June 2002

Number 15

333

Structural Assets

INTRODUCTION

Group Leaders
Introduction
his is the fifteenth newsletter for Structural Assets
and second edition for the year 2002. The Hatch
Structural Assets Group focuses on assisting
clients in an operational environment to reduce
risk, extend the life of assets and to scope and prioritise
sustaining capital and refurbishment work on structures
and associated equipment.
The objective of this newsletter is to share knowledge
and experience gained during the course of our work.
We would be pleased to receive suggestions from
readers, via the enclosed fax back form, as to the
subjects and types of articles of interest.
Richard Morgan
([email protected])

SPECIALIST ADVICE

Welding Defects and

Discontinuities What
Really is Acceptable
have been asked on numerous occasions when
carrying out an inspection how do you tell the
difference between a weld designated to be category
SP (AS1554) as distinct from a weld designated to be
category GP, or for that matter, how does a welder set
about producing a SP versus a GP weld?. When I reply
that in terms of preparation and production there is no
difference I often receive the reply Why do we specify a
difference?. This is usually followed by a lengthy
discussion on the definition or level of acceptability.
This level is either as set down in the relevant
standards and codes of practice or as specified by the
design engineer due to the specific duty to which the
weld is to be subjected.
Quality in a weld can be defined as Conforming to a
Specification which sets the limits of discontinuities and
flaws that are acceptable for a particular application. It
must be understood that there is no such thing as a
perfect weld. Any apparently perfect weld will exhibit
fine discontinuities if it is examined closely enough,
however this does not make that weld defective or
rejectable
If a weld has less defects or discontinuities than
allowed by the specification it is acceptable and
considered to be a Quality weld.

Quality specifications are not the same for all types of

welds or in all applications. Welds in structural steels
may contain small levels of fine porosity, inclusions or
other types of discontinuity that are within the limits
allowed by welding codes such as AS1554 or ANSI/
AWS D1.1.
The level of quality set down in these codes should
be readily achievable by experienced welders using
normal arc welding processes with commercially
acceptable industry standard levels of fit-up and joint
preparation.
Higher levels of preparation would incur a severe cost
penalty to produce and would require much higher levels
of testing and examination to verify that the increase in
standard had been achieved. Unless the application is of
a critical nature eg. Aircraft structure, Nuclear power
plant, High-pressure piping or vessel, the increase in
quality is usually not warranted.
It should also be made clear that welding procedures
and workmanship which produce weldments that are
borderline for rejection, should not be accepted when
with minimal additional care weldments which meet or
exceed the minimum requirements can easily be
achieved.
Having established the level of acceptable
discontinuities it then becomes a matter of setting in
place the procedures that will achieve the desired quality
at a commercially acceptable cost.
In order to clarify the reasoning behind this
discussion it is important at this time to define the
difference between a defect and a discontinuity.
A defect is a flaw or flaws that by their nature or
accumulated effect render a component or product
unable to meet the minimum acceptance standard or
specification or render it unfit for its intended purpose.
The term designates rejectability.
A discontinuity is an interruption of the typical
structure of a material such as lack of homogeneity of its
mechanical, physical or metallurgical properties.
A
discontinuity is not necessarily a defect.
The control of defects and discontinuities on site or in
the open is more difficult than that for a corresponding
weld made in the workshop. In order to achieve the best
possible result additional effort has to be made to
prevent interference with the welding process by external
factors.
This may occur from such sources as weather
conditions (wind, rain, humidity etc.), adjacent workings
(abrasive blasting, painting etc.) or from an adjacent
process area that is likely to contaminate the weld
preparation or execution. Shielding the welding site with
screens and/ or covers is essential in reducing the
likelihood of defects particularly porosity.
The following is a brief discussion on the more
common welding defects and discontinuities, their likely
cause, possible cure and resultant repair.

Hatch Associates Pty. Ltd. ACN 008 630 500

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MISSALIGNMENT
Caused by careless fitup or poorly aligned
plates
of
different
thickness. Can only be
repaired by careful blend grinding or cutting the joint
apart, re-preparing and re-welding.
UNDERCUT
Unfilled groove cut by the welding
process at the toe of the weld.
Usually caused by current too high,
poor electrode angle, arc length too
long or rust. Can be cured by more
attention to detail in preparation
cleaning and by improving process. Can be repaired by
welding up groove with smaller electrode, may require
gouging first. Allowable limits for undercut are set by
codes.
CONCAVITY / CONVEXITY
Caused by incorrect current or speed
of weld. Can be avoided by adjusting
welding procedure. Can be repaired
by either filling with further weld
material or by blend grinding
smoothly to base metal on each side of weld preparation.
REINFORCEMENT
Can be too much or
insufficient.
Usually
caused
by
incorrect
combination of travel
speed and current. Can be repaired by removing excess
weld metal and blend grinding smoothly to base metal or
be re-welded. Welds should have a transition angle of at
least 135 at toes of weld.
OVERLAP
Usually caused by poor welding
technique.
Can be cured by
changing procedure.
Must be
repaired by grinding off excess weld
metal and blend grinding smoothly
to base metal.
LACK OF PENETRATION /
FUSION
Caused when the weld
metal does not form a
cohesive bond with the base
metal or when the weld
metal does not extend into
the base metal to the required depth. These defects are
usually caused by incorrect welding conditions such as
current too low, insufficient
preheat, welding speed too
fast,
incorrect
edge
preparation,
short
arc
length, electrode too small
or arc not in centre of seam.
This type of defect can only
be repaired by grinding / gouging out the defective area
and re-welding. This type of defect is sometimes difficult
to detect even with high quality non-destructive testing
(NDT) methods.
INCLUSIONS
As the name implies these are caused by slag/ spent flux
becoming entrapped within the weld metal. This defect

Structural Assets
is often associated with
undercut in multi-pass
welds. Usually caused
by low current, welding
in an area that is too
tight or rust or mill scale
not cleaned from the
base metal. This type of defect can be prevented by
increasing the current or pre-heat, grinding out tight
areas to give access to the bottom of the joint and by
proper preparation of the base metal prior to welding.
This defect can only be repaired by grinding / gouging
out and re-welding.
MICROPOROSITY and
ARC CRATERS
An unfilled weld pool at
the termination of a weld
run.
This is usually
caused by improper weld
termination
technique
whereby the molten pool
shrinks causing a pipe. If there is no cracking evident
this can be repaired by simply welding up. This problem
can be cured by using run on run off tabs or improving
welding technique.
LAMELLAR TEARING
This defect is caused by a
flaw in the base metal,
whereby a non-metallic
inclusion (slag / mill scale)
was rolled into the hot
plate
during
the
manufacturing
process.
The tearing is caused
when the weld metal is
deposited on the surface
of the plate in a joint
where there is high
restraint.
The most
effective way to avoid this
defect is where possible to
design plate joints that will minimise the likelihood of it
occurring i.e.

Other alternatives include the use of castings or forgings

where practical.
CRACKING
Cracking in weld metal
can occur in either the
longitudinal or transverse
direction and is caused
by the procedure used
for the placement of the
weld.
Longitudinal cracking can be caused by the weld
bead being too wide, current or welding speed too high,
root gap too large, shrinkage stress in areas of high
constraint or weld metal contaminated with carbon,
sulphur or phosphors.
This type of defect can be avoided by proper joint
preparation i.e. weld width 0.5 to 0.8 times weld depth,

3
choose base metal with <0.6% sulphur and phosphors,
pre-heat to even out cooling rates.
Cracks running transversely to direction of the weld
are usually caused by a weld metal hardness problem
and can be prevented by the correct choice of welding
consumable.
Cracking in the base metal at the toe of a weld could
indicate a brittleness problem in the heat affected zone
(HAZ). This may require an increase in pre-heating or
the use of a more ductile filler material.
Under bead cracking (in the unmelted parent metal of
the HAZ) may be due to hydrogen embrittlement and
indicates that the use of low hydrogen electrodes would
be necessary.
Cold cracking (occurs after the weld metal has
completely solidified) is usually caused by highly
restrained joint preparations and can be avoided by
using more ductile filler material or by welding towards
the area of least restraint.
Cracking in weldments is unacceptable and must be
ground or gouged out and re-welded. Before re-welding
the cause of the cracking must be determined and the
problem corrected in order to prevent the same thing
occurring in the re-welded joint. Generally the repair is
required to be made using a smaller electrode.
POROSITY
This
defect
appears in several
forms i.e. single
pore
or
pipe,
uniformly
scattered, cluster,
linear and crater pipes. It can be caused by various
things such as an unstable arc or incomplete protection
at the weld start, poor welding technique, excessive
contamination of joint preparation (such as grease,
dampness, atmosphere), high sulphur content in
consumables or arc gap too short.
Porosity can be minimised by the proper selection of
electrodes and /or filler materials, improved welding
technique, attention to cleanliness and prevention of
contaminants from entering the weld area during weld
production and slowing of welding speed to allow gasses
time to escape.
HAMMER MARKS AND ARC STRIKES
Caused by excessive force in use of chipping hammer
and carelessness with handling of welding electrode
holder. Can cause localised stress concentration and
depending on location, if damage is significant, may have
to be ground out and properly filled.
This defect is
unsightly and unnecessary making repair costs a burden.
CONCLUSION
Welds dont have to be perfect, just within the
acceptable tolerances; working to perfection is far too
time consuming and commercially unacceptable.
In accordance with our definitions stated earlier it is
only necessary to repair defects; discontinuities by
definition are acceptable and as such makes their repair
unnecessary and not cost effective.
A NOTE ON INSPECTION
To successfully carry out inspections on weldments
you require several things, (apart from the requisite
technical knowledge), not the least of which is good eye
sight and a keen eye for detail.
As well as that an
extremely useful aid is a palmgrin gauge which makes

Structural Assets
the measurement of the odd shapes found in weldments
a little more manageable.

For further information please contact Greg Gabb

([email protected]) on 61 7 3834 7725
For further information and detail a valuable reference is
The Procedure Handbook of Arc welding by the Lincoln
Electric Company, Cleveland Ohio.

The Standards We Use

n going about our normal daily work we tend to take
the use of Standards and Codes of Practice for
granted. We become familiar with their contents and
feel comfortable that we are undertaking our designs
etc. in accordance with accepted good practice.
In an international environment, it is not uncommon to
suddenly find yourself working on a project for an
overseas client in a country where the Standards and
Codes, and particularly the relevant Government
Regulations that you are required to adopt, are difficult to
obtain at best and are then most likely written in a
different language.
This situation has occurred to the Structural Assets
group on several occasions in the recent past and it has
proven to be a time consuming and involved part of the
project.
In carrying out projects for clients in the Asia Pacific
region in particular, where the many of the countries
adopt British or European Standards, and where the
majority of clients prefer undertake their own project
management, it becomes necessary to cross reference
our Australian Standards to the relevant British
Standards in order to enable the client to carry out the
work without difficulty.
It is in the cross referencing that the difficulty
becomes apparent.
There is not always a direct
equivalent of the standard in question and the
transposition may have to be made across two or three
of the standards you are converting to.
In the recent conversion we started by undertaking
an investigation into the AS. /BS. Standards by subject
heading.
This was undertaken using Australian Standards on
Line and the equivalent web based listing for British
Standards. This task would be very difficult to carry out
if a language transposition was also required.
The following table may be of interest and could
possibly save you a time consuming search down the
same path we had to travel. The standards in the table
all relate to the fabrication of structural steelwork and the
application of protective coatings for a close to marine
environment.
The assistance of Calliope Lalous in collating the
information is acknowledged with many thanks.
For further information please contact Greg Gabb
([email protected]) on 61 7 3834 7725

Structural Assets

Australian Standard

British Standard

AS. 1101 Graphical symbols for general engineering

BS.1153 Specification for graphical symbols for general

engineering

AS. 1111 ISO Metric hexagon bolts and screws

BS. 1083
Specification for precision hexagon bolts,
screws and nuts

AS/ NZS.1554-1 to 6 Structural steel welding

BS. 1780 Welding Basic weld joints in steel

AS. 1163 Structural steel hollow sections

DD ENV 1090-4
Execution of steel structures
Supplementary rules for hollow steel sections

AS.1171 NDT Magnetic particle testing of ferromagnetic

products and components

Pr EN ISO 9934 1
General principals

AS. 1214
fasteners

Hot dip galvanized coatings on threaded

BS. 7371 6Coatings on threaded fasteners Specifically

for hot dip galvanized coatings

AS. 1252 High strength steel bolts with associated nuts and
washers for structural engineering

BS. 4395 Specification for high strength friction grip bolts

and associated nuts and washers for struct. engineering

AS. 1580 Paints and related materials methods of test

BS. 3900 Methods of test for paints

AS. 1627 Metal finishing Preparation and pretreatment of

surfaces

BS. 7079 D2 Preparation of steel substrates before

application of paints and related products

AS. 1654 ISO system of limits and fits

BS. 1916 2 Limits and fits for engineering

AS. 1710 NDT Ultrasonic testing of carbon and low alloy

steel plate

BS. 3923 Methods for ultrasonic examination of welds

AS. 2062
NDT
components

BS EN 571 1 NDT Penetrant testing general principals

Penetrant testing of products and

NDT Magnetic particle testing

AS. 2177 NDT Radiography of welded butt joints in metal

methods of testing

BS. 7009 Guide to the application of real time radiography

to weld inspection

AS. 2207 NDT Ultrasonic testing of fusion welded joints in

carbon and low alloy steels

BS. 3923 Methods of ultrasonic examination of welds

AS./ NZS. 3678 Hot rolled plates, floor plates and slabs

BS.- 4 1 Structural steel sections Specification for hot

rolled sections

AS./ NZS. 3679.1 Structural Steel - Hot rolled bars and

sections

AS Above

AS./ NZS. 3679.2 Welded I Sections

BS. EN 10034 Structural steel I & H sections Tolerances

on shape and design

AS./ NZS. 3752 Welding Method of determination of

diffusing hydrogen content of ferrite weld metal produced by
arc welding

BS. 6693 3 Diffusible hydrogen Primary method for

determination of diffusible hydrogen in manual metal-arc
ferritic steel weld metal

AS. 4100 Steel structures

Pr EN 1993 1 Eurocode 3 Design of steel structures

AS. 4680 Hot-dip galvanized (zinc) coatings on fabricated

ferrous articles

BS. 1461 Hot-dip galvanized coatings on fabricated iron

and steel articles

ITEMS OF INTEREST
World Coal magazine - Paper on Methods Extending
the Design Life of Handling Systems by Richard Morgan
and Dr. Frank Gatto - published in the May 2002 edition.
Dr. Sabaratnam Loganathan has been invited to present
a keynote address at the Competitive Advantage
Engineering Conference, Carlton Crest Hotel, Melbourne
th
on the 6 June 2002. Dr. Loganathan will present his
address on the Applications of Finite Element Analysis
for Materials Handling Machines

Every effort has been made to ensure that the

information contained in this newsletter is correct.
However, Hatch Associates Pty. Ltd. or its employees
take no responsibility for any errors, omissions or
inaccuracies.
For any enquires regarding this newsletter including
adding your name to the newsletter distribution list
please contact Frank Gatto ([email protected]).