Research status of welding technology of ferritic stainless steel

Ferritic stainless steel has been applied frequently owing to its advantages such as good thermal conductivity, low coefficient of linear expansion, good stress corrosion resistance, and no Ni. However, the welding process will cause the grain size of the weld zone and the heat-affected zone to grow seriously, resulting in a decrease in the toughness of the welded joint. The paper discusses in detail the traditional and improved welding methods of ferritic stainless steel. These improved methods can effectively reduce the grain size or increase the penetration. The process of introducing electric and magnetic pulses can compress the arc, increase the weld penetration, stir the molten pool, refine the grains, and improve the strength and toughness of the weld. The future development direction of ferritic stainless steel welding is discussed at the end of the article.