Characteristics Evaluation on Welding Metal Zones Welded with Inconel 625 Filler Metal to Cast Steel for Piston Crown Material

Since the oil price has been significantly jumped for several years, a heavy oil of low quality has been mainly used in the diesel engine of the merchant ship. Thus, a combustion chamber of the engine has been often exposed to severely corrosive environment more and more because temperature of the exhaust gas of the combustion chamber has been getting higher and higher with increasing of using the heavy oil of low quality. As a result, wear and corrosion of the engine parts such as exhaust valve, piston crown and cylinder head surrounded with combustion chamber are more serious compared to the other parts of the engine. Therefore, an optimum repair welding for these engine parts is very important to prolong their lifetime in a economical point of view. In this study, Inconel 625 filler metal were welded with GTAW method in the cast steel which would be generally used with piston crown material. And the corrosion properties of weld metal, heat affected and base metal zones were investigated using electrochemical methods such as measurement of corrosion potential, anodic polarization curves, cyclic voltammogram and impedance etc. in 35% H₂SO₄ solution. The weld metal and base metal zones exhibited the highest and lowest values of hardness respectively. Furthermore, the corrosion current density of the weld metal zone revealed the lowest value, having the highest value of hardness. The corrosive products with red color and local corrosion like as a pitting corrosion were considerably observed at the base metal zone, while these morphologies were not wholly observed in the weld metal zone. In particular, the polarization characteristics such as impedance, polarization curve and cyclic voltammogran associated with corrosion resistance property were well in good agreement with each other. Consequently, it is suggested that the mechanical and corrosion characteristics of the piston crown can be predominantly improved by repair welding method using the Inconel 625 electrode.