Heavy-welded

38 Structural
Fabrication

J L Pratt BSc(Eng), MIEE, FWeldl

formerly Research Manager,
Braithwaite & Co. Engineers Ltd

Contents
38.1 Welding processes 38/3

38.2 Weld details 38/4

38.3 Weld defects 38/5

38.4 Distortion 38/7

38.4.1 Correction of distortion 38/7

38.5 Assembly 38/8

38.6 Stud welding 38/9

38.7 Testing 38/10

38.8 Significance of defects 38/10

References 38/11

This page has been reformatted by Knovel to provide easier navigation.

The vast majority of fabrications in steel are now welded and it Feed Drive
is rare to see a new fabrication that is joined by any other rolls motor
method. The steel used is generally to BS 4360 Specification for Electrode
weldable structural steels; the revised 1986 edition includes the
holder Electrode-
wire Gun
weathering steels and the whole range covers steels with yield Welding Core wire
stresses ranging from 230 to 450 N/mm2. current Current
in contact Welding
Flux tube current in
Gas
38.1 Welding processes Electrode Flux cored
Figure 38.1 shows the welding processes most commonly used in
electrode
steel fabrications; in all cases an arc is struck between the Parent Slag Gas shroud Thin slag
metal \
electrode or electrode wire and the workpiece resulting in a high
arc temperature which melts off the electrode and deposits it in .Welded
the joint which has to be made. The manual metal arc (MMA)1 metal
is the most common process and the electrode is deposited
manually with the operator controlling the direction of the weld Manual Metal Arc Gas Shielded Arc
and the build-up of the weld metal. The flux extruded around (MMA)
the core wire when melted by the heat of the arc provides a
gaseous shroud which protects the molten pool and arc from
atmospheric contamination and controls the weld metal reac-
tions; it can also be the vehicle for supplying certain alloying Electrode
constituents to the weld metal. The fused slag around the wire
deposited weld metal also helps to form the weld bead shape. To flux
hopper
There are several types of electrode coverings which function in Feed
different capacities and are classified in BS 639 'Covered elec- Drive rolls
motor
trodes for the manual metal-arc welding of carbon and carbon
manganese steels'. Nozzle
Gas-shielded arcs with bare wire or cored wire, can be of the Welding
semi-automatic or automatic type. 1^3 The semi-automatic pro- current
cess utilizes a power source, a wire drive unit, incorporating the
in
necessary control units, and a 'gun' which is held by the Current
contact
operator and manipulated manually; the wire is driven through shoes
a flexible tube to the gun and a suitable designed nozzle Flux
concentric to the gun orifice supplies the gas to the arc. The
automatic process usually has a heavier 'gun' or head with the
wire (also known as electrode wire or feed wire) fed directly
through the gun without the intervening flexible tube; the whole Figure 38.1 Common welding processes Submerged Arc
apparatus travels automatically for longitudinal welds or may
be stationary for circular fabrications. Higher welding currents
and deposition rates are generally used with subsequent water
cooling of the head being necessary. The weld metal and arc is also automatically fed; some of the flux is melted to cover the
protected from the atmosphere by the shroud but a bare wire weld pool as slag and to provide the arc with a gaseous shield.
must contain deoxidizers such as silicon, manganese and some- Again alloys can be added to the weld either via the arc or the
times aluminium; these are necessary to prevent some oxidizing flux; very high currents can be used in this process1 and very
processes which occur within the arc atmosphere. A cored wire smooth bead-contour shapes can be obtained. The arc is com-
has the flux enfolded within the electrode wire as typified in the pletely shrouded by the flux and thus it cannot be seen; this gives
cross-section shown in Figure 38.1; it may be used in semi- or a total absence of arc glare but, correspondingly, guiding is that
fully-automatic processes. The necessary deoxidants are carried much more difficult. This process is more susceptible to rusty or
in the flux which may also be the vehicle for additional alloys to dirty plate conditions than MMA but less susceptible than metal
be added to the weld; the flux allows for higher welding currents arc inert gas (MIG) and for very heavy weld metal depositions
than that in solid or bare wire shielded welds, with the slag on thick plate, multiple electrodes may be used in the same weld.
allowing better bead shapes to be obtained, and is generally A semi-automatic form using a small diameter wire can also be
more tolerant to rusty plate conditions which could otherwise obtained.
lead to porosity. Figure 38.2 shows schematically two other processes, electro-
Shielding gases used for structural steels are carbon dioxide or slag and electro-gas welding; both are completely automatic. In
argon with addition of oxygen or with carbon dioxide and electro-slag welding, the plates to be welded are mounted
oxygen, the cheapest being carbon dioxide. vertically with the edges of the plate square or unprepared;
Another type of semi-automatic welding popular in the US watercooled copper shoes are mounted either side of the weld
and now being used in the UK is the self-shielded arc where the seam to contain the molten metal. An arc is struck on the
continuous electrode contains in its core flux ingredients which starting block with a little granulated flux added to the weld
vaporize in the arc, shielding the arc and forming a thin slag pool; as the wire or electrode burns off, the temperature of the
around the metal droplets as they transfer across the arc gap; de- slag bath increases and the slag becomes electrically conducting;
oxiding materials also form part of the flux. The process from then on the electrode protrudes into the bath, the arc
requires no gas shield and is therefore better-suited for outdoor extinguishes, and the wire metals off due to the I2R heating of
operations when windy conditions prevail. the current. It is thus not an arc process but a continuous cast
The submerged arc (SA) is a process which feeds a bare wire process used on plate thicknesses over 25 mm and certainly up
into the arc and the arc is covered by a granulated flux which is to 450 mm; for the greater thicknesses three electrodes are fed
 Copper shoe Copper shoe top of the joint to be welded and the wire(s) are fed down to the
support arm support arm slag bath by a consumable guide which is insulated from the
Feed motor Feed motor
workpiece by fusible spacers.
Feed Electrode Feed Electrode As the wire(s) melt so does the bottom of the consumable
rolls wire rolls wire guide and the copper shoes can be stationary of a length equal to
Direction of Direction of the length of the welded joint; this method requires less sophisti-
Parent motion of motion of cated machinery than the former and is therefore, where it can
metal' cooling shoes cooling shoes
and feed head and feed head be applied, cheaper. It cannot obviously be oscillated across the
,mechanism mechanism width of the joint.
Copper The electro-gas process is similar to that of electro-slag
Copper
cooling cooling welding in that the weld metal is contained by watercooled shoes
shoes shoes but different in that the weld metal is deposited by a true arc
Water Water Water Water with a thin slag from the flux in the cored electrode; the weld
Welding Molten Molten' Molten metal and arc is protected by a stream of CO2.
arc metal slag metal Since both processes can evolve large heat inputs to the heat-
Weld
bath Weld affected zone of the weld and to the weld itself with resultant
large grain microstructure, poor fracture toughness may result.
Electrogas Electroslag Some improvement may be obtained by postweld normalizing
Figure 38.2 Electro-gas and electro-slag processes treatment, but where fracture toughness may be a problem,
expert opinion is advisable.
simultaneously into the slag bath with, in one application, the
whole assembly oscillating across the width of the joint.
There are two methods of applying this process known as 38.2 Weld details
electrode or consumable guide (see Figure 38.3); in the electrode
method the feed head is at the side of the plate being welded and The two main types of welds used in fabrication are the fillet and
moves up with the copper codling shoes as the weld is made. In butt welds. Fillet welds are shown in Figure 38.4; BS 54004 and
the consumable guide method the feed head is stationary at the 4495 lay down that the allowable stress in a fillet weld is based on
the throat thickness, t, or '0.7O x L" where L is the leg length,
Drive Drive because t for a stated leg length L will vary according to the
motor rollers included angle, /, between the fusion faces. Table 38.1 gives the
'Electrode wires values of t for varying angle y.
Direction of
oscillation
Table 38.1
Parent metal
Angle between 60 to 91 to 101 to 107 to 114 to
fusion faces 90 100 106 113 120
Copper cooling shoe Factor by which
(both sides of joint)
fillet size is
Slag- multiplied to
bath Direction of motion give throat
of copper shoe thickness 0.70 0.65 0.60 0.55 0.50
Weld
pool Solidified weld metal
Starting block

Drive rollers
Electrode wire:
Some typical butt welds are shown in Figure 38.5; these are
Consumable generally for manual welding.4 The root-run is usually back-
Drive guide tubes grooved (except where a backing strip is used) so that clean weld
motor
metal from the previous root is obtained (Figure 38.6); this
Parent metal ensures homogeneity of weld metal at the root area. These same
preparations may be used for semi-automatic welding with no
root gaps where root gaps are shown, or with a root run of
manual weld to seal the root before applying any semi-automa-
tic process for the rest of the weld. The root run on the second
side does not generally require back-grooving since the penetra-
Stationary copper cooling tion is enough to ensure weld metal homogeneity.
shoes (both sides of joint)
Submerged arc welding is a high-deposition welding process
with deep-penetration characteristics although with a direct
current electrode negative power source the burn-off or deposi-
tion rate increases with a large diminution in penetration;
Figure 38.3 Electro-slag welding process multiple wires or electrodes may be used in the same weld with
 Symmetrical Concave Asymmetrical
Figure 38.4 Fillet welds. Note: minimum length of both legs to be measured for L, for concave weld f^0.7 L

Single V butt the electrodes sharing, in parallel, the same power source or
each electrode connected to a separate power source. Weld
preparations for such a process are infinite and reference should
be made to the suppliers of electrodes and fluxes for their advice;
for notch ductile materials, basic fluxes and an increase in the
Backing strip number of runs may be necessary.
Double V or double U butt
38.3 Weld defects
Some typical weld defects are shown in Figure 38.7.

Single U or single J butt Undercut

Undercut

Single or double bevel butt

Undercut

Side wall
Inclusion Root
(penetration)
Figure 38.5 Typical butt welds. Note, angles and dimensions of
root gaps and root faces may be altered to suit welding technique Slag inclusions Lack of fusion
and position of weld, the above being suitable for flat-position
welding. Welding is carried out from both sides of all preparations
except where a backing strip is employed. To achieve complete
penetration, back-gouging (back-grooving) may be employed Side wall
Root
Linear porosity
First root run
Lack of fusion

Porosity (linear)
Figure 38.7 Some weld defects
'Undercut.' A groove melted into the parent metal at the toe of
Sound weld metal Back groove into a fillet weld or root of a butt-weld - produced by the arc but left
interface after first (root) run unfilled by the filler metal. Undercut may be due to incorrect
grooving
angle between the electrode and the workpiece, too high an arc
Figure 38.6 Butt weld back groove voltage or travel speed or scaled parent material.
'Porosity.' Due to dirty or rusty parent material surface, damp
consumables, arc instability (as evidenced by the stop or starting
of the arc when using MMA), gas entrapment from air due to
inefficient shielding gas, grease on filler wires. When linear can
denote 'lack of penetration'.
'Lack of penetration' for butt welds. Inclusive angle of pre-
pared faces too small to allow the electrode to get at the root,
insufficient current to penetrate the landing or landing too small
for the set arc parameters or root gap too small to allow more
penetration.
'Lack of fusion.' Incorrect manipulation and angle of electrode
to ensure side-wall fusion, or root fusion.
'Slag inclusion.' Nonmetallic solid material entrapped between
runs of weld metal or between weld metal and parent metal. Due
to inefficient clearing of the slag between each run which in turn
may be due to wrong weld parameters giving the wrong-shaped
interpass bead and positional requirements.
'Spatter.' Small metallic particles ejected from the weld area
and forming on the parent material adjacent to the weld. Spatter
varies with the arc process and within that particular process
may increase or decrease with differing arc parameters.
'Hot-cracking' (solidification cracking). Cracks appearing in
the central region of the weld (Figure 38.8) where segregation of
sulphur and phosphorus, the lowest melting-point constituents
of the weld metal, occurs; thus at temperatures in the region of
the solidus thin films of the liquid segregates occur along the
grain boundaries (intergranular). The weld metal may thus
become susceptible to cracking because of the high shrinkage
stresses generated during the cooling of the weld metal. The
effect of sulphur may be reduced by obtaining a higher manga-
nese : sulphur ratio in the weld metal whilst at the same sulphur
and phosphorus levels an increased carbon content may cause
cracking; likewise silicon. Weld metal on its own is low in all the
above elements but high 'pick-up' or dilution may be derived
from the parent metal; thus any deep-penetration welding
process could lead to hot-cracking. A weld bead or nugget
whose depth is greater than its width can, in such deep-
penetration processes such as the submerged arc or gas-shielded
arcs, promote such cracks when the above metallurgical condi-
tions are marginally operative. In this case a wider preparation
or the use of more than one run of weld with lower current
values would reduce the dilution factor and the depth:width
ratio, to decrease the risk of cracking. Guidance is given in BS
1535 on such cracking.
'Cold-cracking' (underbead or HAZ or hydrogen-induced crack-
ing). The heat-affected zone (HAZ) of a weld is that (gener-
ally) narrow zone in the parent metal adjacent to the weld bead
Hot crack
Hot crack
Figure 38.8 Hot-cracking in SA welds
affected by the heat input of the weld and whose microstructure
and physical properties might be affected by that heat. This zone
is rapidly cooled by the mass of the surrounding parent metal
and if this cooling rate is high enough a hardened (martensitic)
microstructure may be formed. Cracking may develop in this
hardened structure (see Figure 38.9) owing to: (1) the alloy
content of the parent material increasing; (2) high cooling rate;
(3) restraint and therefore higher residual stresses resulting from
the weld contraction; (4) stresses within the microstructure due
to the transformation to a hardened structure; (5) the presence
of absorbed hydrogen from the weld diffusing into the HAZ
when that weld cools and contributing to the creation of micro
fissures; and (6) for fillet welds, where the fit-up is bad with root
gaps.
Combined thickness,
t = a + Ib for joint
shown
Crack Weld 'nugget'
HAZ
Figure 38.9 HAZ crack
In (1) the presence of alloys in increasing amounts increases
the hardenability in the HAZ and their effect can be related to
that of carbon by the following carbon equivalent formula:
Carbon equivalent % =
c% + Mn % + 0 Mo V % +Ni + Cu %
O J IJ
Thus any increase of carbon equivalent due to the increase in
any of the above alloys will increase the hardenability of the
steel. This formula only applies to those steels in BS 4360.
In (2) the cooling rate is assessed partly by the combined
thickness t of the joint being welded (Figure 38.9) and partly by
the heat input from the weld and any given preheat. The total
heat input from any arc may be expressed as:
__ . , . a r c voltage x current (amps) XT
H (joules/mm) =
where T is the time in seconds to deposit L mm of weld.
Lower / and higher H lead to a lower cooling rate in the HAZ
with a less hardenable microstructure.
In (3) the restraint increases with the stiffness of the compo-
nents making the joint. In (5) the hydrogen content can be
reduced by using a low-hydrogen process, e.g. hydrogen-con-
trolled MMA electrodes. The MMA electrode may have to be
baked to reduce its hydrogen content to the lowest level
possible; in SA welding the flux would have to be dry and
preferably of the agglomerate rather than fused flux. With all
automatic wires or electrodes no wire drawing compound
contaminates should be present; gas-shielded arc processes with Contraction of
solid wire could prove to give weld metals with the lowest Fillet weld fillet welds
hydrogen content.
Preheat curves necessary for combined thicknesses and size of Depth of bow due
weld deposit (and thus heat input) are given in BS 5135. to distortion
Preheat, when applied, reduces the rate of the cooling of the
weld and allows more hydrogen to be evolved by the weld metal Bending
to the surrounding atmosphere; therefore to be effective it must of web
be applied to the correct temperature and over a sufficient width Contraction Contraction
of the plate. British Standard 5135 indicates that the width of across weld. across welds Transverse
,bowing of
the preheat zone on each side of the weld should be at least Welded T sections flange
75 mm in any direction from the joint preparation. In practice
the temperature is measured by using thermo indicating crayons Maximum contraction across 'Cusping' due to distortion of
widest width of weld transverse weld on long plate
or paints, the former melting and the latter changing colour
when the correct temperature is achieved, and to make certain
that the heat has penetrated the full thickness it is customary to
heat the far side of the plate with the temperature indicator on distortion
the near side, or by heating the near side until the required Transverse butt weld
temperature is indicated on the same side for 2min for each
25 mm of steel thickness after the heat source has been removed. Stiffeners Flange
Although the heats applied are generally low (on the average Welds
10O0C), the wide area over which they are used can lead to more
distortion than that of the weld itself; it is therefore preferable to Dish
use a higher heat input weld source to reduce the preheat
required. It is also more economical.
Plate Boxweb flange
Panel distortion
38.4 Distortion Figure 38.10
Distortion due to welding is dependent on the heat input from
the weld; such heat is concentrated in a narrow zone around the
weld area. The subsequent contraction of the heated weld metal
and parent metal produce undue stresses in the fabricated part;
if unrestrained the fabrication will distort and, if restrained
against distortion, residual stresses up to the yield point of the Packs
material may occur. The parts being welded may in themselves
have residual stresses due to their shape and size and thus their Prebending
manufacture; these stresses or some of these stresses may be
relieved or increased by the local welding heat and thus their
distortion due to welding may be difficult to predict. Metals with
differing expansion coefficients, thermal conductivities and
physical properties will produce different distortion levels with
the same weld heat input. Presetting
Figure 38.10 shows distortions for typical welds. Figure 38.11
shows joint preparations, welding procedures and some typical
plate presetting to compensate for weld distortions. For the
heavier type of fabrication it is generally better to fabricate all
subsections prior to incorporating them into the main structure
but to control the increased distortions for thin-walled construc-
tions it may be preferable to assemble and tack the whole Prebending
assembly to give a much stiffer structure more able to withstand Small preparation
distortion. welded first

38.4.1 Correction of distortion

For a dished plate (e.g. a dish resulting from an area of plate
welded all round the periphery of that area on one side of the
plate only) the amount of dishing resulting from such a weld
depends on the heat input of the weld and the thickness of the
plate. To flatten such an area, spot heat from a heating torch can
be applied in several places within the dished area on the outside
(convex side) of the bulge; this will increase the amount of
dishing on heating but on contracting that side will shrink and
reduce the dish. Heat can be up to red heat (600 to 65O0C) but
does depend on the thickness of the plate; for very thin plate the
applied heat may heat both sides to an equal temperature
Presetting Asymmetrical
preparation
Figure 38.11 Methods to reduce distortion
resulting in equal contractions on both sides of the plate with no
decrease in the dish.
Triangular heating on the web and bar heating on the flange
of a plate girder or section (Figure 38.12) will increase the
camber and can also be applied, within certain limits, to box
sections. It is important to note that heating the flange and not
 Resultant camber
from heating
Bar heat on flange
Triangular heat on web
Figure 38.12 Correction of camber
the web may shrink the flange and increase the camber of the
girder but the web, not being heated, cannot shrink to accom-
modate the increased camber and may therefore buckle.
Angular bending of a flange plate due to the two fillet welds
attaching the web to the flange may be corrected by heating in a
straight line (Figure 38.13). The effect of introducing heat to
shrink areas and to introduce distortions to reduce others, must
of a necessity induce stresses into the fabrication; the effect of
these stresses and the subsequent increased load on some welds
must be watched carefully and if necessary those welds increased
in size to accommodate the increased load. All welds or any
other form of localized high heats give high residual tensile
stresses local to that heat; these stresses in turn generate
compressive stresses outside those tensile stress areas. Stress
relieving (at about 600 to 65O0C) may relieve the structure of any
induced stress but in turn must lead to increased or different
distortions to accommodate the subsequent movement of the
structure.
Heat applied along
length of welds
Figure 38.13 Correction for transverse flange distortion
38.5 Assembly
'Plate girders.' These may be welded as in Figure 38.14(a) or
(b) by MMA or automatic welding. Tack welding to hold the
assembly together must conform to the requirements of BS
5135, with minimum root gaps; large root gaps may lead to
HAZ cracks as described previously or 'burn through' when
using high current density automatic welds. For girders with top
and bottom flanges of differing thicknesses or with top-flange-
to-web and bottom-flange-to-web welds of different sizes, differ-
ent shrinkages may occur in each flange and hence alter the
camber of the girder; in such cases it may be necessary to induce
triangular heating as described above or to increase deliberately
the camber if the web plate is cut to camber in the preparatory
Weld Weld
Weld Weld
Figure 38.14 Plate girder welds
stage. For thin flanges it may be found necessary to prebend the
plates as shown in Figure 38.11.
For crane girders it may be necessary to make full penetration
welds (Figure 38.15) for the web-to-top-flange welds. When
using automatic welds such as SA, care must be taken that hot-
cracking does not occur; this can happen when trying to achieve
penetration and the dilution of the weld metal by the parent
metal is high. To reduce dilution back-grooving may be used
(but is difficult in this situation) or the web preparation made
wider; the increase in the ratio p:w in Figure 38.15 indicates a
bigger dilution of the weld metal by the patent metal and the
possibility of hot-cracking increases. Hot-cracking invariably
occurs on the second side of the joint to be welded since the first
weld has made the web-flange assembly rigid or constrained,
and it should be noted that hot-cracking may be contained
below the surface of the weld and thus not be visible (Figure
38.8).
1st weld
1
2nd weld
Note wider web preparation,
increased number of runs and
therefore reduced dilution of
weld metal by parent metal
Figure 38.15 Full penetration butt weld, submerged arc
'Box girders.' These are invariably assembled on one flange as
the base fabrication plate and must lie perfectly flat on the
assembly stallage or a twist in the box may result; all dia-
phragms are then placed in position after being subassembled
and the two webs then tack-welded to diaphragms and flange.
As much internal welding as possible is then made before the
fourth closing flange plate is placed in position and tack-welded;
the four longitudinal web-to-flange welds are then made.
The same comments about differing flange thicknesses or
web-to-flange welds in plate girders can apply to box girders.
 The choice of flange-to-web longitudinal weld detail may be Damper Control cable
dictated by the camber and or curvature required in the box.
For a large box where it may be difficult to rotate during Solenoid
fabrication (a) in Figure 38.16 may be preferable; where there is
camber, (b) is easier to assemble with the flanges outside the
webs than (a) where the box-closing flange coming inside the
webs can only sit on the diaphragms unless backing strips on the
webs are installed between the diaphragms to maintain the Spring Pistol grip
closing flange profile.

Bottom flange Current cable

Shaft
Chuck Stand
Stud
Web Ferrule Foot
CUD
Figure 38.18 Stud-welding gun

a pilot arc is formed about the tapered point (Figure 38.19)

Figure 38.16 Box-girder assembly
Where boxes are to be jointed on site the open ends of
adjacent boxes should be stiffened if there are no diaphragms
close to the open ends to hold those ends to the required square
or trapezoidal profile; for all such ends they would tend, without
such stiffening, to have inward bows on all flanges and webs
although the four corners are dimensionally correct (Figure
38.17).
In boxes all stiffeners are subassembled on the webs and
flanges before the main assembly is completed; to keep all
resultant distortion, shrinkage, etc to a minimum it is better that
intermittent welding be used on such items if the design require-
ments can be met with such welds. Stiffeners may be of the bulb,
angle or T-type; the latter two may present difficulties for blast
or other type of cleaning after welding and also for the subse-
quent painting.
Open end
of box
Elevation on X-X
Figure 38.17 Box open-end distortion
which then develops into the main arc, the main arc current
being drawn usually from a drooping characteristic trans-
former-rectifier power source. This arc melts the end of the stud
with a resultant melted area on the workpiece and after a preset
time the solenoid is de-energized and the stud is plunged by a
return spring on to the workpiece while the arc current is still
flowing.
Ceramic
ferrule
Set-up Pilot arc Main arc Welded stud
Figure 38.19 Sheer-connector stud
The stud when correctly welded should be of a correct length
after welding with a formed upset fillet around it with no
undercut; such undercut may be due to incorrect welding
parameters or arc blow and when present can lead to easy
fracture of the stud from the plate surface. Arc blow because of
the high, though transient, currents used may be prevalent when
the studs are placed near to the edge of the plate; in such cases
an edge plate to extend the magnetic field of the current in the
main plate may be utilized (see Figure 38.20).
Studs greater than 22 mm (p are difficult to weld, leading to
erratic arcs and sometimes unsound welds; the plate surface on
which the studs are being welded should be free of all oily

38.6 Stud welding Stud to be welded

Stud welding shear connectors on the top flange for bridge
girders for composite concrete decks is now a widespread
practice; the diameters of the studs usually range from 12 to Earth
25mm and generally vary from 100 to 150 mm in length cable
although 250 mm studs have been welded. The form of the stud
is shown in Figure 38.18 and the head of the stud fixes into a Edge plate
gripping chuck in the operator's gun which in turn is placed (held or clamped
vertical over the spot to be welded and which rests firmly on a against workpiece)
three-point support on the steel surface. When the trigger is Earth
pulled an electronic timing device controls the following se- cable
quence: The chuck is lifted about 3 mm by an electromagnet and Figure 38.20 Magnetic field edge plate
contaminants, millscale and deep rust. A light surface grinding
in the stud area is recommended. The tip of the stud is either
sprayed with aluminium or holds a 'slug' of aluminium which
acts as a deoxidant when vaporized in the arc; it is important
that this deoxidant is not damaged.
One test sometimes employed to ensure the soundness of the
steel weld is to bend some to an angle of 30 and to hit or 'ring'
the others with a hammer.
38.7 Testing
'Methods.' These may include nondestructive testing methods
such as X or gamma radiography, ultrasonics, dye penetrant or
magnetic particle testing. Radiography is used almost exclu-
sively on butt welds and ultrasonics on butt and some fillet
welds; site welds are invariably tested by ultrasonics and/or
gamma radiography employing in general iridium as the source
of gamma rays. The standard and scope of testing required is
usually determined by the customer and should be ascertained
at the enquiry stage.
Before most contracts are commenced some welding pro-
cedures may have to be approved by the customer, i.e. a weld
joint simulating the thickness, preparation, etc. of an actual
weld configuration used in the fabrication must be welded to
prove that the proposed welding consumable and method of
welding is satisfactory. Such welds may be subsequently tested
by nondestructive methods and then physically tested by means
of transverse tensile and bend tests, Charpy impact tests, nick-
break tests (for fillet welds) and cross-section macrostructures
(see BS 709).
The skill of the welders may be approved by the customer's
own specific test or by BS 4872 'Approval testing of welders when
welding procedure approval is not required' or any other sub-
sequent standard with any appropriate nondestructive test
requirements.
'Laminations.' Where a plate is laminated or where a plate
must be tested for laminations before being incorporated in a
fabrication, ultrasonics is the only method by which any such
lamination may be detected and the extent measured. Material
may be supplied to a standard of lamination testing by the
steelmakers; the details of such standards and the appropriate
costs may be obtained from the steel supplier. The effect of any
lamination on the stability of the structure must be referred to
the designer, e.g. the effect of a lamination in a compression
member is generally more severe than one in a tension member.
It is probably true to say that most structures can tolerate a
fairly large degree of lamination in a member before repair is
required; the repair of such a lamination is shown in Figure
38.21.
Edge of lamination Plugwelds
qouqed out and welded
Figure 38.21 Repair to lamination
'Lamellar tearing.' This is a result of nonmetallic inclusions in
the steel in the plane of rolling merging into a tear due to the
stress imparted by the weld (Figure 38.22) or other derived
stresses normal to the plane of inclusions. Because these inclu-
sions are very small and scattered throughout the thickness of
the material they are not detected radiographically, and, up to
now, although detectable by ultrasonic inspection, they cannot
be quantified to assess potential cracking. The tear, when it
occurs, is of a ductile nature, fibrous and stepped or ragged as
shown schematically in Figure 38.22, the steps resulting from
the inclusions in different planes being joined to form the tear;
the presence of such inclusions decreases the ability of the
material to withstand extension under a load applied across the
thickness of the plate. One destructive method of assessing the
material for tearing is to machine a small transverse tensile test
piece and to measure its reduction in area at failure of applied
tensile load.
Contraction
across weld
Direction of rolling Inclusions in Lamellar
of plate plane of rolling tear
Lamellar tear surface
(showing stepped nature)
Figure 38.22 Lamellar tearing
Joint details that can promote tearing are shown in Figure
38.23; generally the welds must be large to cause contraction
across the welds on cooling to create sufficient tensile stresses
across the plate to produce a tear in a susceptible material. For
fillet welds to generate such a tear the weld in almost every
occasion would have to be greater than 12 mm, although many
materials can tolerate much bigger welds, and any details which
have both large weld and imposed load stresses across their
thickness should be avoided; some preferential details are shown
in Figure 38.23. On some suspect material it may be helpful to
reduce the risk of tearing by buttering the weld fusion face with
MMA or SA welds as also shown.
38.8 Significance of defects
Sudden and catastrophic failures in some steel fabrications has
led to the further development of Griffiths'6 classical work on
linear elastic fracture mechanics (LEFM) by Wells7 and Cot-
trell,8 who independently proposed the crack-opening displace-
ment test for determining the fracture toughness of engineering
materials where crack propagation ahead of a crack was accom-
panied by a large plastic deformation at the tip of the crack.
Fracture toughness gives a measure of the material's resis-
tance to failure by cracking due to the stress intensity around the
 Tear
Preferred
detail
Load Load
Tear
Preferred
detail
Tear Preferred
detail
Buttering
MMA Buttering Buttering
SA
Figure 38.23 Lamellar tearing. Preferred details and buttering
tip of the crack in the presence of an applied and/or residual
stress in the material. The measurement of fracture toughness
has led to the publication of the BS document PD 64939 which
gives guidance on the methods for determining acceptance levels
of weld defects.
Fracture mechanics can also be applied to the growth of a
fatigue crack under load-cycle conditions and the prediction of
fatigue failure is largely due to Maddox10 and Gurney."
Factors which affect fracture toughness of steels are material
thickness, service temperature, residual stress due to welding,
applied stress, material type and strain rate. Lower service
temperatures, thicker material, higher-yield material will adver-
sely affect the fracture toughness; strain rate increase will not
permit the normal mechanism of fracturing by slip along the
atomic planes in time, and the material behaves elastically. The
total stress across a weld defect may be the sum of both applied
and residual, the latter due to the stresses set up by the
contraction of the weld when cold; it is not unknown for brittle
fracture to occur under residual stress .only. Once the material
has been selected for welding, the correct electrode must be used
for yield, ultimate and required impact values; ultimately the
level of defects in the weld will govern the service performance
of the structure. Crack-like defects normal to principal stresses
are most at risk, such as heat-affected zone cracks and lack of
penetration; cracks in the outer quarters of a weld are more
significant than those in the middle half of the weld. Rounded
defects such as porosity and slag inclusions can be ignored in
many cases but they themselves may, if profuse or long, indicate
possible cracking of some form; such profuse defects may
shadow more serious defects when ultrasonic or radiographic
testing is applied. However, they indicate bad welding practice
and a limit should be applied to the extent of their occurrence.
The fitness for purpose concept, i.e. defects are acceptable in
structures if their size, orientation and type do not affect the
integrity of the structure, indicate that where stress and design
criteria require it an acceptable level of defects must be tabled. A
typical statement that no weld should contain defects is inadmis-
sible since all welds contain some defects, however small; with
the advent of ultrasonic techniques with improved discriminat-
ing powers many small, structurally insignificant defects can be
found. Repairs of such defects are not necessary and are
expensive, with the possibility of reintroducing more significant
defects upon repairing.
Burdekin12 has proposed acceptance criteria for welded joints
in crane girders and proposals are in hand for bridge structures
to BS 5400.
Some limited guidance is given in BS5135 related to welders'
tests but to relate these tests to a structure's service requirements
would be unrealistic. Design detail concepts to minimize the risk
of brittle fracture include the obvious step of avoiding welded
joints in areas of high stress concentration or high tensile stress
and, where this is impossible, to lay down acceptable weld-
defect levels. Keep all weld sizes to a minimum commensurate
with design criteria to reduce the incidence of weld defects and
to reduce weld residual stress. Recognize that a higher-yield
material will reduce the acceptable weld defect size and will not
be superior to lower strength steel in fatigue life.
To select the correct notch-ductile material related to material
thickness and service temperature. A welded joint that has to be
tested should be fully accessible to the testing method chosen
and to the arc process used to make that joint; poor welding
access will inevitably lead to more significant defects. To achieve
defect size, location, orientation and type, the use of ultrasonics
is mandatory; it lacks a permanent record (compared to radio-
graphy) and hence the skill and integrity of the operator is
paramount.
Generally, building frames in steel are at little risk to brittle
fracture but bridges, pressure vessels and oil platforms all have
their areas where care in design, correct steel selection, proven
fabrication skill and erection procedures will reduce the possi-
bility of such failures.
References
1 Gourd, L. M. (1980) Principles of welding technology. Edward
Arnold, London.
2 Houldcroft, P. T. (1967) Welding processes. Cambridge University
Press, Cambridge.
3 A. W.S. Welding handbook, VoI 2. American Welding Society.
4 British Standards Institution (1978-1980) Steel, concrete and
composite bridges. BS 5400. BSI, London.
5 British Standards Institution (1969-1970) The use of structural
steel in building. BS 449. BSI, London.
6 Griffiths, A. A. (1920) Phil, trans. Roy. Soc. Series A, 221, 163.
7 Wells, A. A. (1963) 'Application of fracture mechanics at and
beyond general yielding.' British Welding Journal 573/570 (Nov.)
8 Cottrell, A. H. (1961) International Standards Institute, Report
No. 69, pp. 281-291.
9 British Standards Institution (1980) Guidance on some methods for
the derivation of acceptance levels for defects in fusion-welded joints.
PD 6493. BSI, London.
10 Maddox, S. J. (1972) Welding Institute Report No. E49.
11 Gurney, T. R. (1979) Welding Institute Report No. 91.
12 Burdekin, F. M. (1981) 'Practical aspects of fracture mechanics in
engineering design.' Proc. Inst. Mech. Engrs., 195, 12.