Welding Metallurgy

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Welding Metallurgy 2
Lesson Objectives When you finish this lesson you will understand: The various region of the weld where liquid does not form Mechanisms of structure and property changes associated with these regions
Learning Activities 1. View Slides; 2. Read Notes, 3. Listen to lecture 4. Do on-line workbook 5. Do homework

Keywords: Heat affected zone, Base metal, Solutionizing treatment, Aging, welding procedure, heat input, Hydrogen cracking, Carbon equivalent, Lamellar Tearing, Reheat Cracking, Knife-line attack,
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Heat Affected Zone Welding Concerns

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Heat Affected Zone Welding Concerns

Changes in Structure Resulting in Changes in Properties Cold Cracking Due to Hydrogen

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Look At Two Types of Alloy Systems

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Cold Worked Alloy Without Allotropic Transformation

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Introductory Welding Metallurgy, AWS, 1979

Welding Precipitation Hardened Alloys Without Allotropic Phase Changes Welded In: Full Hard Condition Solution Annealed Condition

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INTRODUCTORY WELDING METALLURGY, AWS

Annealed upon Cooling

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INTRODUCTORY WELDING METALLURGY, AWS

Precipitation Hardened Alloy Welded in Full Hard Condition

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INTRODUCTORY WELDING METALLURGY, AWS

Precipitation Hardened Alloys Welded in Solutioned Condition

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INTRODUCTORY WELDING METALLURGY, AWS

Turn to the person sitting next to you and discuss (1 min.): Precipitation hardened austenitic stainless steel is used for high strength applications like rocket components etc. Reviewing the various procedures for welding precipitation hardened steels, what procedure would you recommend? Does it make any difference that this is austenitic stainless steel and not just plain carbon steel?

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Steel Alloys With Allotropic Transformation

INTRODUCTORY WELDING METALLURGY, AWS

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INTRODUCTORY WELDING METALLURGY, AWS, 1979

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Turn to the person sitting next to you and discuss (1 min.): As we saw, the cooling rate can depend upon the preheat and the heat input. Many codes actually specify the range of heat inputs that can be used to weld certain materials. We had an equation to determine the heat input before. What is it? What processes have the highest Heat Inputs? The lowest?

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CRACKING IN WELDS

HYDROGEN CRACKING
Hydrogen cracking, also called cold cracking, requires all three of these factors
Hydrogen Stress Susceptible microstructure (high hardness)

Occurs below 300C Prevention by

Preheat slows down the cooling rate; this can help avoid martensite formation and supplies heat to diffuse hydrogen out of the material Low-hydrogen welding procedure

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Carbon and Low-Alloy Steels

WHY PREHEAT?
Preheat reduces the temperature differential between the weld region and the base metal
Reduces the cooling rate, which reduces the chance of forming martensite in steels Reduces distortion and shrinkage stress Reduces the danger of weld cracking Allows hydrogen to escape
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STEEL

USING PREHEAT TO AVOID HYDROGEN CRACKING

If the base material is preheated, heat flows more slowly out of the weld region
Slower cooling rates avoid martensite formation

Preheat allows hydrogen to diffuse from the metal

T base Cooling rate T - Tbase)3

Cooling rate T - Tbase)2 T base

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STEEL

INTERACTION OF PREHEAT AND COMPOSITION

CE = %C + % Mn/6 + %(Cr+Mo+V)/5 + %(Si+Ni+Cu)/15

Carbon equivalent (CE) measures ability to form martensite, which is necessary for hydrogen cracking
CE < 0.35 no preheat or post weld heat treatment 0.35 < CE < 0.55 preheat 0.55 < CE preheat and post weld heat treatment

Preheat temp. as CE and plate thickness

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Carbon and Low-Alloy Steels

Why Post-Weld Heat Treat?

The fast cooling rates associated with welding often produce martensite During postweld heat treatment, martensite is tempered (transforms to ferrite and carbides)
Reduces hardness Reduces strength Increases ductility Increases toughness

Residual stress is also reduced by the postweld heat treatment

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Postweld Heat Treatment and Hydrogen Cracking

Postweld heat treatment (~ 1200F) tempers any martensite that may have formed
Increase in ductility and toughness Reduction in strength and hardness

Steel

Residual stress is decreased by postweld heat treatment Rule of thumb: hold at temperature for 1 hour per inch of plate thickness; minimum hold of 30 minutes
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Base Metal Welding Concerns

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Cracking in Welds

Lamellar Tearing
Occurs in thick plate subjected to high transverse welding stress Related to elongated non-metallic inclusions, sulfides and silicates, lying parallel to plate surface and producing regions of reduced ductility Prevention by
Low sulfur steel Specify minimum ductility levels in transverse direction Avoid designs with heavy through-thickness direction stress
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Improve Cleanliness Improve through thickness properties Buttering

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Carbon and Low-Alloy Steels

Multi pass Welds

Heat from subsequent passes affects the structure and properties of previous passes
Tempering Reheating to form austenite Transformation from austenite upon cooling

Complex Microstructure

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Steel

Multipass Welds
Exhibit a range of microstructures Variation of mechanical properties across joint Postweld heat treatment tempers the structure
Reduces property variations across the joint
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Cracking in Welds

Reheat Cracking
Mo-V and Mo-B steels susceptible Due to high temperature embrittlement of the heat-affected zone and the presence of residual stress Coarse-grained region near fusion line most susceptible Prevention by Low heat input welding Intermediate stress relief of partially completed welds Design to avoid high restraint Restrict vanadium additions to 0.1% in steels

Dress the weld toe region to remove possible areas of stress concentration

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Stainless Steel

Knife-Line Attack in the HAZ

HAZ
Cr23C6 precipitate in HAZ Band where peak temperature is 800-1600F Can occur even in stabilized grades Peak temperature dissolves titanium carbides Cooling rate doesnt allow them to form again

Weld

Knife-line attack

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