Analysis of Vertical Position SMAW Welding Process Results

Stainless Steel 316 is a steel metal with its main alloys namely Chromium (Cr) and Nickel (Ni). These two alloys make stainless steel resistant to corrosion (rust). Because Stainless Steel 316 is corrosion resistant, this metal is widely used in the aviation industry, the chemical industry and the food industry. Welding is the process of joining two metals by melting the filler metal and the protective metal to the object being welded. The purpose of this final project is the author who will perform welding on 316 Stainless Steel material. The background for selecting 316 Stainless Steel material is to get the latest data about the level of hardness and tensile strength of the welding results. Welding uses SMAW welding with Nikko Steel NSN 316 L electrodes with a diameter of 3.2 mm, variations in the current used are 75A, 95A, and 115A. Single taper welding seam used, the welding method is Vertical Up and Vertical Down. The plate thickness used is 8mm. Tests carried out on the results of welding are hardness testing and tensile testing. The results of the hardness test show that the Base Metal area is the hardest point to determine the HAZ and Weld Metal points. The highest test results were found in the current 115A Vertical Up specimen III of 3323 Kgf.