Welding Technology Module

Basics of welding
metallurgy

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Welding Technology Module

Basic metallurgy

Amorphous microstructure

Cubic microstructure

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Body cubic centered microstructures

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Face cubic centered microstructures

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Hexagonal close packed crystal structure

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Welding Technology Module

Pure metals and allotropy

BCC

CFC

HCP

Monomorphous metals
Cr
Mo
Nb
W
V

Al
Ag
Ni
Pb
Cu

Mg
Sn
Zn

Polimorphous metals
Fe, Fe
Ti
Zr

Fe
Co

Ti
Co
Zr

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Welding Technology Module

Metallic alloys

Insertional alloys

Substitutional alloys

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Iron-base alloys (steels)

Delta iron, BCC (1535 1390C)
Gamma iron, FCC (1390 910C)
Beta iron BCC (910 770C non-magnetic)
Alfa iron, BCC (910C 0K, magnetic)

TC

Liquid
1535C

Fe
1390C

Fe
910C

Fe
770C

Fe
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Welding Technology Module

Iron-base alloys (steels): microstructures

Cementite (Fe3C)
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Iron-base alloys (steels): microstructures

Ferrite
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Iron-base alloys (steels): microstructures

Austenite
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Welding Technology Module

Iron-base alloys (steels): microstructures

Pearlite
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Welding Technology Module

Iron-base alloys (steels): microstructures

Martensite
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Welding Technology Module

Iron-base alloys (steels): basic heat treatments

Annealing
Quench

The steel is fully austenitized,

then slowly cooled up to room
temperature
This treatment improves the
ductility but reduces the tensile
properties, the hardness and the
fracture toughness (coarse grain)

The steel is once more fully austenitized,

then cooled very quickly up to room
temperature
This treatment strongly improves the the
tensile properties, the hardness but
reduced the fracture toughness and the
ductility

Normalizing

Tempering

The steel is again fully

austenitized, but this time cooled
up to room temperature with
higher cooling rates
This treatment improves the tensile
properties, the hardness and the
fracture toughness, but reduces the
ductility (grain refinement)

The steel is treated in the ferritic

temperature range, then cooled up to
room temperature
This treatment improves the fracture
toughness and reduces the peak hardness
It is typical of hardening steels, after a
quench (sometimes after a normalizing)
During PWHT, promotes the weld
stress relieving

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Welding Technology Module

Factors influencing the

thermal cycle:
heat input

V I
HI =
60
v

TEMPERATURE

Welding thermal cycle

TIME

thickness
preheat temperature

Consequences of the heat

treatment imposed by the welding
thermal sources:

Welding cycles (as a function of

the distance to the weld axis)

metallurgical structure of welded zone

mechanical effects (stresses and
distortions)

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Welding Technology Module

Heat distribution

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Welding Technology Module

Metallurgical effects: structure of the welded joint

BASE MATERIAL

HEAT AFFECTED ZONE

(HAZ)

FUSED ZONE or WELD METAL (WM)

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Welding Technology Module

Weld metal composition

Dilution ratio (Rd), is used to evaluate chemical composition of the weld metal

Rd =

Vb
100
Va + Vb

Examples of typical Dilution Ratio for

different welding processes:

SMAW:
First pass Rd=30%
Fill passes Rd=10%
TIG: Rd=20-40%
MIG/MAG:
First passes Rd=10-40%
Fill passes Rd=5-20%

Va+Vb
Vb

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Welding Technology Module

Metallurgical structure of the weld metal

Welding direction

The final microstructure of a

welded joint is influenced by several
factors:
Thermal cycle severity (cooling
speed)

t8/5 is assumed as the most

significant parameter for low
alloyed steels;
Heat input and number of
passes strongly affect the grain
growth in the weld metal

Number of the material allotropic

transformations;
Grain dimension of the base
metal.

Welding direction

HEAT FLOW

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WELD DEPOSIT

HEAT SOURCE

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Welding Technology Module

Metallurgical structure of the weld metal

Weld metal dendritic microstructure

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Welding Technology Module

Heat Affected Zone (HAZ)

The heat-affected zone includes those regions that are measurably influenced by
the heat of the welding process:
For a plain carbon steel, the heat-affected zone may not include regions of
the base metal heated to less than approximately 700C since the welding
heat has little influence on those regions
In a hardened steel that has been quenched to martensite and tempered at
315C, any area heated above 315C during welding would be considered
part of the heat affected zone
Heat-affected zones can be defined by a changes in microstructure close to the
welded joint. The various effects of welding heat on the heat-affected zone, can be
therefore considered in terms of four different types of alloys that may be welded:
1. Alloys strengthened by solid solution
2. Alloys strengthened by cold work
3. Alloys strengthened by precipitation hardening
4. Alloys strengthened by transformation (martensite)

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Welding Technology Module

Maximum temperature reached

during welding

T(C)

Plain carbon steels

Liquid

Grain coarsened zone

Tempered zone
+

Partly austenitized zone

+ Fe3C

WM

C(%)

HAZ
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Welding Technology Module

Stainless steels
Welding influences the metallurgical
behavior of stainless Cr-Ni steels:
- a grain coarsened region can be
individuated
- Intergranular corrosion resistance
of the HAZ can significantly be
reduced (sensitizing)

Chromium %

Sensitized
zone

18%
13%
1 m

More complex phenomena are

involved in the HAZ of stainless
chromium steels.

400

850

1300 1300

850

Grain boundary

400

Tmax

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Welding Technology Module

Aluminum alloys HAZ Softening

WELD METAL
HEAT AFFECTED ZONE

HARDNESS

DISTACE FROM THE

JOINT CENTERLINE

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Welding Technology Module

Origin of residual stresses and distortion

During thermal welding, the

weld region is heated up strongly in
comparison with the surrounding
region and is fused locally. The
material expands as a result of
being heated.
The thermal expansion is restrained
by the colder surrounding region,
thus leading to thermal stresses.
The thermal stresses partly exceed the yield limit which is lowered at
elevated temperatures.
Consequently, the weld region is upset plastically and, after coolingdown, is too short, too narrow or too small in relation to the surrounding
region. It thus displays tensile residual stresses while the surrounding
region exhibits compressive residual stresses.

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Welding Technology Module

Transversal shrinkage

Depending on the position of

restraints, welding speed and
heat input, the rotational
distortion can result in opening
or closing the of the finishing end
of the joint
In the case of multipass
welding, shrinkage is
accumulated
Tack welding can reduce the
distortion, but residual stresses
are increased

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Welding Technology Module

Angular shrinkage
Due to transversal shrinkage, also angular distortion is
provoked
Joint welded from one side

T joints

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Welding Technology Module

Longitudinal shrinkage

The longitudinal shrinkage of

the weld during cooling, following
longitudinal upsetting during
heating, results in a longitudinal
shortening of the component,
notably in the weld zone. Where
the weld is arranged
eccentrically, this produces the
unwanted bending deformation
of girders and plates (bending
distortion).

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Welding Technology Module

Welding residual stresses

Welding transversal residual stresses

Welding longitudinal residual stresses

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Welding Technology Module

Multipass welding
During multipass welding:
The total heat input is lower
Every pass produces a heat
treatment effect on the previous
passes

As a consequence, two
important parameters need to
be defined:

Weld metal
HAZ of each pass

Preheat temperature
Interpass temperature

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