1.

CRACK REPAIR Before starting a crack repair it should be known what kind of material one is dealing with to be able to choose the right welding procedure; and here enters the term: weldability. The weldability of a steel depends on the chemical composition and the thickness. The background for this is that a steel with increasing carbon-content and other elements is disposed to harden, which means that the heat affected zone H ! can become hard and brittle if the heat escapes too fast, and that can cause cracks. common way to e"press the weldability of a steel is the so-called #carbon-e$ui%alent#, which is calculated as follows: Ce = C % + Mn Cr + Mo + V Ni + Cu %+ %+ % 6 5 15

The anne"ed file, &preheating temperature for welding& will calculate the re$uired temperature, based on the carbon e$ui%alent of the metal at hand.

"preheating temperature for welding.xls"

'f the result of this (carbon e$ui%alent) is higher than *.+, it is necessary to preheat. 't must be pointed out that e%en if the result is lower than this, it does not harm to preheat, especially with hea%y sections and if the weather is cold. s long as we are dealing with kiln- and mill-plate, coolers with supports, the mentioned carbon-e$ui%alent will always be lesser than *.+,, as those parts are manufactured of mild steel plate or weldable boiler plate. -hen a crack is detected, the first part of the program will be: ,. .inding the length of the crack /. .inding the depth of the crack This is done through methods such as 0ltrasonics, 1agnetic 2articles (12') or 3yepenetrant. 'f the crack is throughgoing, e.g. in a kiln shell it is normally necessary to work from both inside and outside. normal procedure will then be: ,. 4ouging from one side to about /56 of the thickness /. The gouging must start a little away from the crack ends in sound material, gouging towards the crack 6. 7areful cleaning by grinding

+. 2ossibly preheating 8. -elding with a normal basic electrode as -9 : ;*,< or : ;*,= 0sage of 'nconel electrodes is also possible 7astolin //// or >? @/./< (recommended for cast steel) <. The electrodes ha%e to be dry (dried for at least / hours at /** A7 in a furnace) ;. :ach run should be o%erpeened to reduce stresses, and carefully cleaned for slags =. 4rinding down the surface of the weld @. 'n case of throughgoing cracks, the root weld has to be remo%ed (from the inside, around ,56 of thickness) and re-welded (through either manual arc welding or an automated procedure). 4rind surface of weld. ,*. 7ontrol with 0ltrasonics, 12' and5or 3ye-penetrant ll this seems to be generalisations, but new crack formations can be caused by noncompliance with these simple rules. 't is not to be too difficult to repair that kind of cracks if the mentioned rules are followed.