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The best way to understand the metallurgy of carbon steel is to study the Iron Carbon
Diagram. The diagram shown below is based on the transformation that occurs as a result
of slow heating. Slow cooling will reduce the transformation temperatures; for example:
the A1 point would be reduced from 723C to 690 C. However the fast heating and
cooling rates encountered in welding will have a significant influence on these
temperatures, making the accurate prediction of weld metallurgy using this diagram
difficult.
Austenite This phase is only possible in carbon steel at high temperature. It has a
Face Centre Cubic (F.C.C) atomic structure which can contain up to 2% carbon in
solution.
Ferrite This phase has a Body Centre Cubic structure (B.C.C) which can hold very
little carbon; typically 0.0001% at room temperature. It can exist as either: alpha or
delta ferrite.
Carbon A very small interstitial atom that tends to fit into clusters of iron atoms. It
strengthens steel and gives it the ability to harden by heat treatment. It also causes
major problems for welding , particularly if it exceeds 0.25% as it creates a hard
microstructure that is susceptible to hydrogen cracking. Carbon forms compounds
with other elements called carbides. Iron Carbide, Chrome Carbide etc.
Cooling of a steel below 0.8% carbon When a steel solidifies it forms austenite.
When the temperature falls below the A3 point, grains of ferrite start to form. As
more grains of ferrite start to form the remaining austenite becomes richer in
carbon. At about 723C the remaining austenite, which now contains 0.8% carbon,
changes to pearlite. The resulting structure is a mixture consisting of white grains
of ferrite mixed with darker grains of pearlite. Heating is basically the same thing
in reverse.
Martensite If steel is cooled rapidly from austenite, the F.C.C structure rapidly
changes to B.C.C leaving insufficient time for the carbon to form pearlite. This
results in a distorted structure that has the appearance of fine needles. There is no
partial transformation associated with martensite, it either forms or it doesnt.
However, only the parts of a section that cool fast enough will form martensite; in a
thick section it will only form to a certain depth, and if the shape is complex it may
only form in small pockets. The hardness of martensite is solely dependant on
carbon content, it is normally very high, unless the carbon content is exceptionally
low.
Annealing This term is often used to define a heat treatment process that produces
some softening of the structure. True annealing involves heating the steel to
austenite and holding for some time to create a stable structure. The steel is then
cooled very slowly to room temperature. This produces a very soft structure, but
also creates very large grains, which are seldom desirable because of poor
toughness.
Normalising Returns the structure back to normal. The steel is heated until it just
starts to form austenite; it is then cooled in air. This moderately rapid transformation
creates relatively fine grains with uniform pearlite.
Welding If the temperature profile for a typical weld is plotted against the carbon
equilibrium diagram, a wide variety of transformation and heat treatments will be
observed.
Note, the carbon equilibrium diagram shown above is only for illustration, in reality it will
be heavily distorted because of the rapid heating and cooling rates involved in the welding
process.
Recommended Reading
Residual Stress
This phenomenon applies to carbon and low alloy steel. It involves ferrite
forming a compound with nitrogen; iron-nitride (Fe4N). Temperatures around
250C, will cause a fine precipitation of this compound to occur. It will tend to
pin any dislocations in the structure that have been created by cold work or
plastic deformation.
Strain ageing increases tensile strength but significantly reduces ductility and
toughness.
Modern steels tend to have low nitrogen content, but this is not necessarily true
for welds. Sufficient Nitrogen, approximately 1 to 2 ppm, can be easily picked
up from the atmosphere during welding.
Weld root runs are particularly at risk because of high contraction stresses
causing plastic deformation. This is why impact test specimens taken from the
root or first pass of a weld can give poor results.
Additions of Aluminium can tie up the Nitrogen as Aluminium Nitride, but
weld-cooling rates are too fast for this compound to form successfully. Stress
relief at around 650 degrees C will resolve the problem.
The above picture is of a new pressure vessel that failed during its
hydraulic test. The vessel had been stress relieved, but some parts of
it did not reach the required temperature and consequently did not
experience adequate tempering. This coupled with a small hydrogen
crack, was sufficient to cause catastrophic failure under test
conditions. It is therefore important when considering PWHT or its
avoidance, to ensure that all possible failure modes and their
consequences are carefully considered before any action is taken.
Alloying Elements
Manganese
Increases strength and hardness; forms a carbide; increases hardenability;
lowers the transformation temperature range. When in sufficient quantity
produces an austenitic steel; always present in a steel to some extent because it
is used as a deoxidiser
Silicon
Strengthens ferrite and raises the transformation temperature temperatures; has
a strong graphitising tendency. Always present to some extent, because it is
used with manganese as a deoxidiser
Chromium
Increases strength and hardness; forms hard and stable carbides. It raises the
transformation temperature significantly when its content exceeds 12%.
Increases hardenability; amounts in excess of 12%, render steel stainless. Good
creep strength at high temperature.
Nickel
Strengthens steel; lowers its transformation temperature range; increases
hardenability, and improves resistance to fatigue. Strong graphite forming
tendency; stabilizes austenite when in sufficient quantity. Creates fine grains
and gives good toughness.
Nickel And Chromium
Used together for austenitic stainless steels; each element counteracts
disadvantages of the other.
Tungsten
Forms hard and stable carbides; raises the transformation temperature range,
and tempering temperatures. Hardened tungsten steels resist tempering up to
6000C
Molybdenum
Strong carbide forming element, and also improves high temperature creep
resistance; reduces temper-brittleness in Ni-Cr steels. Improves corrosion
resistance and temper brittleness.
Vanadium
Strong carbide forming element; has a scavenging action and produces clean,
inclusion free steels. Can cause re-heat cracking when added to chrome molly
steels.
Titanium
Strong carbide forming element. Not used on its own, but added as a carbide
stabiliser to some austenitic stainless steels.
Phosphorus
Increases strength and hardnability, reduces ductility and toughness. Increases
machineability and corrosion resistance
Sulphur
Reduces toughness and strength and also weldabilty.
Sulphur inclusions, which are normally present, are taken into solution near the
fusion temperature of the weld. On cooling sulphides and remaining sulphur
precipitate out and tend to segregate to the grain boundaries as liquid films, thus
weakening them considerably. Such steel is referred to as burned. Manganese
breaks up these films into globules of maganese sulphide; maganese to sulphur
ratio > 20:1, higher carbon and/or high heat input during welding > 30:1, to
reduce extent of burning.
Pre-heat Calculator
Pre-Heat Calculator to EN1011 Part 2 - Non Alloyed And Low Alloy
Steels.
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Page last updated 13 April 2002