11 Common Welding Defects and How to Prevent

Them
Those who are experts at welding make it look easy. Welding does come with quite the learning curve.
As you may have already found out, there are many defects that arise during the welding process.

What are the common welding defects? We have identified 11 common welding defects:

1. Porosity
2. Inclusions
3. Undercutting
4. Poor Joint Penetration
5. Burn-Through
6. Overlap
7. Craters
8. Spatter
9. Incomplete Fusion
10. Arc Strike Discontinuities
11. Excessive Reinforcement
Fortunately, all of these defects are simple to prevent from occurring if you follow the guidelines
presented in this article. A major key to avoiding defects in welding is selecting the right
equipment. Hopefully, this article can help point you in the right direction for welding equipment
selection.

1.  Porosity

Welding porosity
How Do You Prevent Excessive Porosity in Welding?
Efforts to prevent excessive porosity begin with keeping everything clean. A leading cause of
porosity is contamination, whether it is from the surrounding air at the weld site
or the surface of the base metal. 

The first step to preventing porosity is controlling the flow of air within your shop or project
area.

It is also critical that you clean the base metal before starting the welding process. Impurities in
the base metal can contribute to excess porosity and cracking in the metal. Possible
impurities in base metals include dirt, debris, dust, grease, and rust.

The way that you strike the arc is an additional risk factor for excess porosity in the weld.
If the arc you strike is too long, then porosity will begin to become a problem. There are two
ways to strike an arc in stick (SMAW) welding:

You also want to make sure that your welding tools are similarly clean at the time of welding.

2.  Inclusions
Inclusions happen when nonmetallic materials such as slag and oxides become trapped between
the base metal and the weld, the different beads of a weld, or in the weld metal
itself. Inclusions can lead to the weakening of the weld, even to the point of failure.

Keeping the base metal clean is the best way to prevent inclusions. Not every piece
of metal that you are about to weld will be clean. In fact, many pieces will require some degree
of preparation prior to welding. The degree of preparation required will largely depend upon the
welding technique and application.

3.  Undercutting
Undercutting in welding involves the occurrence of a groove at the toe of a weld (the point at
which the base metal meets the face of the weld). This occurs when the digging arc of the
electrode leaves a pit in the base metal that will not be fully filled with the
appropriate filler material.

Risk factors for undercutting include:

 An arc length that is too long

 Incorrect weld angle
 A travel speed that is too fast or too slow
 Operating with too much current
 The maximum width of the weave
Holding the electrode/welding rod too far from the weld pool will often lead to the occurrence of
undercutting. The recommended arc length will depend upon the welding technique
utilized. As an example, the arc length should be roughly equivalent to the diameter of the
metal portion of an electrode in SMAW (stick) welding.

Never Weld Out of Balance

Avoid welding defects by making sure that you are in a position that is comfortable and balanced
while you are working. Welding out of balance is a safety hazard and will most
certainly contribute to the welding defects described here. Fortunately, there exist
many pieces of equipment that will help you keep your workpiece balanced.

4.  Poor Joint Penetration

Another common defect that is easily preventable is poor joint penetration or the lack of joint
penetration. This defect occurs when the arc from the welding rod is not able to dig
deep enough to lay down a weld that is of the required thickness. Welds with this
defect will fail and fall apart, oftentimes immediately.

This defect is often the result of improper welding equipment selection, as is the case with many
welding defects. Poor joint penetration can also often be traced back to not using
the right techniques. Success in welding is the result of being able to make adjustments to
your approach based on site-specific conditions.

 Make sure to use the right direction and speed of travel of the welding rod. 
 Always work on the correct placement of the weld bead.
 Make Sure That You Can See What You Are Doing
 A good first step towards avoiding misplaced weld beads is being able to make
sure that you can actually see what you are doing. 
 Adjust the machine with the right Welding Current
 Use E6010 1nd 6011 electrodes which are known for having deeply digging arcs.
5.  Burn-Through
Burn-through occurs when the weld metal/filler material completely penetrates through the weld
metal. This defect is of particular concern when welding materials less than ⅛ inch in thickness,
roughly equivalent to 12-gauge. Prevent burn-through by controlling heat exposure in
the weld.

If you are welding from a vertical position, then it is recommended that you start from the
top of the weld site and work your way down (Vertical Down). This method
is especially effective when welding thin materials using a GMAW (MIG)
welder. The vertical down position is such an effective way to weld thin materials that some
operators will even choose it over the flat position, even in situations in which they would be
able to weld from the flat position.

Lowering both the voltage and the wire feed speed will also help prevent burn-
through. If the voltage and wire feed speed are too high, then the heat exposure to the weld site
will likely be too much. You will need to be mindful of this when welding thin materials. Special
attention is required when welding aluminum, which is amongst the most vulnerable of materials
when it comes to burn-through.

6.  Overlap
Overlap occurs when the face of the weld extends past the toe of the weld. The filler material is
unable to fuse to the base material as it flows over the extent of the weld joint and then cools
down.

The best preventative measure against the overlap welding defect is to ensure
proper welding technique. Overlap can be prevented if the operator is holding the welding
rod at the correct angle and traveling at a moderate speed. Welding too slowly can cause overlap
to occur.

7.  Craters
Craters are a common welding defect that occurs during the welding of aluminum. They form at
the end of the weld bead. If craters are not taken care of, then they will lead to the
creation of stress points that will eventually cause cracking to occur within the
weld.

Correctly terminating the weld bead will prevent craters from occurring. Craters typically occur
when the welding process is stopped before a pass is completed. According to Fabricating &
Metalworking, you can also prevent craters from appearing by making sure that you are filling in
the areas between tack welds and the weld bead.
Even if craters do occur, they are generally repairable in the event that there are
no cracks in the weld bead. Just simply fill in the crater after starting an arc strike from a
point just beyond the crater(s) and working back over the crater.

8.  Spatter
Spatter is defined as droplets of weld metal that are expelled from the molten weld pool. These
droplets then cool and solidly along the sides of the weld bead. Spatter is primarily an
aesthetic issue. Excess spatter can lead to other problems, though, as the
vigorous cleaning efforts to remove the spatter can actually compromise the
integrity of the workpiece.

The removal of spatter is important to the aesthetics and integrity of the weld. There are many
tools that can be used to safely remove slag from the weld piece:

 A hammer, chisel, and brush

 A metal file
 An angle grinder
Removing spatter may take some time and effort. Some welding applications naturally produce
more spatter. For example, flux core welding with a shielding gas is known for being a welding
process that can produce a lot of spatter, depending upon the specific equipment and settings
being utilized. TIG (Tungsten Inert Gas) Welding, on the other hand, is well known for being a
welding process that does not produce spatter.

9.  Incomplete Fusion

Fusion in welding refers to the joining of two or more separate pieces of metal into one
continuous piece. In other words, this is the general purpose of the welding process. Failure to
undergo complete fusion can be the result of two different types of deficiencies.
Incomplete fusion manifests itself in one of the following forms:

 Interpass Cold Pass:

 The filler metal is unable to fuse adequately to a layer of weld metal that was
previously deposited
 Lack of sidewall fusion:
 The weld metal is unable to adequately fuse to the joint face
There are many steps that should be taken to ensure that fusion between two or more pieces of
metal is complete. Be sure to always clean slag after performing a weld. Leaving
slag can contribute to structural discontinuities like incomplete fusion.

Like many other welding deformities listed here, incomplete fusion is commonly a result of
improper technique. Improper travel speed and welding angle will impede your ability to fully
fuse separate pieces of metal together. It is also of utmost importance that you select
the right welding process for the given application.

10. Localized Discontinuities from Arc Strike

Sometimes welding operators will run into a defect in which they will start their arc strike in an
area other than the weld joint. This causes local discontinuities to occur in the area of
the arc strike area. This can eventually lead to cracking and harmful fatigue failure in the
weld bead.

Even if you are extra careful about the way you strike the arc, you may still run into issues
related to improper arc strike locations. The arc strike issues may be a result of the
improper grounding of the workpiece. Properly grounding your welding equipment will
help keep you safe and will ensure that equipment performs as expected.

What Do I Do If My Electrode Becomes Stuck?

Another common cause of arc strike is the reaction operators have to their electrode becoming
stuck. The natural reaction for dealing with a welding electrode that has become
stuck is to wiggle it back and forth and try to free it from the workpiece.

Panic is certainly not the ideal reaction to your electrode becoming stuck. If your
electrode becomes stuck to the workpiece, the best solution will be to disconnect the electrode
from the electrode holder. Then let the electrode cool off before safely removing it from the
piece while wearing safety gloves.

11. Excessive Reinforcement

Excessive reinforcement is pretty simple to describe. It involves the deposition of too
much filler material. There is not always a correlation between weld thickness and
quality. Laying down too much filler material is a great way to ruin a workpiece. If you add too
much filler material, you will likely have to grind out the weld and start out all over again.
The AWS (American Welding Society, in its D1.1 Structural Welding Code, states that weld
reinforcement must be at least the thickness of the base metal and can be ⅛”
inch above the base metal at the thickest.  The welds you perform in your shop may not
have to meet this stringent code, but it gives you a good idea of the range of weld thickness that
is allowable without threatening the structural integrity of the workpiece.

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David Harper
David is the Co-Founder and Senior Editor at weldingtroop.com. David's an experienced
fitter and tuner/welder who's passionate about helping others develop in life through
new skills and opportunities.