Joining of Mild Steel Plates Using Microwave Energy

Abstract

This paper describes joining of bulk MS (mild steel) plates using a domestic microwave oven at a frequency of 2.45 GHz and a power of 900 W. Microwave Hybrid Heating (MHH) is used for joining of MS plate by placing an interlayer of Ni powder of average thickness of about 0.3 mm between two interfacing surfaces. Characterization of the joints has been carried out using X ray diffraction (XRD), SEM (Scanning Electron Microscope), and Vickers micro indentation. The back scattered electron (BSE) image shows complete melting of powder particle yielding diffusion bonding between interfacing powder particles and MS plates The average micro hardness of the joints observed to be 420 ± 30 Hv which is significantly higher than the substrate hardness of 230 ± 10 Hv. The results obtained after performing tensile test show that the joints have an average strength of 250 MPa with a percentage elongation of 6 percent