Welding Faults and Defects
Responses of Materials to Welding
· Defects in Welds
· Micro-structural changes
· Stresses and Distortion
· Heat treatment of parent metals and welds
Defects in Welds
· Porosity
- restart porosity
- surface porosity
- crater pipes
· Inclusions
· Lack of fusion and penetration
· Cracks
- hydrogen embrittlement
- Lamellar tearing
- Reheat cracking
- solidification cracking
Porosity
· Uniform porosity from exsolution of dissolved gases
· Restart porosity - from unstable arc at weld start (incomplete protection, poor welding technique)
· Surface porosity - from excessive contamination (grease, dampness, atmosphere) or sometimes high sulphur in consumables
· Crater pipes - from shrinkage crater at end of weld run
Reduction of Porosity
· Proper selection of electrodes and filler materials
· Improved welding technique
- preheating
- increasing heat input
· Proper cleaning and prevention of contaminants entering weld zone
· Slowing the welding speed to allow time for gas to escape
Crater pipes/Micro-porosity
· Shrinkage of molten weld pool leads to porosity
- e.g. crater pipes in TIG, micro-porosity in submerged arc
· prevent by
- improving welding technique
- Use welding set with current decay
- use a run-off tab
Inclusions
· Two main types:-
- linear inclusions due to incomplete removal of slag in MMA
- isolated inclusions due to rust or mill scale on parent metal surfaces
· Often associated with undercut or irregular surfaces in multi-pass welds
Lack of Fusion/Penetration
· Caused by incorrect welding conditions
- current too low
- welding speed too high
- incorrect torch/gun angle
- incorrect edge preparation (e.g. too large root face)
· Poor weld performance
Stresses and Distortion
· Weld metal is deposited in molten state and cools to room temperature
· Most of the parent metal is not heated and therefore is unchanged by welding
· On cooling the weld pool contacts due to thermal expansion
· This contraction leads to
- distortion if the parent metals are unrestrained
- stress if the parent metals are clamped
Distortion
Residual Stress
Transverse
Longitudinal
Magnitude of Stresses Generated
· The thermal stress is simplistically given by (Eα∆T), where (E) is the Young’s Modulus, (∆T) is the temperature change and (α) the thermal expansion coefficient
· For steel the melting point is around 1500oC (thus ∆T=1475K), the Young’s Modulus is 200GPa and (α) the thermal expansion coefficient is 12x10-6 K-1
· Thus a stress of 3.5GPa could be produced at room temperature - this will be limited by plastic deformation
Factors Promoting Hot Cracking
· Welding current density (high levels promote cracking)
· Heat distribution (joint design)
· Restraint
· Crack sensitivity of electrode material
· Dilution of weld metal
· Impurities (e.g. sulphur and phosphorus)
· preheating (increases liability to cracking)
· Welding procedure (high speeds, long arcs increase sensitivity)
Solidification Cracking
· Caused by
- weld bead too deep or wide
- high current or welding speed
- large root gap
- C, P or S pick-up
· Prevent by
- weld parameters chosen so that weld width is 0.5 to 0.8 weld depth
- Keep S and P in steel 0.6%
- Correct fit-up
Factors Promoting Cold Cracking
· Joint restraint
· Heat input
· Weld of insufficient sectional area
· Hydrogen in weld metal
· Impurities
· Embrittlement of the HAZ
· High welding speeds and low welding currents
Lamellar Tearing
· Caused by elongated non-metallic inclusion arrays in rolled plate
· Occurs when weld metal is deposited on plate surface and where restraint is high
· Prevent by design, low inclusion plate or use of castings/forgings
Reheat Cracking
· Occurs in creep resisting and thick-section high strength low alloy steels during post weld heat treatment
· Caused by poor creep ductility in HAZ
· Accentuated by notches and defects
Reheat Cracking
· Chromium, molybdenum and vanadium containing steels most susceptible
· Prevented by
- Heat treat with a low temperature soak followed by rapid heating to high temperature
- Grinding or peening weld toes after welding
- Use two-layer welding technique to refine the coarse grained HAZ structure
- Use non-susceptible weld metal