On the Use of Gas Metal Arc Welding for Manufacturing Beams of Commercially Pure Titanium and a Titanium Alloy

A noticeable reduction in the cost of structural components made from titanium, both commercially pure and the alloy counterpart is possible with the concept of built-up welded fabrication. Rolled sheets of the titanium material can be welded together to fabricate a built-up structural component without having to machine the part from a large billet. In this paper, the results of a recent feasibility study on the manufacturing of welded built-up I-beams for large structural applications are presented and discussed. The fillet welds were produced using the pulsed Gas Metal Arc Welding (GMAW-P) process. Commercially pure titanium (Grade 2) and a titanium alloy (Ti-6Al-4V) were the two materials chosen for the study. The specific details of the welding process are highlighted along with a discussion of the successful implementation of the concept of built-up welded beams for the manufacture of large structural elements and components of titanium.