Weldability of steels

Carbon steels
Low alloy steels (Cr - Mo steels)
Quenched tempered steels
High alloy steel
Problems




Hydrogen cracking
Solidification cracking
Lamellar tearing
Hydrogen induced crack
Cold crack
Underbead crack
Delayed crack
Hydrogen induced crack
Fillet and butt welds HAZ
Fillet and butt welds

Hydrogen cracking

Carbon equivalent C+Mn/4
Ductility
Hardness
Crack
sensitivity
Weldability of steels

Chemical composition of steel
Carbon content
Other compositions
C eq - C+Mn/6+(Cr+Mo+V)/5 + (Cu +Ni)/15
Welding procedures

Diffusible hydrogen
Susceptible microstructure
Tensile stress
cracking
Cracking mechanism
dissociation
super saturation
localisation
recombination
rupture

Hydrogen limited solubility in steel
solubility is high in liquid state
Upto the solubility limits present in
interstial solution
Beyond the solubility limit, retained in sites
called traps.
Localisation of hydrogen takes place
Adsorption of hydrogen reduces the
surface energy required for crack initiation
Temp C
L
o
g

H

i
n

c
m
3

/

1
0
0
g

o
f

f
e

a
t

S
T
P

Liquid Fe
Gamma Fe
Alpha Fe
1600 600 400 1000
Effect of temperature on solubility of hydrogen
1.2
1.6
0.8
0.4
0.0
0.2
Sources of hydrogen
Flux coating material in electrodes & SAW
welding Flux
Consumables exposed to atmosphere
Moisture in shielding gas
No/ improper baking of weld consumables
Hydrocarbons in base metal
Rusted consumable / base metal
Effect of hydrogen and stress on
damage caused by HIC

8 4 12 16 20 24
Time (h)
S
t
r
e
s
s

M
p
a
)

2 ppm
4 ppm
8ppm
Fig. Effect of hydrogen on the critical stress and the time
needed for HIC
Effect of preheat temp on rupture stress
Composition of steel
Processing route
Composition of weld metal
Welding conditions



Microstructure






Tensile stress
Restraint
Thickness
Improper fit up
Rapid cooling
To avoid hydrogen
cracking






Controlling diffusible hydrogen
content
basic coated Low hydrogen welding
electrodes
Low hydrogen welding process
Preheating
Post heating
Baking of electrodes
prior to welding
Rutile electrode 250 C
Basic electrode 350 C
Dont keep the
electrodes in open
atmosphere
keep the electrodes
in hand quivers
Preheat
Carbon equivalent
Thickness of the base metal
Diffusible hydrogen content
Restraint
Welding process, consumable &
conditions
Preheat

No welding on the base metal covered with ice
No welding shall be done at or below - 18 deg C
Raise the base metal temperature to min. 16 C
when the ambient temp is 0 to - 18 deg c
Preheat temperature shall be measured at a
distance of 2t or 4 which is higher
Preheat temperature shall be maintained during
welding

Solidification
cracking
Welding Research Institute
BHEL, Tiruchirappalli - 14
S. MANIMOZHI,
Dr R. NAGALAKSHMI &
Dr V. P. RAGHUPATHY
EFFECT OF HYDROGEN
ON
LAMELLAR TEARING
Lamellar Tearing
Lamellar
Tear Fillet Weld
Tee Joint Corner Joint
Causes
High tensile stresses parallel to weld
Stringer type inclusions in base plate
Presence of Diffusible Hydrogen
Lamellar Tear
Step like crack
in HAZ


Lamellar tearing
Lamellar Tearing - a Case study
Lamellar tearing in flange plate & root
crack in butt weld weakened the member
Poor profile of fillet reduced fatigue
strength
Failure of Alexander Kielland
Oil Drilling Platform on 27- 3-1980
in North Sea killed 123 of 213
people on board
Failure traced to cracking of 6 mm
length weld
(to hold a sonar device)
Lamellar
tear
Root
crack
Methods to avoid Lamellar Tearing
Joint configuration (Tee Joint)

Full Penetration
weld
X
Partial
Penetration weld
Buttering
layer
Use steel with guaranteed
Z thickness properties
- cross rolling
- calcium treatment
- inclusion shape control
Methods to avoid Lamellar Tearing
Change location & joint design
to reduce restraint
Reduce available hydrogen
Butter the surface with low H
2
Electrodes
Use higher pre-heat & interpass temperatures
Peen the welds
Substitute Forgings or Castings for the plates
Use steels with adequate Z thickness
properties
Poor Short Transverse ductility
Lamellar Tearing
Material
anisotropy
Restraint
stress
Joint Design
Welding Procedure
Joint thickness
Inclusions

Depends on

Type of steel
Deoxidation practice
Composition
Position of ingot
Inclusion content in steel
Inclusions
Type of inclusions

Sulphides
Oxides
Oxy sulphides
Silicates

Inclusion size & shape
Globular
Lamellar

Distribution of inclusion
Volume fraction
Mean spacing between inclusion

Grading of steel against Lamellar Tearing
Quality Recommend values for %
R.A
Grade
Mean Min.

Low LTR < 10 15 10
Medium LTR 20 25 15
LTR > 30 (high) 35 25
Test Methods
Z- direction impact test
L- direction notched tensile test
Z- Window type test
Z- direction tensile test

- Adopted for less restraint conditions
- Fully killed steels exhibit better correlation
- Semi killed steels show poor correlation
Z - Direction Charpy test

L- direction notched tensile test
Correlation not good
Z- Window type test
Severe Restraint conditions
Better correlation to incidence to LT
Section XX
X
X
Z- direction tensile test
% Elongation and percent reduction in area are
the parameters to evaluate the sensitivity to LT
Z
Tensile strength
in L & Z direction
do not have much
variation

Ductility in Z
direction inferior
to L- Direction
Experimental Plan
Base material API 5L
Design and development of experimental
electrodes to yield different levels of
hydrogen in weld metal
Determine diffusible hydrogen level as
per ISO 3690
Welding of cruciform joint
No preheat
No post heat
Specimen extraction
Tensile testing
Welding & Extraction of
Z direction specimen

Plate - 6 x 100 x 200mm
Material API -5L X 46
Welding process - SMAW
Electrode - E 25, E 35 & E45
Electrode dia. 3.15 mm
I = 90 to 100 A
Cruciform joint
Full penetration weld
Diffusible hydrogen level





Electrode
Hydrogen level
(ml/100g)
E 25 16.3
E 35 10.1
E 45 8.8
E 25, E35 & E45 corresponds to high
hydrogen, medium & low hydrogen
Measurements as per ISO 3690
Chemical composition of base metal &
All weld deposit of experimental electrode
(Wt.%)
Element Base Electrode Electrode Electrode
Metal E 25 E35 E45

C 0.33 0.05 0.05 0.06
Mn 0.91 1.30 1.28 1.25
Si < 0.01 0.28 0.23 0.30
S 0.016 0.025 0.021 0.023
P 0.018 0.010 0.010 0.008
Nb < 0.02 - - -
Ti < 0.05 - - -
V < 0.02 - - -
Tensile properties of base material
Base metal YS TS % E % RA
(Kg/mm
2
)

Transverse 42.5 50.3 28 42
direction

Long. 48.0 53.4 25 41
direction
All weld mechanical properties
experimental electrodes
Base metal YS TS % E % RA
(Kg/mm
2
)

E 25 42.3 52.8 28 66

E 35 43.5 58.0 29 66

E 45 42.8 53.4 28 64
Z-direction tensile test results - Electrode E25
% RA % Elongation UTS (Kg/mm
2
) Sl No.
11.4 14.0 44.1 1.
18.0 17.0 46.0 2.
18.6 17.0 46.8 3.
17.4 23.0 46.4 4
15.4 10.0 45.4 6.
11.6 15.0 49.4 5.
18.0 18.0 46.1 7.
13.0 20.0 45.3 8.
10.0 20.0 45.3 9.
22.1 13.0 45.3 10.
Z-Direction tensile test results - Electrode E35
% RA % Elongation UTS (Kg/mm
2
) Sl No.
19.0 20.0 40.8 1.
22.6 25.0 42.8 2.
28.9 21.0 42.1 3.
22.6 23.0 41.8 4
29.4 22.0 42.8 6.
15.4 12.0 43.3 5
17.8 19.0 43.3 7.
26.0 20.0 44.8 8.
26.0 21.0 44.3 9
19.0 15.0 34.1 10
Z-direction tensile test results - Electrode E45
% RA % Elongation UTS (Kg/mm
2
) Sl No.
16.0 22.0 50.1 1.
18.2 22.0 49.5 2.
16.0 20.0 49.0 3.
19.9 22.0 49.1 4
18.1 25.0 45.1 6.
19.6 22.0 44.6 5.
14.8 17.6 41.6 7.
19.8 24.0 46.0 8.
22.0 23.0 48.8 9.
21.0 23.0 47.8 10.
Inclusion - microstructure
Elongated inclusions
Mag. 100 X
Fractographs of broken specimens
fish eye, decohesion
E 25
E 35
E 45
Dimple fracture - inclusion
also seen
Dimple fracture -low level
inclusion



Correlation between H
2
& Ductility
%

E
l
o
n
g
a
t
i
o
n


a
n
d


R
A

log
e
[H]
15
17
19
21
23
25
Correlation between H
2
& % E is excellent
Correlation between H
2
& % E
Correlation between H
2
& % RA
2.0
2.2 2.4 2.6 2.8
% E = - 8.13 log
e
[H] + 39.238
CONCLUSION
Short transverse tensile tests were
carried out on API 5L material after
welding with three levels of hydrogen




The tensile ductility in the Short
transverse direction decreased with
the increased hydrogen level

CONCLUSION
The elongation in Z-direction
decreased as the hydrogen level
increased

The correlation between the Z-direction
elongation and hydrogen is very good than
the % reduction in area

No correlation between the tensile strength
and hydrogen was observed
CONCLUSION