WELDING METALLURGY

ME 473 WELDING TECHNOLOGY

Instructor: Assist.Prof.Dr. Ouzhan Ylmaz

Welding Technology

Basic Metallurgy

The science of joining metals by welding that relates closely to the field of
metallurgy.
Metallurgy involves the science of producing metals from ores, of making
and compounding alloys, and the reaction of metals to many different
activities and situation.
Heat treatment (heating and cooling of metals to obtain desired
shapes and mechanical properties)
Steel making and processing
Forging
Foundry

Welding metallurgy can be considered a special branch, since reaction

times are in the order of minutes, seconds, fraction of seconds, whereas in
the other branches reactions are in hours and minutes.
Welding metallurgy deals with the interaction of different metals and
interaction of metals with gases and chemicals of all types.
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Welding Technology

Basic Metallurgy

Welding metallurgist will examine the changes in physical characteristics

that happen in short periods. The solubility of gases in metals and
between metals and the effect of impurities are all of major importance to
the welding metallurgist.

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Welding Technology

Basic Metallurgy_Crystalline structures

The structure of metal is complex. When metal is in a liquid state, usually

hot, it has no distinct structure or orderly arrangement of atoms. So that
atoms move freely since they have high degrees of mobility due to the
heat energy involved during melting process.
As the metal cools, atoms loose their energy and their mobility. When
temperature is further reduced, the atoms are no longer able to move and
attracted together into definite patterns.
These patterns consist of three-dimensional lattices, which are made of
imaginary lines connecting atoms in symmetrical arrangements.

Metals in a solid state possess this uniform

arrangements, which is called crystals. All metals are
crystalline solids made of atoms arranged in a
specific uniform manner.
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Basic Metallurgy_Crystalline structures

(1)
(2)
(3)

There are three common types

of lattices;
The face-centered cubic
The body-centered cubic
The hexagonal close-packed

Iron has both FCC and BCC

structures but at different temp.
This is know as allotropic
change.
The crystal lattices are only for pure
metals that are composed of
one type of atom. However,
most metals that are common
use are alloys (more than one
metal).

In alloys, the crystals will change.

According to the portion of the alloy,
there are three types of formation
occur:
(1) substitutional solid solution.
(2) interstitial solid solution and
(3) intermetallic compounds.
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Basic Metallurgy_Crystalline structures

Substitutional solid solution: the atoms of the metal making up

the minor portion of the alloy will at random replace some of
the atoms of the metal making up the majority of the alloy.

Interstitial solid solution: The atoms of the minor metal in the

alloy are much smaller than those in the major lattice, they do
not replace the atoms of the major metal in the lattice but
rather locate in points between or intervening spaces known
as interstices in the lattice.

Intermetallic compounds: the minor metal atoms in the alloy

cannot completely dissolve either interstitially or
substitutionally. They will form the type of chemical compound
the composition of which corresponds roughly to the chemical
formula. This results in the formation of mixed kinds of atomic
groupings consisting of different and complicated crystalline
structure. [Fe3C, Cementite,Iron-Carbide]

Each group with its own crystalline structure is referred to as a

phase.
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Basic Metallurgy_Crystalline structures

Different alloys, solid solutions, intermetallic compounds, and phases occur

as the molten metal solidifies.
Solidification occurs in all direction which are normal to the nuclei crystal
that is a small crystal form. For a cubic crystal, growth progress is in six
direction simultaneously. Growth is simply the adding on of additional
crystals as tempereture decreases.
GRAIN
When the resultant structure is cut in
a flat plane, the individual dentritic
crystals, which grew until they met
adjacent dentritic crystals, form an
irregularly shaped area, known as a
grain. Grains have boundaries and
are very small but much larger than
the individual crystals
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Basic Metallurgy_Grains

The size of the crystals and grains depends on the rate of growth of the
crystal. The rate of crystal growth depends on the rate of cooling of the
molten solidifying metal.
When the rate of cooling is high, the solidification process occurs more
rapidly and the crystal size and graing size tend to be smaller and vice
versa. (snow example)
Metal structures can be characterized as having large grains (coarse
grained) or small grains (fine grained) or a mixture of large and small
grains (mixed grain).
The arrangement of atoms is irregular in the grain boundaries, and there
are vacancies or missing atoms. The atom spacing may be larger than
normal, and individual atoms can move easily in the grain boundaries;
because of this, the diffusion of elements, which is the movement of
individual atoms through the solid structure, occurs more rapidly at grain
boundaries.
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Basic Metallurgy_Microstructures
Microstructure
The overall arrangement of grains, grain boundaries, phases present in an
alloy is called its microstructure. It is largely responsible for the properties
of the metal.
The microstructure is affected by the composition or alloy content and by
other factors such as hot or cold working, straining, heat treating etc.
The microstructure of weld metal and adjacent metal is greatly
influenced by the welding process, which influence the properties of
the weld.

Microstructure of a weld used in stainless steel

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Microstructure of base metal of the same stainless steel

Welding Technology

Basic Metallurgy_Phase transformation

Some metals change their crystallographic arrangement with changes in

temp. Iron has a BCC lattice structure from room temp. up to 910C, and
from this point to 1388 C it is FCC. Above this point to melting point, 1538
C it is again BCC. This change is called as phase transformation or
allotropic transformation. Like, titanium, zirconium and cobalt.
Transformation occurs when metal melts or solidifies;
In melting, arrangement of atoms disappears and atoms
move randomly.
In solidifiying, crystalline arrangement reestablish itself.
Pure metals melts or solidify at a single temperature, while alloys solidify
or melt over a range of temperature with a few exceptions.
Phase changes can be related to alloy compositions and temp when they
are in equilibrium, and shown on a diagram (known as phase diagrams,
alloy equilibrium diagrams or constitution diagrams).
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Basic Metallurgy_Phase transformation

Equilibrium diagrams are used to determine the phases that are present
and the percentage of each, based on the alloy composition at a temp.
And changes by increasing and decreasing temp. Most of them are
designed for alloy system containing two elements.

In welding because of rapid changes in temperatures, equilibrium

conditions are rarely occur. In an equilibrium condition, the metal is stable
at the particular point on the diagram based on relatively slow heating and
cooling.

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Welding Technology

Basic Metallurgy_Iron-Carbon diagram

Iron-carbon equilibrium diagram provides an insight of the behaviour of

steels in connection with welding thermal cycles and heat treatment. This
diagram represents the alloy of iron with carbon, ranging from 0% to 5%
carbon.

0.25

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Welding Technology

Basic Metallurgy_Iron-Carbon diagram

Pure iron is relatively weak but ductile metal. When carbon is added in
small amounts, the iron acquires a wide range of properties and uses and
becomes the most popular metal, steel.
0% carbon, pure iron,
above 1540C, in liquid state, no crystalline structure
< 1540 C, solidification starts, BCC structure, Delta iron
< 1400 C, transformation occurs, FCC structure, Gamma iron
< 910 C, iron back to BCC, alpha iron until room temp
Iron and carbon form a compound known as iron carbide (Fe3C) or
cementite.
When iron carbide or cementite is heated above 1115 C, it decomposes
into liquid iron saturated with graphite, which is a crystalline form of
carbon.

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Basic Metallurgy_Iron-Carbon diagram

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.
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.
Cementite Unlike ferrite and austenite, cementite is a very hard intermetallic
compound consisting of 6.7% carbon and the remainder iron, its chemical
symbol is Fe3C. Cementite is very hard, but when mixed with soft ferrite
layers its average hardness is reduced considerably.
Pearlite A mixture of alternate strips of ferrite and cementite in a single
grain. The name for this structure is derived from its mother of pearl
appearance under a microscope. A fully pearlitic structure occurs at 0.8%
Carbon. It is a lamellar structure, which is relatively strong and ductile.

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Welding Technology

Basic Metallurgy_Iron-Carbon diagram

Pearlite
Ferrite

Austenite

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Basic Metallurgy_Iron-Carbon diagram

Consider a steel with a composition of 0.25% carbon. A vertical line is

drawn up at this point;

Above 1520C, the steel is molten, as the temp decreases, delta iron start to
form in the liquid.
Just below 1500 C, transformation to austenite and molten metal.
At about 1480 C, all the liquid metal solidifies and the form is austenite.
Approx. 815 C, the austenite begins to breakdown and form a new phase,
ferrite.
Ferrite formation continues until a temp 727 C
At 727 C, the remaining austenite structure would disappear completely and
transforming to a structure known as pearlite+ferrite

In welding the rise and fall of temp or the rate of change of temp is so fast
that equilibrium does not occur. Therefore, aforementioned structures will
be different.

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Welding Technology

Basic Metallurgy_Martensite formation

At fast cooling rates, the austenite might not have sufficient time to
transform completely to ferrite and pearlite and will provide a different
microstructure. In this case, some of the untransformed austenite will be
retained and the carbon is held at supersaturated state. This new structure
is called martensite.
If the cooling rate is sufficiently fast, the austenite might transform
completely martensite. It is harder than pearlite or ferrite-pearlite structure
and it has lower ductility.

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Welding Technology

Basic Metallurgy_Hardenability

Hardness mainly depends on the carbon content but cooling rate also
influences the microstructure and causes higher hardness. This is
because the crystal lattice is changed or distorted and this hardens the
material.
By adding different alloys to the steel, the tendency of austenite to
transform into martensite upon cooling increases, which is the basis of
hardening steels. Carbon, manganese, chromium, molybdenum etc.
The amount of alloys and their power to create this microstructure
transformation are known as hardenbility.
Grain size and microstructure relate directly to hardness and strength.
Fine grain size promotes both increased in strength and hardness.
This is an advantage for heat treatment but it can be detrimental to
welding since high hardness is not desired in welds of softer materials.

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Welding Technology

Basic Metallurgy_Hardenability

The heat treatment of steels to increase hardness and the metallurgy of

welding have much in common.
Most steels possess the property of hardenability, which is defined as the
property that determines the depth and distribution of hardness induced by
quenching, and this property can be measured by the quench-test, that is
used to plot hardness value from quenched end to unquenched end.
The

quench-test and the

information obtained provides
usefull data for welding since it
indicates the effect of different
alloying elements on the
hardness of the quenched
steel. The microstructure of the
quenched steel can also be
studied and related to the
microstructure of welds.
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Welding Technology

Welding Metallurgy

When a weld is made, following factors occur:

The changes of temperature

The growth of dimensions
The phase transformation etc.

The rate of cooling or quench is of primary importance and this is

controlled by the process, procedure, metal and mass.

Example: The electroslag has the

lowest cooling rate among welding
methods, while the gas metal arc
has a much faster cooling rate.

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Welding Technology

Welding Metallurgy

The rate of change decreases as the distance from the center of the weld
increases.
It is obvious that many different
cooling rates occur and that
different microstructures will result.
Also different phases occur in the
base metal adjacent to the weld.

(a) Mixture of ferrite and pearlite

grains
(b) Pearlite transformed to Austenite
(c) Full Austenite transformation

(d) Completely liquid state

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Welding Technology

Welding Metallurgy

In addition to the complications created by the rapid cooling, there is also

the complication of composition variations.

As weld metal is deposited on a base metal, some of the base metal melts
and mixes with the weld metal, producing a dilution of metal.

If the compositions of the weld metal and the base metal are not identical,
variation of composition at the interface can be observed and also it
causes variation of cooling rates. This results variation of microstructures.

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Welding Metallurgy

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Welding Technology

Welding Metallurgy

Each microstructure has its particular characteristics and one of the

important characteristics is the hardness of the microstructure throughout
the weld area.

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Welding Technology

Welding Metallurgy_Heat affected zone

The area between the interface of the deposited weld metal, and
extending into the base metal far enough that any phase change occurs, is
know as the heat-affected-zone (HAZ).
HAZ is a portion of the weld since it influences the sevice life of the weld.
HAZ is the most critical in many welds. For instance, when welding a
hardenable steel, HAZ can increase in hardness to an undesirable level.
When welding a hardened steel, HAZ can become a softened zone since
the heat of the weld has annealed the hardended metal.
weld

Heat-affected-zone (HAZ)
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Welding Technology

Metallurgical problems in welding_Burning

It may occur in two possible ways, (1) migration of oxides along the grain
boundaries rendering them weak. (2) oxidation as in oxygen cutting.

Protections are carefully supplied to exclude the atmosphere from the

high-temperature welding regions. Protective agents are usually in the
form of inert gases, fluxes, and electrode coatings.

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Metallurgical problems in welding_Segregation

Segregation is one of the important factor that should be considered. It

relates the solubility of elements in metals, particularly alloys.
For instance, the composition of the first crystals that form as an alloy
freezes is different from the composition of the liquid that freezes last.
In weld metal, because of the rapidity of freezing time, very little diffusion
occurs and there is a lack of homogeneity in the total weld.

Carbon, phosphorus, sulfur and sometimes manganese are frequently in the

segregated state in steel. This can be determined by high-magnification
study of the microstructure.

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Metallurgical problems in welding_Gas pockets

Molten metal has a relatively high capacity of dissolving gases in contact

with it. As the metal cools it has less capacity for dissolved gases, and
when going from liquid to solid state the solubility of gas in metal is much
lower.
The gas is rejected as the crystals solidify, but it may be trapped because
of almost instantaneous solidification. Entrapment of the gas causes gas
pockets and porosity in the weld.
Carbon monoxide, which is present in many arc and fuel gas
atmospheres, is sometimes trapped. Hydrogen can also be trapped but it
may gradually disperse and escape from the weld metal over a period of
time. High temp increases the speed for hydrogen migration and removal.
The inert gases are not soluble in molten metal and for this reason, they
are used in many gas shielded applications.
The solubility of metals within metals is also crucial. The greater the
degree of solubility, the better the success of welding dissimilar metal
combinations.
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