LAUSR

The effect of graphene oxide (GO) and reduced graphene oxide (RGO) nanosheets on the microstructure and mechanical properties of welded joints of mild steel was evaluated by flux-cored arc welding. GO was synthesized by the Hummer's method and was reduced under hydrothermal conditions at a pressure of 1.1 MPa at 180°C for 12 h. 1, 3, and 10 mg/mL paste fillers were used in GO and RGO, and applied to the weld notch. The results clearly showed that by increasing the concentration of RGO up to 10 mg/mL, the tensile strength and hardness of the weld metal were improved by approximately 20.5% and 38.4%, respectively, because the coarse grains were changed into fine domains. The domain of the nanosheets cluster was 19.85 × 10 −9 m. Specifically, the RGO nanosheets contributed to modifying the mechanical properties of the welded steel, likely due to dislocation pinning.