Prepare by

Nasrizal Mohd Rashdi

Senior Lecturer
Welding & Quality Inspection
Universiti Kuala Lumpur
Carbon Manganese
Steels
C-Mn steels are susceptible to a form of
cracking in the HAZ area of a weld
which known as cold cracking or HAZ
cracking.
In many cases cold cracking can be
prevented by application of preheat.
Lower cooling rate
More time for hydrogen to diffuse out
CCT for C-Mn Steel
 Presence of embrittlement microstructures
(martensite) in C-Mn steel can be indicate
by hardness value exceeding 350 HV.
Transformation to microstructure having
hardness greater than 350 HV can be
begin at temperature of 550C and
continue to 200C.
Preheat up to 300C will have mark effect
on cooling rate in critical range and reduce
possibility of cracking.
 The response to varying cooling rates of
steels in C-Mn range can be
conveniently expressed in terms of
carbon equivalent, Ceq
For given Ceq and diffusible hydrogen
content, value of either combined
thickness, arc energy or minimum
preheat temperature can be determined
given any two of these three factors.
 In some cases use high preheat has to
be considered in conjunction with
requirement for maximum interpass
temperature.
Increase interpass temperature may be
accompanied by a decrease in weld
metal strength because softer
microstructures are formed by lower
cooling rate.
Low alloy steels
More hardenable than C-Mn steel
because of the presence of small
amounts of additional alloying elements.
Usually more yield strength and ultimate
strength compared with C-Mn.
In general, high preheats are necessary
to prevent cracking for a given thickness
and given welding conditions than C-Mn
steels.
 The critical hardness is dependent upon
the hydrogen level of the welding process,
process energy, selected preheat (and
interpass), restraint and operating stresses,
fit-up and actual composition of the steel
being welded.
The critical value can be more than 350HV.
Preheat is not be possible to avoid the
formation of hardened microstructures in
HAZ.
Zone 1
Carbon and low alloy steels with a
carbon content of about 0.10%.
A hard HAZ is not produced under most
conditions and hydrogen cracking is not
likely under most normal circumstances.
The weld metal may be more likely to
crack than the HAZ.
Zone 2
Most carbon and manganese steels
used for structural and pressure vessel
applications.
A Hard HAZ may be avoided by
controlling the cooling rate, otherwise
hydrogen control is necessary.
Zone 3
Alloy steels with more than 0.1%
carbon. This include some quenched
and tempered steel.
Hardness cannot be controlled by
cooling rate and often quite at fast
cooling rate is desirable to ensure
adequate HAZ toughness. Hydrogen
control must be used to prevent
cracking.
Preheat & Interpass
Temp.
For most of HSLA
10C for 25mm (1-in)
50C for 50mm (2-in)
100C for 75mm (3-in)
For alloy A527 gr. 60&65 and A633 gr.E
There are 50C higher than above.
For HY130
50C for 17mm (0.5-in)
100C for 25mm (1-in)
150C for 38mm (1.5-in)
The minimum and maximum preheat
temperature should be identify clearly.
Austenitic steels
Hydrogen cracking does not occur in
austenitic steels and preheat is not
required nor used to avoid this problem.
HAZ cracking may be occur during
elevated temperature service or stress
relief.
 Preheating to high temperatures could
reduce the cooling rate following welding
to such an extent that precipitation occur
during cooling in a form which prevent
subsequent embrittlement during
reheating.
Preheats at this level are very difficult to
apply in practice.
Duplex stainless steels
Preheat and interpass temperature will
infulence the austenite-ferrite balance in
duplex.
Low preheat and controlled interpass
temperature can contribute towards
cooling rate which provide acceptable
microstructure.
Preheat temperature are restricted to
between 10-20C with an interpass
limitation of 150C.
C-Mn steels
Consideration for stress relief should be
given if Ceq is exceeding 0.6%
Thermal stress-relief treatments can be
beneficial in improving resistance to
stress corrosion and brittle fracture.
The need for stress relief becomes
greater with increased thickness of
material and increased size of weld joint.
 In general use, C-Mn steels are not
particularly susceptible to stress
corrosion effect.
When caustic soda, nitrate solution or
sodium chloride are present in contact
with C-Mn steel weldments the
possibility of stress corrosion cracking
arise.
 There are no effect or little to fatigue
behavior after stress relief carry out.
Care must be taken to allow for possible
deterioration of properties in service.
Low alloys steels
Effects of post weld heat treatment
become more complex than C-Mn
steels.
If PWHT is necessary, care must be
taken to obtain maximum properties
developed in weldment without
destroying the inherent properties of
parent metal.
 The tempering and precipitation effects
may occur in HAZ of these steels, both
during welding and heat treatment.
Metallurgical effects of PWHT must be
carefully assessed.
Recommended fracture test to be
carried out on specimens notched in
HAZ.
Creep resistance steels
Low alloy steels that contain Cr, Mo, V, B,
Nb and Ti to enhance corrosion resistance
and elevated-temperature strength.
Reheated to 550C-650C to reduce
susceptibility of hydrogen cracking or
stress corrosion cracking.
However, cracking can occur in the HAZ
during reheating due to formation of
secondary carbides than weakening the
grain boundaries.
 A possible solution to these problems is
to heat the weldment through the critical
temperature range as quickly as
possible, so that relief of residual stress
occurs before there is time for
precipitation and embrittling effects to
cause cracking.
 Over-ageing of the HAZ regions by
heating to 650C and above is usually
sufficient to prevent the problem arising
in subsequent service.
This treatment also restores the fracture
toughness of embrittled HAZ region.
Care must be taken to ensure that the
heat treatment does not impair the
properties of the parent meterial.
 Cr-Mo steels without Vanadium (V) are
not usually as susceptible to stress relief
cracking as those contain V.
Cracking occur due to highly restrained
joints.
Heat treatment to reduce the residual
stress.
 Heating and cooling rates have to be
carefully selected to achieve a balance
between being fast enough to prevent
embrittlement and slow enough to
prevent introduction of undue thermal
strain.
Austenitic steels
PWHT of austenitic steels is necessary
to give satisfactory service under some
condition, but may also give rise to other
problems.
Two main reasons
Stress relief
Resolution of harmful precipitate
Selection of temperature for PWHT for
stress relief is not straightforward as
ferritic steels.
 Most of the stress may removed at
950C.
Around 35% will relieved at 550-650C.
Stress relief should be followed by slow
cooling but should be noted that through
the temperature range 850-550C this
will lead to some form of precipitation.
 Cracking during reheating can occur in
certain austenitic steels.
If may take place if restrained weldment in
susceptible steels are heated, for example
to 850C for a short periods (perhaps less
than 1 hr),
or to lower temperatures for a longer time,
for example to 500C for about 1000hr.
Susceptibility to cracking increases with
restraint of joint and thick weldment.
 The presence of welding residual stresses
gives rise to increased risks of stress-
corrosion cracking in austenitic weldments
in certain environments.
In chloride or hydroxide.
Stress-corrosion cracking occurs only in
the presence of tensile stress, so that if the
total stress are reduced by relief of residual
stresses, susceptibility to cracking may
greatly reduce or eliminated.
 A second form of corrosion cracking can
be arise in some austenitic steels in
marginally/moderately oxidising
environments.
This form of attack is accelerated by
stress and occurs by an interganular
mechanism when chromium-rich
precipitation (Fe,Cr)23C6 has taken place
at grain boundaries.
 Occur during exposure to temperature in
the range 500-850C either in service or
during welding.
Avoided by heat treatment about 950C
or above and follow by rapid cooling.
Duplex stainless steels
Heat treatment of duplex for stress relief
is not general applied.
Rapid precipitation of intermetallic
phases (eg. Sigma) and nitrides form in
the range 550-1050C.
Some precipitation significantly reduce
corrosion resistance and toughness.
 The primary reason for heat treatment of
duplex steels is to take undesirable
precipitates back into solution, i.e.
solution annealing.
Temperature 1050-1250C are typically
used, followed by rapid quenching
example with water. Slow cooling must
be avoid.
 Lower temperature heat treatments are
only applied to dissimilar metal joints to
ferritic steel or to cladding when code
being followed demands heat treatment
for the ferritic steels HAZ.
Temperature below 800C are
tentatively suggested where post-weld
heat treatment is unavoidable.