Fatigue Tests On Plasma Dressed Fillet Welded Joints

TWI Industrial Member Report Summary 87/1979

By G S Booth and C F G Baxter

Background

An investigation has been made of the use of plasma arc dressing of the weld toe to improve the fatigue strength of fillet welded joints.

It has been shown that significant increases in fatigue strength, comparable to those obtained by grinding, peening or TIG dressing, can be achieved. The magnitude of the improvement, however, is dependent on the heat input of the dressing operation, and is also dependent on the position of the electrode with respect to the weld toe, although to a lesser extent than in TIG dressing. Both mechanised and manual dressing resulted in similar increases in fatigue strength.