Publication

Abstract : Cladding is the most economical process used on the surface of low carbon structural steel to improve the corrosion resistance. The corrosion resistant property is based on the amount of ferrite present in the clad layer. Generally, the ferrite content present in the layer is expressed in terms of ferrite number (FN). The optimum range of ferrite number plays an instrumental role to bring adequate surface properties like chloride stress corrosion cracking resistance, pitting and crevice corrosion resistance and mechanical properties. For achieving maximum economy and enhanced life, duplex stainless steel (E2209T1-4/1) is deposited on the surface of low carbon structural steel of IS: 2062. The problem faced in the weld cladding towards achieving the required amount of ferrite number is the selection of an optimum combination of input process parameters (welding current, welding speed, contact tip to specimen distance and gun angle). This paper mainly concentrates on estimating FN and analysis of input process parameters on FN of heat treated duplex stainless steel cladding. To predict FN, mathematical equations was developed based on four factor five level central composite rotatable design with full replication using regression methods. In this paper, artificial neural network (ANN) and genetic algorithm (GA) techniques were integrated and labeled as ANN-GA to identify the optimum process parameters in FCAW to get maximum FN. From the results, the integrated ANN-GA (I OR II) is capable of giving maximum FN at optimum process parameters compared to that of experimental, regression and ANN modeling