Heat Input and Dilution Effects

in Microalloyed Steel Weld Metals

The microstructure and toughness of doubly melted microalloyed steel
submerged arc weld metals were found to be insensitive to heat input

BY A. C. H U N T , A. O . KLUKEN A N D G . R. E D W A R D S

ABSTRACT. The sensitivity of weld metal

microstructure and mechanical properties to variations in both heat input [i.e.,
cooling rate) and weld dilution in submerged arc (SA) welding of microalloyed
steel was examined. Weldments were
prepared with weld metal dilutions of
approximately 4 0 % and 70% at heat inputs of 2.0, 3.3, 4.6, and 5.3 kj/mm,
using two commercial welding wires and
a basic commercial flux. The high dilution welds, w h i c h were ordinary beadon-plate welds, resulted in microstructures that ranged from ferrite with aligned
second phase at low heat inputs to acicular ferrite at high heat inputs. Special
over-welding techniques were used to
make the low dilution welds, allowing
use of the same welding parameters as
those for the high dilution welds. The
technique involved remelting of weld
metal to simulate the effect of multipass
welding. The microstructure of these
welds was predominantly acicular ferrite, independent of heat input. As a consequence, the low dilution welds had
superior toughness compared to the high
dilution welds.

Weldments for these applications must

possess both high strength and toughness. Generally, strength and toughness
are competitive properties, and modifications to improve one degrade the
other. The one exception to this observation is that grain size refinement increases both strength and toughness.
There seems to be general agreement
that microstructures primarily consisting
of acicular ferrite provide optimal weld
metal mechanical properties, both from
a strength and toughness point of view
(Refs. 1-6). The formation of large proportions of upper bainite, ferrite side
plates, or grain boundary ferrite, on the
other hand, is considered detrimental to
toughness, since these structures provide
preferential crack propagation paths, especially when continuous films of carbides are present between the ferrite
laths or plates.
Aspects of acicular ferrite formation
in low-alloy steel weld metals have been
extensively investigated and reported in
the literature (Refs. 7-1 3). It is well established that this microconstituent nu-

cleates at indigenous nonmetallic inclusions in the transformation temperature

range between Widmannstatten ferrite
and lower bainite (Refs. 14, 15). Recently, Grong, etal. (Ref. 16), confirmed
experimentally that the acicular ferrite
plates tend to develop epitaxial relationships with different inclusion constituent
phases in order to minimize the energy
barrier to nucleation. However, in addition to the presence of such catalyst particles, the final weld metal microstructure is controlled by the total alloy content, the solidification microstructure,
the prior austenite grain size, and the
weld thermal cycle. All these variables
are interrelated, and perturbation of one
generally affects the others, making prediction of weld metal microstructures a
complex problem (Ref. 1 7).
The present paper presents the results
of an investigation concerning the effects
of heat input and dilution on the m i crostructure and mechanical properties
of microalloyed submerged arc (SA) steel
weld metals.
Experimental Details
Materials and Weld Preparation

Introduction
KEY WORDS
The use of microalloyed steel weldments in critical structural applications
such as offshore platforms and arctic installations has prompted the evaluation
of factors affecting weld metal microstructure and mechanical properties.
A. C. HUNT is with Hunt Integrated Technologies, Oklahoma City, Okla. A. O.
KLUKEN is with SINTEF, Division of Metallurgy, N-7034 Trondheim, Norway. G. R.
EDWARDS is with Center for Welding and
Joining Research, Colorado School of Mines,
Golden, Colo.

SAW
Weld Metal
Microalloyed Steel
Heat Input Effects
Dilution Effects
Microstructure
Mechanical Properties
Chemical Composition
Cooling Rate
Weld Dilution

For the present investigation, two 2.4mm (0.09-in.) diameter commercial

solid welding wires, Oerlikon Tibor 22
(Series I) and Linde MH-120S (Series II),
were selected. For both test series, the
welds were made on the same plate material, 19-mm (0.75-in.) thick low-carbon microalloyed steel (ASTM A710
Grade A) using a commercial basic flux,
Oerlikon OP1 21 TT, and a mechanized
unit for SA welding. The high-dilution
welds (70% dilution) were prepared
using a bead-on-plate technique. Prior
to welding, the surfaces of the plates were

W E L D I N G RESEARCH SUPPLEMENT I 9-s

(a)

(b)

(a)
(c)

(d)

(b)
Fig. 1 Schematic illustration of the sequence used for producing the low-dilution welds. A V-groove machined along
the base plate centerline; B high heat input weld deposited
into the V-groove; C reinforcement of high heat input weld
bead removed; D deposition of experimental weld on top
of the high heat input weld bead.

Fig. 2 Schematic diagram defining different metallographic sections.

A Transverse section (normal to the welding direction); B longitudinal section (normal to the columnar grain growth direction).

Table 1 Operational Conditions Employed in Present Welding Experiments

Series No.
I

II

Weld No

Dilution

Amperage
(A)

Voltage
(V)

Travel Speed
(mm/s)

Heat Input
(k]/mm)

34
34
34
34
34
34
34
i4

11.5
7.0
5.0
4.3
11.4
6.9
5.0
4.3

2.0
3.3
4.6
5.3
2.0
3.3
4.6
5.3

34
34
34
34
34
34
34
34

10.9
6.8
4.9
4.2
11.2
6.8
4.9
4.2

2.0
3.3
4.6
5.3
2.0
3.3
4.6
5.3

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8

high

low
low
low
low

680
680
680
665
670
670
670
670

9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16

high
high
high
high
low
low
low
low

640
660
660
660
660
660
660
660

high
high
high

Note: W i r e feed speed was maintained at 72 m m / s and electrode extension was kept at 19 m m (0.75 in.) for all welds.

10-s I J A N U A R Y 1 9 9 4

grit blasted to remove oxide scale. A special overwelding technique was used to
produce the low-dilution welds (40% dilution). Specifically, the procedure involved machining of a single V-groove
in the base plate followed by deposition
of a high heat input weld in the groove.
The reinforcement of the high heat input
weld bead was subsequently removed,
and the test weld was deposited on top
of that bead. Thus, the test weld was contained entirely within the first weld bead,
as shown in Fig. 1, and represents the
case of a multipass weld. The heat input
of the test welds was systematically varied from 2.0 to 5.3 kj/mm (51 to 1 35
kj/in.), both for the high- and the low-dilution welds. To minimize variations in
metal transfer mode, the heat input was
solely varied through adjustments of the
weld travel speed.
Table 1 contains details of operational
conditions for the two weld series.

0.35

300

E
a.

dilution welds

high dilution welds

low

0.30

Series
Series
Series
Series

1 low
1 high
II low
II high

'

dilution welds
dilution welds
dilution welds
dilution welds
^8

tn 2 0 0

o^^^

0.25

'00

^sm

Heat

Input

0.20

"
0.15

Wefd No. : 6

3.3

13

5.3
Heat

2.0
Input

4
(kj/mm)

(kJ/mm)

Fig. 3 Effect of heat input and weld metal dilution on the arithmetic mean particle diameter.

Chemical Analysis
The carbon, sulfur, oxygen and nitrogen contents of the experimental welds
were individually determined on Leco
analyzers, whereas the remaining elements were analyzed with an emission
spectrometer.
Quantitative Metallography
The experimental welds were sectioned both transverse and longitudinally
to the welding direction for metallographic examination, as shown schematically in Fig. 2. The specimens were mechanically polished to 0.05-pm alumina
finish. The weld metal microstructure
was revealed by etching in a 2 % nital so-

Fig. 4 Effect of heat input on the prior austenite grain size.

lution. The volume fraction of the different microconstituents was obtained from
more than 1000 point counts carried out
at a magnification of 500X, using the
guidelines set forth in IIW Doc. IX-1 37785. The acicular ferrite interlath spacings
were determined using a circular intercept method described in ASTM Standard E112-84. To reveal the prior austenite grain boundaries, longitudinally sectioned specimens were etched in 4 %
aqueous picric acid with HCI and a wetting agent. The prior austenite grain sizes
were determined by means of the mean
linear intercept technique (Ref. 1 8) for
all welds except Welds 7, 14 and 1 5. In
these welds, grain boundary definition
was insufficient to allow accurate measurements.

For selected welds [i.e., Welds 2, 4,

6, 8, 9, 1 2, 13 and 1 6), the inclusion size
distribution was evaluated through a carbon extraction replica technique similar to that described in Ref. 1 9. Micrographs were taken at 1 500X using a Jeol
840 scanning electron microscope and
subsequently enlarged to a magnification of 3500X for measurement of the
inclusions. The inclusion data were processed using a computer program generated from the work of Ashby and Ebeling (Ref. 20).
Mechanical Testing
The toughness of each weld metal
was assessed by the CVN test (Ref. 21).
The subsize ( 5 X 5 X 5 5 m m ; 0.2 X 0.2

Table 2 Chemical Composition of Experimental Welds and Base Plates

Series
No.
1

Weld
No.

1a
2a
3a
4

5"
6b
7b
8b
II

10a
11 a
12 a

13b
14 b
1 5

16 b
Base Plate

Mn

Si

Cr

Ni
0.77
0.75
0.75
0.73
0.54
0.55
0.53
0.53
1.39
1.44
1.49
1.50
1.87
1.89
1.87
1.90
0.96

0.05
0.05
0.05
0.05
0.05
0.05
0.05
0.04

0.72
0.75
0.75
0.77
0.98
0.98
0.97
0.98

0.29
0.27
0.26
0.27
0.26
0.25
0.24
0.24

0.009
0.010
0.010
0.010
0.012
0.011
0.012
0.012

0.007
0.006
0.006
0.005
0.005
0.005
0.005
0.005

0.52
0.50
0.50
0.49
0.41
0.42
0.40
0.40

0.05
0.05
0.05
0.05
0.05
0.05
0.05
0.05
0.05

0.79
0.82
0.85
0.86
1.10
1.11
1.10
1.12
0.54

0.35
0.36
0.36
0.36
0.39
0.38
0.39
0.40
0.33

0.011
0.011
0.012
0.012
0.013
0.014
0.013
0.014
0.006

0.007
0.007
0.007
0.007
0.006
0.005
0.006
0.006
0.006

0.56
0.55
0.55
0.54
0.53
0.52
0.52
0.51
0.73

Mo

Nb

Cu

0.23
0.23
0.24
0.24
0.27
0.27
0.26
0.27

0.033
0.032
0.032
0.031
0.020
0.021
0.020
0.019

1.19
1.05
1.04
1.04
0.85
0.81
0.82
0.82

0.28
0.29
0.31
0.31
0.37
0.37
0.37
0.37
0.20

0.033
0.032
0.032
0.031
0.021
0.020
0.021
0.020
0.048

0.96
0.92
0.89
0.87
0.57
0.56
0.57
0.55
1.28

Ti

Al

I i m

0.008
0.008
0.008
0.008
0.008
0.008
0.008
0.008

0.007
0.007
0.007
0.007
0.010
0.010
0.009
0.009

0.021
0.018
0.018
0.017
0.014
0.015
0.014
0.013

250
190
210
210
240
230
230
210

21
21
25
25
26
26
21
25

0.220
0.212
0.214
0.215
0.210
0.209
0.204
0.197

0.008
0.008
0.008
0.008
0.007
0.007
0.008
0.007

0.004
0.005
0.004
0.005
0.006
0.005
0.006
0.006
0.002

0.020
0.019
0.017
0.016
0.016
0.015
0.014
0.014
0.038

210
190
210
200
220
220
220
210

15
14
14
17
12
II
13
11
4

0.227
0.227
0.232
0.230
0.235
0.234
0.235
0.234
0.218

a high dilution,
b l o w dilution.
Si
Pom - C +
30

M n + Cu + Cr
20

Ni
+

Mo

^ + 5 B
10

All elements in wt-%, except O and B In ppm.

W E L D I N G RESEARCH SUPPLEMENT I 11-s

...

stant, w h i c h implies that the volume

fraction of nonmetallic inclusions does
not vary significantly among the welds
(Ref. 25).

."

'

, . * . * ,

Size Distribution of Inclusions

2 0

As expected, the inclusion size distributions for all welds exhibited a lognormal distribution. The arithmetic
mean particle diameters for the inclusions extracted from selected weld metals are shown in Fig. 3. As can be seen
from the figure, the low-dilution welds
exhibited a larger mean particle size
than the corresponding high-dilution
welds for a given welding wire and heat
input. Although the coarsening was not
dramatic, the trend was consistent. Contrary to previous findings (Ref. 25), it was
noted that the mean particle diameter
appeared to be independent of the heat
input. At present, this observed discrepancy cannot be easily explained. The
apparent inclusion coarsening observed
for the low-dilution weld metals may be
related to the special overwelding technique used to produce these specimens,
although it is difficult to understand how
the short thermal excursion associated
with remelting and resolidification could
allow sufficient coarsening time.
Clearly, further research to characterize
the effect of multiple thermal cycles on
weld metal inclusions is required.

pm

Fig. 5 Microstructures of welds deposited at a heat input of 3.3 kj/mm. A dilution); B Weld 14 (low dilution).

X 2.2 in.) CVN specimens were oriented

transverse to the welding direction and
notched on the weld centerline. The
notch axis was oriented perpendicular
to the plate surface, and placed on the
downstream face relative to the w e l d ing direction. Sufficient tests were carried out to establish the full transition
curve for each w e l d . To determine the
5 0 % fracture appearance transition temperature (50% FATT), the fracture surfaces of each specimen were inspected
for percent shear. The yield strength of
the welds was determined by means of
uniaxial compression testing (Ref. 22).
Small right circular cylinders of 1 0 0 %
weld metal could easily be extracted,
machined, and compression-tested to
provide a relative measure of strength
for the weld metal studied. (The longitudinal axis of the specimen was machined parallel to the longitudinal axis
of the weld). A computerized data-acquisition program was used to record
digitized load-displacement data for
each of the compression tests (Ref. 23).

Weld 10 (high

Hardness testing was performed with a

diamond pyramid Vickers hardness
tester using a 500-g indenter load.
Results and Discussion
Weld Metal Chemical Composition
The full chemical composition of
each experimental weld is given in Table
2. Comparison within each weld series
shows that the weld metal hardenability, as measured by the Ito-Bessyo coefficient, P c m , was not significantly affected by an increase in weld metal dilution from 40 to 70%. For Series I, the
P cm values ranged from 0.197 to 0.220,
and for Series II, from 0.227 to 0.235,
reflecting the higher nickel content of
the latter series. Based on previous findings (Refs. 6, 24), the observed ranges
of hardenability should not give rise to
major differences in transformation behavior between welds w i t h i n each series. In addition, both the oxygen and
sulfur concentrations are relatively con-

Prior Austenite Grain Size

The results from the austenite grain
size measurements are summarized in
Table 3 and plotted vs. heat input in Fig.
4. As shown by the plot, the two weld
series exhibited a significant difference
in austenite grain coarsening with respect to heat input. For Series I, the prior
austenite grain size ranged from 100 pm

Table 3 - - Summary of Weld Metal Microstructure, Acicular Ferrite Lath Spacing, and Prior Austenite Grain Size
Series
No.
I

II

Weld
No.

Dilution

GBF

Heat Input
(k)/mm)

(vol-%)

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8

high
high
high
high
low
low
low
low

2.0
3.3
4.6
5.3
2.0
3.3
4.6
5.3

2
2
3
4
1
1
7
11

9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16

high
high
high
high
low
low
low
low

2.0
3.3
4.6
5.3
2.0
3.3
4.6
5.3

2
3
3
3
3
5
9
9

PF
(vol-%)

AF
(vol-%)

FS(A)
(vol-%)

FS(NA)
(vol-%)

Acicular Ferrite
Lath Spacing (/im)

Prior Austenite
Grain Size (jim)

3
15
89
85
4 I
91
87
80

95
83
8
8

3
6

105
140
163
200
106
158

5
5
41
48
89
84
82
83

93
92
54
47

5
7
5
5

3
4
2
6
7

2
2
3
4
4
3

3.3
3.4
2.2
2.4
2.3
2.3

3.7
4.2
2.3
2.9
2.8
2.7

Note: CBF; Grain Boundary Ferrite, PF: Polygonal ferrite. AF: Acicular Ferrite. FS{A); Ferrite with Aligned Second Phase, FS(NA): Ferrite with Non-Migned Second Phase

12-s I JANUARY 1994

207
79
83
83
96
85

111

80

Series H

Serie;

60

^
low dilution w sids
[y^j high dilution w aids

E
a.

40

20

A
A

A *

Series
Series
Series
Series

1 low
1 high
II low
II high

dilution
dilution
dilution
dilution

welds
welds
welds
welds

50

100
150
200
Prior Austenite Grain Size (/im)

Weld No. :

Fig. 6 Effect of prior austenite grain size on the weld metal acicular ferrite content.

at low heat input to 200 pm at high heat

input. For Series II, however, the prior
austenite grain size was considerably
smaller (75110 pm) and relatively independent of the heat input. The latter
finding is somewhat surprising, but can
be attributed to the higher alloy content
of the welds within this series. Increased

Hi m

4
16
12
5.3
5.3
Heat Input (kj/mm)

Fig. 7 Effect of weld metal dilution on the average acicular ferrite

lath spacing.

hardenability commonly results in m i crostructural refinement. However,

complete understanding of all factors
controlling the austenite grain size in
weld metals remains elusive (Ref. 1 7).
For example, one w o u l d suspect that a
difference in dilution (which logically
would alter the inclusion population responsible for controlling austenite grain
size) w o u l d result in a difference in
austenite grain size. However, as shown
in Fig. 4 for these welds, the prior austenite grain size was not sensitive to weld
metal dilution.
Weld Metal Transformation Behavior
Table 3 summarizes the results from
the quantitative metallographic examinations. Examples of w e l d metal m i crostructures are shown in Fig. 5.
A closer inspection of the data in
Table 3 reveals a considerable differ-

ence in the weld metal transformation

behavior between the high- and the lowdilution welds within each series. For
the low heat input welds in Series I (2.0
to 3.3 kj/mm, or 51 to 83.8 kj/in.) a
change from high to low weld metal dilution resulted in a shift in microstructure from predominantly ferrite with
aligned second phase to acicular ferrite.
For the high heat input welds (4.6 to 5.3
kj/mm, or 117 to 135 kj/in.), the m i crostructure is predominantly acicular
ferrite for both the high- and low-dilution welds. A similar pattern was observed for the welds within Series II, although the acicular ferrite content of the
high-dilution welds in this series was
considerably lower than that of their
counterparts in Series I.
In Fig. 6, the weld metal acicular ferrite content is plotted vs. the prior
austenite grain size. As seen from the
figure, the high-dilution welds within

Table 4 Summary of Mechanical Properties for Experimental Welds

4|

"s

mi

< ; * . ,

Ijp*

'7 %
' u 9\

...

J.

JC

F*'

f y

Sjfi
.V

mj 4^
/

'

^f

j>+

V 10
*

jjm

Fig. 8 Micrographs showing the effect of

weld metal dilution on the acicular ferrite
microstructure. A High weld metal dilution; B low weld metal dilution.

Yield Strength
(MPa)

50% FATT
(C)

257
227
224
226
234
217
213
209

649
576
556
538
571
561
552
541

6
-10
-40
-60
-126
-126
-106
-106

II

9
10
11
12
13
14
IS
16

high
high
high
high
low
low
low
low

2.0
3.3
4.6
5.3
2.0
3.3

259
239
223
230
252
24 l
231
229

678
636
601
585
592
555
547
543

6
7
-15
-40
-73
-64
-68
-64

|"
f

Hardness HV0.5
(kg/mm 2 )

2.0
3.3
4.6
5.3
2.0
3.3
4.6
5.3

Heat Input
(k|/mm)

high
high
high
high
low
low
low
low

iH,

Jf j 1 s V.

<%V

Dilul

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8

'

Weld
No.

'

A A

Sii

\t* V

Series
No.

4.6
5.3

W E L D I N G RESEARCH SUPPLEMENT I 13-s

50

-5G

-100
Fig. 9 Effect of weld
metal acicular ferrite
content on the 50%
fracture appearance
transition temperature,
50% FATT.

Series
Series
Series
Series

dilution welds
dilution welds
dilution welds
dilution welds

-150

b o t h series e x h i b i t e d an increase in t h e
acicular ferrite content w i t h increasing
austenite grain size [i.e., i n c r e a s i n g heat
i n p u t ) . T h i s is e s p e c i a l l y t r u e f o r t h e
w e l d s w i t h i n Series I. For t h e l o w - d i l u t i o n w e l d s , o n t h e o t h e r h a n d , the w e l d
m e t a l a c i c u l a r f e r r i t e c o n t e n t is seen t o
be i n d e p e n d e n t of the prior austenite
grain size. This o b s e r v a t i o n is rather surp r i s i n g i n v i e w of p r e v i o u s f i n d i n g s (Refs.
1 7 , 14) a n d m a y be d u e t o t h e s p e c i a l
w e l d i n g p r o c e d u r e a p p l i e d in t h e p r e sent i n v e s t i g a t i o n .
Figure 7 s h o w s a p l o t o f t h e average
a c i c u l a r ferrite lath s p a c i n g for t w o c o m p a r a b l e w e l d s w i t h i n e a c h series. As
seen f r o m t h e f i g u r e , a l o w w e l d m e t a l
d i l u t i o n gives rise to a r e f i n e m e n t of t h e
a c i c u l a r f e r r i t e m i c r o s t r u c t u r e . This o b servation is further e v i d e n c e d by the m i c r o g r a p h s c o n t a i n e d in Fig. 8.
Weld Metal Mechanical Properties
A summary of the mechanical p r o p erties f o r a l l w e l d s is g i v e n i n T a b l e 4 .
A n i n s p e c t i o n o f the data s h o w s that the
yield strength decreased w i t h increasi n g heat i n p u t . F u r t h e r m o r e , t h e h i g h d i l u t i o n welds exhibited a higher yield
strength c o m p a r e d to the c o r r e s p o n d i n g
l o w - d i l u t i o n w e l d s . These f i n d i n g s m a y
be a t t r i b u t e d t o the o b s e r v e d shifts in the
w e l d metal microstructure. The meas u r e d hardness v a l u e s also t e n d to p a r allel the y i e l d strength b e h a v i o r w i t h respect to the heat i n p u t .
A p l o t of t h e subsize C V N 5 0 % f r a c ture appearance transition temperature
( 5 0 % FATT) vs. the w e l d m e t a l a c i c u l a r
ferrite c o n t e n t is s h o w n in Fig. 9. As seen
f r o m t h e f i g u r e , the 5 0 % FATT decreases
w i t h i n c r e a s i n g c o n t e n t o f a c i c u l a r ferrite. T h i s o b s e r v a t i o n is c o n s i s t e n t w i t h
p r e v i o u s f i n d i n g s (Refs. 1-6), a n d s h o w s
that the a c i c u l a r ferrite m i c r o c o n s t i t u e n t
provides o p t i m a l w e l d metal toughness
in m i c r o a l l o y e d steel w e l d metals at the
5 0 0 to 7 0 0 M P a y i e l d strength level.

14-s I JANUARY 1994

I low
I high
II low
II high

20

40

60

80

100

AF Content (vol r.)

Conclusions
T h e m a j o r f i n d i n g s of t h e present i n v e s t i g a t i o n c a n be s u m m a r i z e d as f o l lows:
For t h e w e l d i n g c o n s u m a b l e s a n d
base p l a t e u s e d in t h i s s t u d y , t h e w e l d
m e t a l h a r d e n a b i l i t y (as m e a s u r e d b y
P c m ) was not significantly affected by
an increase in w e l d m e t a l d i l u t i o n f r o m
4 0 to 7 0 % .
L o w - d i l u t i o n w e l d s p r e p a r e d b y an
o v e r w e l d i n g ( d o u b l e pass) t e c h n i q u e exh i b i t e d a s l i g h t l y larger m e a n i n c l u s i o n
s i z e t h a n t o h i g h - d i l u t i o n ( s i n g l e pass)
w e l d s . T h e l o w - d i l u t i o n or d o u b l e pass
w e l d s also e x h i b i t e d h i g h e r f r a c t i o n s o f
f i n e r a c i c u l a r f e r r i t e c o m p a r e d to h i g h d i l u t i o n or single pass w e l d s .
The microstructure and toughness of
l o w - d i l u t i o n , d o u b l e pass w e l d s w e r e
f o u n d t o be i n d e p e n d e n t o f t h e heat
i n p u t w h i l e h i g h - d i l u t i o n , s i n g l e pass
w e l d s w e r e f o u n d to be v e r y sensitive t o
v a r i a t i o n s in t h e heat i n p u t .
T h e results of this study p o i n t o u t the
c o m p l e x i t y o f phase t r a n s f o r m a t i o n s in
m i c r o a l l o y e d steel w e l d metal s u b j e c t e d
to m u l t i p l e t h e r m a l c y c l e s , a n d e m p h a size the need for further research o n the
effect of m u l t i p l e t h e r m a l c y c l e s o n w e l d
metal i n c l u s i o n s .
Acknowledgments
The authors a c k n o w l e d g e the support o f t h e O f f i c e of N a v a l Research. A .
O . K l u k e n w o u l d also l i k e t o t h a n k t h e
Royal N o r w e g i a n C o u n c i l for S c i e n t i f i c
and Industrial Research, the Janson
F o u n d a t i o n of N o r w a y a n d S T A T O I L for
their f i n a n c i a l s u p p o r t .
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WELDING RESEARCH SUPPLEMENT I 15-s