established for the steel.
Welding has been carried out with stainless steel and
copper back-up bars and effect of the same has been
evaluated. Weldment has been characterized through
optical microscopy, microhardness and mechanical prop-
erties evaluation. It is found that filler wire chemistry (low
carbon content) does not significantly affect the properties
of weldments subjected to post weld hardening and tem-
pering treatment. It is attributed to low dilution in thicker
plate welding and diffusion of carbon from base metal side
during hardening treatment of the weldment. Use of dif-
ferent back- up bars also show similar results, except for
process difficulties noted while using stainless steel. Weld
efficiency [85 % has been observed with weldments
having microhardness in the range of 480–520 VHN.
Keywords Plasma arc welding
ESR steel

High strength
Modified 15CDV6 steel
& P. Ramkumar
p_ramkumar@vssc.gov.in
1
Materials and Mechanical Entity, Vikram Sarabhai Space
Centre, Trivandrum 695 022, India
2
National Institute of Technology, Trichy, India
•
1 Introduction
Attempts to reduce cost of satellite launch vehicles by
utilizing cost effective materials and fabrication routes are
being carried out worldwide. 0.3 % C–CrMoV (ESR) steel
is one of the cost effective candidate material to replace
18Ni M250 Maraging steel for fabrication of solid booster
hardware. Studies have mainly been conducted using gas
tungsten arc welding (GTAW) for welding of this class of
steels. To utilize the additional benefits of plasma arc
welding (PAW) like stable, highly concentrated arc as
compared to bell shaped arc in GTAW, this study has been
carried out. Also, in PAW, volume of weld metal at the
joint is significantly reduced which reduces the weldment
distortion and other weld related defects. The welding
speed is also higher compared to GTAW, resulting in
increased productivity. The edge preparation requirements
are also simpler for welding of thickness 7.8 mm using
PAW as compared to GTAW, which results in significant
reduction in down time for weld edge preparation.
0.3 % C–CrMoV (ESR) steel is a medium carbon low
alloy steel having high strength with good ductility. The
steel has been developed by increasing the carbon content
of AFNOR 15CDV6 from the range of 0.12–0.18 wt% to
0.27–0.30 wt%. The steel is primary melted in an electric
arc furnace followed by ladle inoculation with Nb. It is
secondary melted by Electro Slag Refining (ESR) which
increases the cleanliness of the steel [1]. Niobium is added
as inoculants to refine the grain size and to increase the
strength and toughness of the products realized from this
steel.
Higher concentrations of carbon and other alloying
elements such as manganese, chromium, silicon, molyb-
denum, copper and nickel tend to increase hardness and
decrease weldability [2]. The Carbon Equivalent (CE) for
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this steel has been estimated using International Institute of
Welding (IIW) CE evaluation formula [3, 4], which is
around 0.951 %. IIW recommends preheating and post-
weld heat treatment to avoid cracking in the heat affected
zone (HAZ) for carbon equivalents above 0.40 % [5] and
therefore present steel warrants a pre heating operation.
Considering the above, the present work highlights the
studies carried out to establish single pass plasma arc
welding technology for 0.3 % C–CrMoV (ESR) steel.
Extensive characterization has been carried out and weld
efficiency of the weldment has been calculated. Attempts
have been made to correlate microstructure with the
achieved mechanical properties.
2 Experimental Trials
Welding studies were carried out to analyze the effect of
preheat and use of back up material (stainless steel and
copper). Single pass plasma arc welding was carried out
Table 1 Chemical composition of 0.3 C–CrMoV (ESR) steel
C Mn Cr V Mo
0.29 0.97 1.44 0.27 0.93
Fig. 1 a Weld edge drawing showing cross section, b welded coupon and c scheme of tensile test and compact tensile test (CT) specimen for
fracture toughness evaluation
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Trans Indian Inst Met
using CDV100 filler wire and also with filler wire of
composition same as that of the base metal.
Hot rolled and annealed plates of 7.8 mm thickness
were used to realize weld coupons. The chemical com-
position of the base metal coupon (steel) used in this
study is given in Table 1. Straight butt weld (square
groove, Fig. 1a) with 0.05–0.1 mm root gap was used for
welding the coupons of dimensions 500 mm 9 300
mm 9 7.8 mm. The chemical composition of the
CDV100 filler wire is given in Table 2. The welding
parameters are given in Table 3. Trials were carried out
using Cu back-up bar with pre heat of 200 °C, without
preheat, water cooled Cu back-up bar and stainless steel
back-up plate (without preheat).
Three numbers of 500 mm 9 300 mm 9 7.8 mm thick
plates bearing identifications HN-1, HN-2 and HN-3 were
welded using the weld parameters given in Table 3 with
weld configuration as presented in Table 4. Photograph of
weld edge details and welded coupon with testing
scheme are presented in Fig. 1.
Nb Si S P Fe
0.10 0.13 0.004 0.009 Bal
Trans Indian Inst Met

Table 2 Chemical composition of CDV100 filler wire evaluation of the tensile, fracture toughness properties after
C Mn Mo Cr V Si S P Fe
sand blasting. Tensile test was carried out as per ASTM E8
and fracture toughness was carried out as per ASTM E399
0.15 1.00 0.82 1.4 0.26 0.2 0.02 0.018 Bal on specimens of configuration shown in Fig. 2a, b.
Microhardness measurement of the weldments was
conducted on specimens in as-welded as well as in heat
Argon gas was used for plasma, shielding, backing and treated condition. Mechanical property evaluation of the
trailing. The bead width was measured after welding. The base metal and weldment was carried out in the as hard-
reinforcement was ground to match plate thickness. All the ened and tempered condition. The heat treatment cycle
coupons were subjected to dye penetrant testing and adopted is:
radiographic testing. Hardening 920 ± 10 °C—soak for 1 h-oil quenching to
The weldment was subjected to hardening and temper- room temperature (Quench delay \45 s)
ing after applying anticarb coating to minimize decarbur- followed by
ization. Sand blasting was done to remove scales and oxide Tempering 450 ± 10 °C—soak for 2 h-oil quenching to
layers. Specimens were prepared from the weldment for room temperature (Quench delay \45 s)

Table 3 Welding parameters for PAW

Voltage (V) Current (A) Travel Speed Wire speed Gas flow rate (lpm)
(mm/min) (mm/min)
Plasma Shielding Backing Trailing

22–24 280–300 135 670 4 20 10 38

Table 4 Welding configuration using filler wire of base metal composition

Id. no Root gap (mm) Reinforcement (mm) Penetration (mm) Bead width (mm)
Before grinding After grinding Before grinding After grinding

HN-1 0.05–0.10 1.10–1.46 0.3 1.4–2.0 0.1 13.00–15.00

HN-2 0.05–0.10 0.7–0.37 0.3 1.5–2.0 0.1 13.00–15.00
HN-3 0.05–0.10 0.9–1.2 0.3 1.1–2.0 0.1 11.50–15.50

Fig. 2 a Tensile test and b fracture toughness test specimen (dimensions are in mm)

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Metallographic evaluation was carried out in both as
welded condition and after PWHT (hardened and tem-
pered) condition. The samples were polished using con-
ventional metallographic polishing technique and etched
using 2 % Nital.
3 Results and Discussion
During welding with stainless steel back-up bar, it was
observed that, as the welding proceeded, stainless steel
back-up was getting heated up resulting in breaking of
weld tacks, which led to burn-through with weld metal
sticking to the back-up bar. It indicated the need of faster
heat extraction/use of back up bar with higher thermal
conductivity like copper. The use of stainless steel back-up
bar was discontinued and only copper back-up was con-
sidered for further studies. Micro hardness survey of the
weldments made with different back-up bar is presented in
Fig. 4. It was observed that, weldment made with copper
back-up bar and with water cooling resulted in the highest
hardness value in the weld metal. This could be due to
higher cooling rates observed in the weldment with water
cooled copper back up material. The martensitic start
temperature for this steel was around 330 °C and the
transformation being a thermal, water cooled Cu back-up
material resulted in higher cooling rate leading to observed
higher hardness in as-welded condition.
The weld bead width measured after welding was
13–15 mm on reinforcement side and 2.0–2.4 mm on root
side resultant of the shape of concentrated arc of PAW
process. It was initially envisaged that difference in bead
width across the thickness due to back-up bar material
should be present. However the present work conformed no
significant variation in bead width with respect to use of
back-up bar material which could be due to highly con-
centrated arc of PAW process.
All the weldments were found to be free from radiog-
raphy defects. Mechanical properties evaluated on base
metal and weldments are given in Tables 5, 6, 7 and 8.
The Mechanical properties (Table 6) indicated weld
efficiency close to 100 % although filler wire (CDV100)
chemistry was having lower carbon content (0.15–0.18
wt%) as compared to the base metal of 0.30 wt% nominal
C. This could be due to possible diffusion of carbon from
Table 5 Mechanical properties of base metal in hardened and tem-
pered condition
Specified 0.2 % YS MPa UTS MPa % El FT Kq MPa (m)1/2
1275 min 1400 min 10 80 min
Obtained 1295–1326 1418–1446 12–14 75.17–85.27
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Trans Indian Inst Met
Table 6 Mechanical properties of weldment using CDV100 filler
after PWHT (hardened and tempered condition)
0.2 % P.S (MPa) UTS (MPa) %El (G.L = 50 mm)
1299–1327 1398–1442 12.2–13.0
Table 7 Mechanical properties of weldment using filler wire of base
metal composition after PWHT
IDN no 0.2 % P.S (MPa) UTS (MPa) % El (G.L = 50 mm)
HN 1 1297–1319 1414–1436 11.20–12.24
HN 2 1290–1307 1382–1417 11.40–13.30
HN 3 1284–1311 1400–1415 11.70–13.46
Table 8 Fracture toughness properties of PAW coupon welded using
CDV100 filler wire (after PWHT)
Sl. no. Kq MPa (m)1/2 Remarks
1 81 Invalid due to Pmax/Pq [ 1.1 and B,
a \ 2.5 9 (KIC/YS)2
2 72 Invalid due to Pmax/Pq [ 1.1
the base metal side during post weld heat treatment
(hardening) cycle to the weld metal, thereby leading to
strengthening of the weld metal despite very limited
dilution generally associated with thick plate welding.
Also, mechanical properties of weldment made with filler
wire of the base metal composition showed similar
mechanical properties (Table 7) as compared to weld-
ments made with CDV100 filler wire. This indicated that
minor difference in filler wire chemistry did not play a
significant role in mechanical properties for thicker sec-
tion weldments which were subjected to post weld hard-
ening and tempering operation in 0.3 % C quenched and
tempered steels. The location of failure in tensile test
specimen was always found to be in the base metal,
confirming weld metal being stronger than base metal.
This could be due to faster cooling rates observed in weld
metal and limited diffusion of carbon from base metal
side (when CDV100 filler wire used) during post weld
hardening cycle. The faster cooling rates led to formation
of dendritic weld metal microstructure which transformed
to fine grained austenite during subsequent heating of
hardening cycle and thereafter transformed to finer
martenistic structure on cooling/quenching. This imparted
higher strength to the weld metal on comparison with
coarse grained heat affected zone of the base metal where
failure was expected.
Considering comparable tensile properties with different
filler wire compositions, fracture toughness was evaluated
with CDV100 filler wire only and it showed Kq in the
range of 72–81 MPa.m1/2 (Table 8), which was similar to
Trans Indian Inst Met

Microhardness measurement across the weldment in as

Fig. 3 Macroscopic view of weld cross section of PAW specimen
base metal properties in hardened and tempered condition.
This indicated that there was no significant degradation in
fracture properties for welds made with low carbon content
filler wire.
One of the welded coupons was cut and macro exami-
nation was carried out. It was seen that fusion zone was
more uniform and deep with narrow HAZ (Fig. 3). This
was due to higher power density of PAW process, which
led to deep penetration.
welded condition (Fig. 4) revealed a higher hardness value
in the weld metal. This was due to higher cooling rates
leading to fine dendritic structure which had undergone
transformation from austenite to martensite during cooling.
The hardness of base metal zone was around 270 VHN,
which was representative of annealed material. The PWHT
increased base metal hardness to 470 VHN. The micro-
hardness values (480–520 VHN) were found to be nearly
same for the weld metal with different back-up bar mate-
rial, marginally higher (500–520 VHN) for Cu back-up bar
material (Fig. 1). Further, it was also observed that
microhardness values for weldment, HAZ and base metal
became uniform (470–520 VHN) after hardening and
tempering treatment, indicating nearly similar response of
all the zones to hardening and tempering heat treatment.

(a) 600 (b)

With Cu backing bar + Preheat
550 550 Top (Crown)
With Stainless steel Middle
backing bar Root
500 500
Top (Crown)
Middle
450 450
Root

400 400
VHN

VHN
350 350

300 300

250 250

200 200
-16 -14 -12 -10 -8 -6 -4 -2 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 -16 -14 -12 -10 -8 -6 -4 -2 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20
Distance in mm from weld centre Distance in mm from weld centre

(c) 600
With Cu backing bar (d)
550 Top (Crown)
Middle 550
Root With Water cooled
500
500 Cu backing bar
Top (Crown)
450 450 Middle
Root
400 400
VHN
VHN

350 350

300 300

250 250

200 200
-16 -14 -12 -10 -8 -6 -4 -2 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 -18 -16 -14 -12 -10 -8 -6 -4 -2 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18
Distance in mm from weld centre
Distance in mm from weld centre

Fig. 4 Microhardness plots with different backing bar material in the as welded condition a with stainless steel backing bar, b with Cu backing
bar ? preheating, c with Cu backing bar, d with water cooled Cu backing bar material

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Fig. 5 Optical photomicrographs in PWHT condition a base metal, b HAZ, c weld
In the process of welding, three zones were created,
weld metal, heat affected zone (HAZ) and base metal. With
faster cooling of weld metal, austenite transformed by
diffusionless transformation to form martensite. HAZ area
which had experienced high temperature and transformed
to austenite during welding, further transformed to lath
martensite. Further, during hardening and tempering,
weldment consisted of tempered martensite and martensite
laths coarsened in the HAZ. Finally, HAZ became weaker
zone.
Metallographic evaluation showed HAZ of width
*2.5 mm in the as welded condition. Optical microstruc-
ture of the weldment with different filler wire as well as
different back-up bar material did not show significant
variation. The representative photomicrographs of various
zones are given Fig. 5. Optical microstructure of post weld
heat treated (PWHT) weldment did not reveal any specific
feature where martensite was transformed to tempered
martensitic.
4 Conclusions
1. Plasma Arc Welding Technology and parameters have
been evolved for single pass straight butt welding of
7.8 mm thick plates of 0.3 % C–CrMoV (ESR) steel.
2. Mechanical property evaluation for PAW with
CDV100 filler wire as well as with filler wire of base
metal composition has yielded [85 % efficiency for
both tensile and fracture toughness values. No
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Trans Indian Inst Met
significant changes in properties are observed due to
change in filler wire.
3. Microhardness of weldment after post weld heat
treatment is found to be in the range of 480–520
VHN, which is similar to heat treated base metal
indicating air hardenability of weldment.
4. Effect of backing bar material on mechanical proper-
ties are found to be insignificant. However, process
difficulty is noted in using stainless steel backing bar
with respect to breaking of weld tacks and occasional
burn through of coupon.
Acknowledgments We express our sincere thanks to DD, MME,
VSSC for his constant encouragement and support. We are extremely
thankful to the management and staff of M/s L&T, Powai for their
valuable suggestions and help rendered during the course of the above
studies. Thanks are also due to all our colleagues in VSSC for their
support in heat treatment, machining, testing and characterization of
the specimens.
References
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J Ironmak Steelmak 17 (1990) 38.
2. Irving B, Weld J 74 (1995) 43.
3. Linnert G E, Welding Metallurgy, Vol. 2. 3rd Ed. American
Welding Society, Miami (1967).
4. Seferian D, The Metallurgy of Welding, Wiley, New York (1962).
5. Coe F R, Welding Steels Without Hydrogen Cracking, The
Welding Institute, Cambridge (1973).