Development of the Ferritic Stainless Steel Welding Wire Providing Fine Grain Microstructure Weld Metal for the Components of Automotive Exhaust System

Ferritic stainless steel gas metal arc welding (GMAW) wires have been widely using for automotive exhaust system components made of ferritic stainless steels. In order to enhance the high temperature strength of weld metal, it is necessary to make the microstructure of weld metal finer. In this study, the effect of the chemistry of ferritic stainless steel GMAW wire on the weld metal microstructure was investigated and new ferritic stainless steel GMAW wire providing fine grain microstructure of the weld metal was developed to improve high temperature mechanical properties, oxidation resistance, corrosion resistance of the weld metal and weldabiliy of the wire.