IUST The Biennial International Conference on Experimental Solid Mechanics (X-Mech 2016) 16-17 Feb., 2016, Tehran, Iran Center of Excellence in Experimental Solid Mechanics and Dynamics, School of Mechanical Engineering, Iran University of Science and Technology Experimental Measurement to Investigate the T-shape Weld of Steel Plates F. Vakili-Tahami 1 , A. Ziaei-Asl 2 and P. Majnoun 3* 1 Associate Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Tabriz, Tabriz, Iran 2 Assistant Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Azarbaijan Shahid Madani University, Tabriz, Iran 3 Master of Science student, Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Tabriz, Tabriz, Iran *(corresponding author: p.majnoon@gmail.com) Abstract- In this paper, experimental tests have been carried out to measure the temperature distribution during the T-shape welding of two steel plates. In order to investigate the effect of material properties, two types of plates: stainless steel 304L and low alloy carbon steel A512 have been used. These two materials respectively have the lowest and largest thermal conductivity among the steel alloys. Also, they have many applications in power generating and petrochemical industries. For measuring the temperature and also distortion during the welding process, an experimental rig has been designed and developed, which records data via an electronic interface and online computerized data recording system. Using these data, the quality of the welding and the thickness of Heat Affected Zone (HAZ) can be estimated. Also, these data can be used to study the risk of hot cracking or any other welding related problems or defects. The results show that for obtaining good quality weldment, welding speed should be lower for carbon steel plates. Also, carbon steel plates have higher temperature level and cooling rate due to their large thermal conductivity. It is shown that the distortion of the carbon steel plates during the welding process is much smaller than those for stainless steel plates. Keywords - T-shape welding, Steel, Experimental measurement, Temperature, Distortion I. INTRODUCTION Fillet weldment is a very common method of joining structural elements such as ships, pressure vessels and etc., and they can be used as cruciform or T-shape [1]. During the welding process, due to the heating and subsequent cooling period, severe temperature gradient will arise which also introduce high thermal stresses through the specimen, which may lead to some problems such as hot cracking or burn- through, etc. [2-4]. Therefore, the study of welding process has always been one of the major concerns for engineers. Because of the complexity of the welding phenomena, analytical or numerical solution methods cannot be independently used for this purpose. Hence, experimental tests or measurements are the most reliable tool to study welding phenomena. The result of these experimental investigations can be used to develop numerical model to simulate welding process. In this research, temperature distribution and displacement around a fillet T-shape welding of two plates has been measured experimentally. For this purpose, a test rig has been designed and developed to measure temperature and displacement of certain points around the weldment during the welding process. The effect of major parameters such as material properties and welding conditions have been taken into account by using two different materials for plates– stainless steel and carbon steel - different plate thicknesses and different welding speeds. By comparing the results, behavior of each material during welding process can be observed. II. EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURE The test rig includes a data logger which can record the temperature and displacement of 6 points simultaneously during the welding process. It is designed based on ASTM E235/E235M-12 and can record 10 data per second which are recorded in order to plot the temperature and displacement diagrams for each point. The schematic figure of the test rig is shown in Fig. 1.