ANALYSIS & PREVENTION OF WELD FAILURE

By P.K. GHOSH

Professor Department of Metallurgical & Materials Engineering Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee Roorkee 247 667

Failure of a part or assembly is defined as :

(i) (ii) When it becomes completely inoperable. When it is still operable but is no longer able to perform its intended function satisfactorily. When serious deterioration has made it unreliable or unsafe for continued use, thus necessitating its immediate removal from service for repair or replacement.

(iii)

Failures of weld joint are mostly caused by static overloading, impact loading, dynamic loading, wear, corrosive attack and irradiation damage.

Failure investigation of weld joint is a quite complicated affair and it is practically impossible to generalise the cause of failure.

Failure of welded structure involves several interacting phenomena of scientific and technological factors related to the material, stress distribution, interacting service conditions, structural safety analysis etc.

Under these circumstances a critical analysis of various aspects contributing to the failure mechanism is very much essential to identify the primary and secondary causes of failure. The investigator must have interdisciplinary view and knowledge to co-ordinate the investigation and if necessary the investigator may have to take opinion of the experts of different Specialisation. An investigator has to follow step by step the standard procedure of investigation with a bias free analytical outlook. The fundamental sources of weldment failure are primarily accounted as follows.

PRIMARY SOURCES OF WELD FAILURE Design deficiencies Deficiencies in Selection Weldable of Material & Consumables Imperfections in Materials Deficiencies in Weld Fabrication & Processing Aggressive Improper Service Conditions Improper Maintenance

Design Deficiencies
The presence of mechanical notches at points of high stresses in any component or a member of a structure which is especially subjected to bending or torsional loading.

The changes or modification in design of an existing structure, made without adequate consideration of possible introduction of stress raisers. May also result from an impossibility of making reliable stress calculations for complex parts and from insufficient information about the types and magnitude of the service loads. Gross deficiencies in design may arise from reliance on static tensile properties without taking into account the possibility of failure by the mechanisms as brittle fracture, low cycle fatigue, stress corrosion and interacting service conditions like corrosion fatigue and creep fatigue interaction etc.

In this regard careful consideration of fracture mechanics data, like critical plain strain stress intensity factor (KIc), critical J-integral factor (JIc), critical stress intensity factor for stress corrosion cracking (KIscc) etc., along with the conventional design criteria may be very much useful.

Deficiencies in Selection of Weldable Material & Consumable

The material selection must be made in relation to dimensional and geometrical aspects of design and by keeping a close look to service conditions. The tensile data are only partially indicative of inherent mechanical resistance to specific service conditions. The mechanical and chemical properties of a base material may change to a great extent in the HAZ under weld thermal cycle.

The material must be carefully checked by considering its weldability under any prescribed welding process and procedure. No generalisation can be made that will be valid for all material selection problems. However, on the basis of previous knowledge and experiences a guide to criteria useful for selection of material in relation to possible failure mechanism has been prescribed [Table I]. The most troublesome areas of material selection are those related to mechanical behaviour in which properties of a material are influenced by time in service under wear, elevated temperature, corrosion, stress corrosion, corrosion fatigue and irradiation

Table - I
Guide to General Criteria for Selection of Material in Relation to Possible Failure Mechanisms Failure Types of loading mechanisms St. Dy. Imp. Brittle fracture X X X Types of stress Operating Temp. Criteria for selection Ten. Com. Sh. Low Amb. High of materials X X X Charpy V-notch Tc, notch toughness, KIc toughness Tensile strength, shear yield strength. Fatigue strength for expected life in presence of typical stress raisers Static ductility & peak cyclic plastic strain at stress raisers during prescribed life. Corrosion - fatigue strength of the metal and contaminant for similar time.

Ductile fracture X

High-cycle fatigue

Low-cycle fatigue

Corrosion fatigue

Failure Types of loading mechanisms St. Dy. Imp. Buckling X X

Types of stress Operating Temp. Criteria for selection Ten. Com. Sh. Low Amb. High of materials X X X X Modulus of elasticity and compressive yield strength. Yield strength. Creep rate or sustained stress-rupture strength for the temperature & expected life. Stability under simultaneous stress & hydrogen or other chemical environment. Residual &/or imposed stress & corrosion resistance to environment. KIscc value. Sh. : Shear

Gross yield Creep

X X

X X

X X

X X

X -

X X

Caustic orX hydrogen embrittlement Stress corrX osion cracking

St. : Static Dy. : Dynamic

Ten. : Tension Com. : Compression

Amb. : Ambient Imp. : Impact

Imperfections in Materials
Failures of weld joint often originate from the imperfection or defects in weld deposit as well as HAZ. The imperfections of weld metal, contributing to its failure, are primarily known as inclusions, micro-segregation, centre line segregation, shrinkage porosity, voids and micro cracks. The presence of certain inclusions or second phase at the surface of base material or weld metal may serve as preferential sites for pitting or intergranular corrosion under corrosive service environment, causing early failure of a component.

The lamination in base material along with elongated inclusions (iron sulphide), especially when they are present in HAZ of a weld joint, severely damages the service life of a weld structure by initiating failure by lamellar tearing. The microstructure of HAZ also contribute to weldment failure by formation of metallurgical notch creating localised problems and potential sites inviting corrosion attack. The grain growth at HAZ close to fusion line makes the region prone to stress corrosion cracking. The grain boundary precipitation and coarsening of precipitates in HAZ, depending upon weld thermal cycle, also make the region more susceptible to corrosion and initiate failure.

Deficiencies in Weld Fabrication and Processing

Processing or fabrication by welding can lead to failure by a variety of mechanisms unless suitable precautions are taken in workmanship, fixture for welding, selection of welding parameters and pre and post weld cleaning. Welding under severe restraint, such as joining of large parts with improper fixturing, contraction of the weld metal and HAZ during cooling induces residual tensile stress in certain region of the weldment that can cause cracking at once or promote cracking in service. Selection of unsuitable filler metal or use of excessive heat input during welding can cause similar effects.

Unless it is done by carefully developed and closely controlled procedures, a build-up of undersize or worn parts like large shafts (particularly of high strength steel) by weld deposition is likely to cause cracking immediately or to reduce fatigue endurance. During welding fabrication an improper heat treatment occurring in variety of forms, like over heating, undertempering, excessive temperature gradient and unsuitable post weld heating, may cause failure to a specific material. The welding operations with a high heat input, can render a metal susceptible to stress corrosion cracking. In other situations, stress relief after welding may act as a sensitising factor leading to failure.

Aggressive Service Conditions

Abnormally severe conditions of speed, loading, temperature and corrosive environment, or without regular maintenance, inspection and monitoring often impart major contribution to the occurrence of service failure of weld joint. Inspection maintenance and monitoring procedures must be based on a thorough consideration of the various mechanisms of failure that may be possible for the part in question. Inspection maintenance and monitoring procedures should be capable of detecting significant deterioration during normal inspection and maintenance operations at scheduled intervals.

Improper Maintenance

Thank You