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of Welds Application
Up until the end of the 19th century, sec-
Notes
tions of metal were joined together by a
heating and hammering process called
forge welding. Today, a variety of differ-
ent welding processes are available, such
that welding is extensively used as a fab-
rication process for joining materials in a
wide range of compositions, part shapes
and sizes.
Thermal damage on a steel weld. Polished and etched transverse section shows depth
to which thermal damage penetrates. Bright field, 50x.
Joining Processes Welding
involving heat Processes
The processes which are available for the Some of the more common welding processes
Metal Inert Gas
purpose of joining metals and alloys are are shown in the diagram (MIG)
• Soft soldering* Metal Active Gas
Consumable electrode (MAG)
• Braze welding** Mixed gas shielded
• Welding Electron beam
CO2 gas shielded
Arc weld covered
Fusion Arc welding electrode
Features which distinguish welding from sol- Laser welding Sub-arc
dering and brazing are:
Tungsten Inert Gas
Non-consumable type (TIG)
• Soldering (Fig.1) and brazing (Fig. 2) in- Welding Plasma welding
volve melting a material with lower melting Spin welding
point between the work pieces to form a Friction welding
Spot resistance
bond between them, without melting the Friction stir welding Projection welding
work pieces. Pressure Seam welding
• The materials to be welded are raised above Lap resistance welding
their melting point in the vicinity of the joint, Resistance welding
in order for fusion to take place. Upset welding
Butt resistance welding
Flash welding
• As a consequence of the above, complex
chemical and metallurgical changes occur
in the materials in the proximity of the
Generally, the weld is regarded as a junction objective is to examine the overall integrity of
welded joint.
between two or more pieces of metal in which the weld or examine the microstructure/prop-
• These microstructural changes can have a their surfaces have to be raised to a plastic erty relationship or to identify the nature and
profound influence upon the joint properties (e.g. friction welding Fig. 3) or liquid state by origin of defects. It follows then, that the ac-
and suitability for service. the application of heat with or without added curacy of microstructural analysis and inter-
*Soft soldering: Soldering is the process in which two metal and with or without the application of pretation will depend on the production of
metals are joined together by means of a third metal or pressure. prepared specimens, free from any artefacts
alloy having a relatively low melting point. Soft soldering which may have been introduced at any stage
is characterized by the value of the melting point of the
third metal or alloy, which is below 450°C (840°F). The Each of these processes has their own unique in the preparation process.
third metal or alloy used in the process is called solder. characteristics e.g. penetration, speed of wel-
ding, slag generation, heat input, properties of
**Braze Welding: Braze welding takes place at the mel-
weld, etc. and this in turn can have a consid-
ting temperature of the filler (e.g., 870°C to 980°C or
1600°F to 1800°F for bronze alloys) which is often consi- erable influence on the resultant microstruc-
derably lower than the melting point of the base material tural detail.
(e.g., 1600°C (2900°F) for mild steel).
Robot welding
Fig.1: As polished section through solder ball connec- Fig. 2: As polished section through a copper alloy Fig. 3: Fusion interface on pressure friction welded low
tion between copper conducting tracks in PCB. brazing joint in austenitic stainless steel. Differential alloy steel showing heat affected zone and associated
Bright field, 100x. Interference Contrast, 100x. plastic deformation. Bright field, 25x.
Taking Test Sections from Welds Two levels of metallographic inspection
Metallographic principles and practices can The examination of metallographic sections
be applied to the examination of welded sec- through welded joints is commonly carried
tions to satisfy a number of objectives; the out at two levels of inspection:
more common of which are listed below:
Macro: Where magnifications up to 50x are
• Welder Approval Testing employed with stereomicroscopes.
In this type of test, an individual welder
Micro: Where examination is at higher
welds an appropriate test piece, under
magnifications (up to 1000x) using optical
specified conditions. This test piece is then
microscopes.
examined by measurement, visual inspec-
tion, and examination of a prepared section Macro examination is commonly carried
through the weld. If the weld reaches the out on unmounted cross sections through
agreed standard, that welder is approved to welded joints and simply involves cutting and
weld the same type as the test weld. coarse/fine grinding techniques. The resultant
finish is adequate for etching, followed by
• Procedure Approval Testing an examination of the macro features of the
In this type of test, it is a welding procedure weld joint.
Cross section through electron beam weld in nickel
base alloy showing a welded columnar microstructure
in a particular material with a particular joint
with few scattered gas pores. Bright field, 50x. configuration which is being approved. The For micro examination techniques and hard-
completed weld is examined by a variety of ness traverse, the provision of a polished,
means, one of which includes a prepared optically flat surface will be required. This
section through the welded joint. A hard - involves cutting, mounting and grinding and
ness traverse across parent material, heat polishing. One has to be aware from the
affected zone and weld metal is normally outset, that artefacts can be introduced at
carried out. any stage of the preparation process. This is
particularly true of welded sections because
• Production Quality Control not only do microstructural variations occur
In this type of test a representative number over relatively short distances but welds can
of welds are sectioned and examined as also involve joints between dissimilar metals
part of a production process. having widely different properties.
• Failure Analysis
Pipe welds
• Research and Development
Slag
Porosity
Toe crack
Hot (solidification) cracks
Heat Affected Zone
(HAZ) Undercut
Hot tears
Unaffected Unaffected
base metal base metal
tant in these cases that the macro/micro sec- is exacerbated with increasing section size.
tion is cut by an abrasive wet cutting process As an alternative grinding/fine grinding media features is minimal and all microstructural
and is sectioned well away from the influence for manual preparation the Struers MD-Piano elements are retained. In this respect, semi-
of any thermal damage from a primary ther- discs offer a number of advantages: automatic or automatic preparation equip-
mal cutting operation. ment is preferred as it provides a consistency
• A longer cutting life. and reproducibility of polish which facilitates
In order that deformation from cutting is mini- • A constant removal rate over a longer accurate microstructural analysis. Prepara-
mised and the risk of thermal damage on the time period. tion methods for the wide range of welded
cut surface is avoided, it is important that: • Suitable for a wide range of materials materials which can be experienced cannot
hardness (HV150-2000). be covered in this document.
• The correct type of abrasive cut-off wheel
• Less waste. There are, however, four methods detailed
is selected.
in the following which cover the more com-
• An appropriate feed speed is used.
MD-Piano discs are resin bonded diamond monly used welded materials.
• There is an adequate level of coolant
discs which have been developed for coarse
supplied during cutting.
and fine grinding of materials in the hardness
range HV150-2000 and they are available in Carbon and low alloy steel welds
Mounting
comparable grain size to SiC-Paper 80,120,
Normally, macro sections for procedural Step PG FG DP 1 DP 2
220, 600, and 1200.
testing are prepared unmounted because of Surface MD-Piano MD-Allegro MD-Plus MD-Nap
time constraints, and because a finely ground 220
Micro sections
finish is usually adequate for macro exami- Suspension DiaPro DiaPro DiaPro
Weld specimens can involve wide variations Allegro/Largo Plus NapB
nation. If semi-automatic preparation is an
in material hardness across the specimen
option, then there are a number of specimen Lubricant Water
either because of a phase changes during
holders which will accommodate unmounted rpm 300 150 150 150
welding, or because the joint incorporates
cross sections from welded joints. Force (N) 150 210 180 150
dissimilar metals. The weld metal may con-
If mounting is required then there is the op-
tain hard precipitates or some indigenous Time 1 min. 4 min. 4 min. 1 min.
tion of hot compression mounting or cold
weld defect. As a consequence, it is important Valid for 6 mounted specimens, 30 mm dia. clamped in
mounting. It is not uncommon, however,
that the preparation method should ensure a holder. As an alternative to DiaPro, DP-Suspension P,
in weld examination to have relatively large 9 µm, 3 µm and 1 µm can be used together with
that polish relief between microstructural
cross sections. In this case, section sizes up DP-Lubricant blue.
to 120 x 60 x 45 mm can be accommodated
in Struers UnoForm, rectangular moulds for
cold mounting.
Rectangular mounts of various welds. Polished and etched micro section through MAG (Metal
Active Gas) welded carbon steel. Microstructure consists
of acicular and primary ferrite. Etched with 2% Nital.
Bright field, 200x
Stainless steel welds
Step PG FG DP 1 DP 2
Lubricant Water
Titanium welds
Step PG FG OP
Lubricant Water
Lubricant Water
Electrolytic Polishing/Etching Some of the more common chemical and electrolytic etching reagents for welded joints in a
It is not uncommon, in shop floor produc- variety of materials are listed below.
tion control applications, to find electrolytic
polishing/etching being used as a method Material Etchant Comment
for obtaining prepared weld cross sections Carbon and low 100 ml ethanol (95%) or methanol (95%) Good general purpose reagent; can be increased to 15 ml
for macro examination. Here the sections are alloy steels 1-5 ml nitric acid nitric acid for macro etching.
(Nital)
cut on an abrasive cut off machine, then after
100 ml distilled water Good macro etching
a single grinding stage, the specimens are 10 g ammonium persulphate
electrolytically polished and etched to provide
a section suitable for macro examination. The Stainless steels 480 ml distilled water Macro etching
120 ml hydrochloric acid (32%)
advantages of this technique are: 50 g iron (III) choride,
- Its speed. 100 ml distilled water Electrolytic etching 4-6 volts for a few secs.
- Its ease of operation. 10 g oxalic acid
- Minimises user contact with acidic etchants. 100 ml distilled water Electrolytic etching 2-4 volts for a few secs
- A more suitable option for a wide range of 5 ml sulphuric acid (95-97%)
stainless steel types and other metals
Nickel alloys 100 ml distilled water Electrolytic etching 3-6 volts for a few secs.
difficult to etch just chemically. 5 ml sulphuric acid (95-97%)
It is important to follow the recommended safety precautions when handling chemical reagents
and when using chemical etchants.
Heat affected zone crack below fillet weld in low alloy Pores in an austenitic stainless steel weld.
steel. Bright field, 5x. Bright field, 100x.
Summary
Struers A/S
Pederstrupvej 84
DK-2750 Ballerup, Denmark
Phone +45 44 600 800
Fax +45 44 600 801
struers@struers.dk
JAPAN
Marumoto Struers K.K.
Takara 3rd Building
18-6, Higashi Ueno 1-chome
Taito-ku, Tokyo 110-0015
Phone +81 3 5688 2914
Fax +81 3 5688 2927
struers@struers.co.jp
www.struers.com