Abstract
Ferritic stainless steels are widely used in the construction industry and in exhaust manifolds due to their low cost and relatively superior stress corrosion cracking resistance and pitting corrosion resistance compared to austenite stainless steels. Ferritic stainless steels are currently welded by various welding process including gas tungsten arc welding (GTAW), electron resistance welding (ERW) and laser beam welding. However, when these stainless steels are welded by fusion welding, some problems occur in the fusion zone (FZ) and heat affected zone (HAZ). First, the ductility of the weld is reduced due to the grain growth in the FZ and HAZ. Second, as its HAZ is frequently sensitized during welding, corrosion resistance deteriorates in this region due to the Cr depletion zone. To prevent these problems, it is recommended that ferritic stainless steels be welded with a low heat input. In this study, recent researches in the view of friction stir welded ferritic stainless steels are briefly reviewed.
