Types of defects in Welding II

Inside or interior defects require special consideration since they are not readily
visible. Removal may be the best alternative unless one can be reasonably certain
of the extent of the defects. Hot-tapping is not recommended because of the
uncertainty of the extent of an inside or interior defect.
Electric resistance welded (ERW) or flash welded (FW) seam defects include:
upturned fiber imperfections; incomplete fusion; penetrators; cold welds; cracks.
These can only be repaired with pressurized sleeves and removal since the welds
are susceptible to brittle fracture or low-resistance ductile fracture initiation. The
value of restraint of bulging from either type of nonpressurized sleeve is uncertain.
Hence they are not recommended for these defects. Hot-tapping also is not
recommended because of the involvement of the seam weld. It is not recommended
that weld metal be deposited because of possible low ductility. Required grinding
before such welding would involve creating or enlarging a defect in a potentially
low-toughness material. Only removal or use of a Type B pressurized sleeve which
stress-relieves the defect is recommended.
Other seam defects include lap welds and furnace butt welds. These must be dealt
with on a case by case basis. Such welds usually appear in older or smaller and
lower pressure pipelines where fracture resistance requirements are less stringent.
On the other hand, some of these older materials can be quite susceptible to lowtoughness fracture behavior.
It is probably best to treat these materials with the same caution as ERW and FW
seams as they are being operated at stress levels exceeding 40 percent of SMYS.
Laps, pits, seams, cracks, and rolled-in plugs should be repaired subject to these
limitations: special requirements of
I.D. and interior defects and leaks must be observed; hottapping is acceptable on
nonleaking, O.D. defects as long as the entire defect is removed with the coupon;
deposited weld metal may be used to repair pits or laps if they can be entirely
exposed by grinding.
Hard spots created in the plate by accidental quenching on the run-out table may
become flat spots in the pipe since they do not yield when the plate is formed to
pipe. Such hard spots do not fail spontaneously unless they contain quench cracks,
or unless they undergo hydrogen stress cracking. Such spots should be repaired if
they are not cracked. Type A or B sleeves without filler would not be acceptable
since they would not restrain flat spots from bulging.