HIGH FREQUENCY RESISTANCE

WELDING
INTRODUCTION:
 High-Frequency Resistance Welding (HFRW) describes a
group of processes that use high frequency electric current
to concentrate the welding heat at the needed location.

  heating is produced by resistance to the flow of an electric

current applied by sliding contacts to the surface of a strip,
roll formed into a tube or pipe, or other closed profile, by a
pair of electrodes placed on either side.
 The current flow from one contact to the welding point, at
short distance, and to the other contact symmetrically
placed. Welding is performed by powerfully squeezing the
two points.

 High-Frequency current in metal conductors tends to flow

at high densities along surfaces at a shallow depth (the
higher the frequency, the shallower the depth) in what is
known as skin effect.
 The main two versions of High-Frequency
welding current (differ from application of
current) is,
1. Induction Welding: The current is applied
through a water cooled induction coil.
2. In the second version the current is applied by
the direct contact of sliding electrodes on the
opposite edges surface of the moving strip.
 Due to the fact that only a small amount of metal is heated
at the welding interface, the processes produce welds at
high speeds at very high energy efficiency.
 Typical frequencies may range from 80 to 800 kHz.
 The advantages of High-Frequency are the suitability for
high speed welding of a large range of sizes and materials.
Ex:
Steels, Stainless, Aluminum, Copper, Brass and Titanium
are successfully welded by High-Frequency processes.
 The predominant application of High-Frequency
Resistance Welding is for continuous manufacturing
of pipe and tubing.
 The limitations are that it cannot be used at slow speeds or
as a manual process, and that any stop and restart will
cause visual objectionable discontinuities
 CASE STUDY – 1

Grooving corrosion of oil coiled tubes

manufactured by electrical resistance
welding
MECHANISM:

• The control-rolled sheets of a CT80 steel were used to making coiled

tubes by the ERW technology.

• This steel has very low S content and quite fine microstructure to keep
high strength.

• After the tube was shaped from the sheet, it was welded by ERW
technology and was then cooled below 300 °C in air.
• The welding power used was 180 kW.

• The first heat treatment, called a local heat treatment, was only applied
to the weld. The second heat treatment, called a whole heat treatment,
was applied to all the tube.
MANUFACTURING:

• The tested pieces of coiled tubes were cut from different

manufacturing positions.

• The first tube, named as N-HT tube, was from the welded tube
without any heat treatment.

• The second, named as W-HT tube, was from the heat treatment of
whole tube at 840 °C for 8 s.

• The third, named as L-W-HT tube, was from the whole heat
treatment at 690 °C for 8 s after the local heat treatment for the
welding zone at 930 °C for 5 s.
N-HT TUBE:

• A group of the specimens of ERW coiled pipes was

exerted at −550 mV potential vs. saturated calomel
electrode (SCE) and polarized for 144 h in a 3.5 wt.%
NaCl solution at room temperature to accelerate the
grooving corrosion.

• The ratio of maximum current density in the welding

zone over the stable current density in the base
metal, α which is also called the sensitivity of the
grooving corrosion from the measure of polarized
current density, is 0.8531.
W-HT TUBE:

• From the heat treatment of whole tube at

840 °C for 8 s.
• The second group of the specimens of ERW
coiled pipes was exerted at −500 mV potential
(vs. SCE) and polarized in a 3.5 wt.% NaCl
solution at room temperature to accelerate
the grooving corrosion.
 L-W-HT TUBE:

•  From the whole heat treatment at 690 °C for 8 s after

the local heat treatment for the welding zone at 930 °C
for 5 s.

• The third group of the specimens of ERW coiled pipes

was immersed in a 3.5 wt.% NaCl + 5 wt.% glacial acetic
acid solution for 234 days at room temperature.

• The values of α  are, respectively, 1.073 for W-HT tube

and 1.091 for L-W-HT tube. 
The corrosion parameters of ERW tubes after 144 h
polarization at −550 mV (vs. SCE) in 3.5 wt.% NaCl .
ERW Specime h1 (mm) V1 (mm/ Δh (mm) h2 (mm) V2 (mm/ α
tube n No. h) h)
N-HT 1 0.246⁎ 0.00171 0.189 0.435 0.00302 1.768
0.412 0.00286 – – – –
2 0.227⁎ 0.00158 0.185 0.412 0.00286 1.815
0.401 0.00278 – – – –
3 0.247⁎ 0.00172 0.166 0.413 0.00287 1.672
0.407 0.00283 – – – –
W-HT 1 0.435 0.00302 0.056 0.491 0.00341 1.129
2 0.421 0.00292 0.116 0.537 0.00373 1.276
3 0.452 0.00314 0.081 0.533 0.00370 1.179
L-W-HT 1 0.495 0.00344 0.018 0.513 0.00356 1.036
2 0.447 0.00310 0.067 0.514 0.00357 1.150
3 0.459 0.00319 0.056 0.515 0.00358 1.122
MICROSTRUCTURE:

• The base metal has very fine grains and consists

of equi axial or elongated grains of ferrite with
small amount of pearlite.

• The microstructure of N-HT tube is characteristic

of martensite in the weld zone. After the whole
heat treatment at 840 °C and the whole heat
treatment at 690 °C after the local heat
treatment at 930 °C, the martensite in the weld
zone was transformed into equi axial ferrite and
pearlite.
MICRO HARDNESS:

Distance from weld centre vs. Micro hardness.

CONCLUSION:

• The welded tube of a CT80 steel exhibited severe localized corrosion in

the welding zone, in which there was martensitic due to faster cooling .

• The local heat treatment for the welding zone at 930 °C adding the
whole heat treatment for tubes at 690 °C was beneficial to improve the
resistance to grooving corrosion of coiled tubes.

• The corrosion rates from the weight loss method are 0.653 mm/year
for N-TH tube, 0.663 mm/year for W-HT tube and 0.586 mm/year for L-
W-HT tube.
INFLUENCE OF THE PLASTIC DEFORMATION ON
THE METAL FLOW DURING HFERW OF PIPES:
• HFERW is the most extensively used methods for
production of longitudinally welded carbon steel pipes
suitable for line pipe.
• The plastic deformation which is realized under the
action of the squeezing rolls causes the orientation of the
constituents of the metal in the different directions and
this plays principal role on the quality of welded zone.
• Understanding and control of the metal flow or fibers of
strip edges is the key to a successful welding operation to
obtaining the desired shape and properties.
EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURE :

 High frequency electric resistance welding of

longitudinal casing pipes Ø 114.3x5.21mm were
fabricated from high strength steel coils
according to API (American Petroleum Institute)
standard, using the pipe mill equipped with a
contact type high frequency electric resistance
welding machine.
The frequency of current was 400kHz.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION:

METALLOGRAPHIC EXAMINATION:

• The influence of plastic deformation can be observed

by examining the flow lines, respectively flow angles
around fusion (bond) line.
• The flow lines are visible in all metallographic
specimens and the degree of upset is different,
depending from the intensity of plastic deformation
of squeeze weld rolls.
 MACROSCOPIC VIEW OF FLOW LINES (FIBERS) AND FLOW ANGLES
AROUND BOND LINE:

The flow lines with the
slight banding around
fusion line with low angle
values (25-37 ) indicates the
low squeezing pressure.
The flow lines with the slight
banding around fusion line
with medium angle
values(52-62)indicates the
optimal squeezing pressure.
CONCLUSION:

• Metal flow lines (fibers), respectively flow angles are

in direct proportional relation with the squeezing
amount.
• Flow lines (fibers), respectively flow angles around
fusion line are the most direct and effective methods
to control the weld joints quality of the casing pipes.
• From the obtained results it was confirmed that an
appropriate weld was attained when the metal flow
angles are within a range 52-62deg.
 …….

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