Weld Overlay of Oil & Gas Industry

wellhead valves
Author: Dr A.C. Rodrigues BSc Msc PhD MIEE CEng
Power Electronics & Controls Limited – (PEC)

Weld overlay is an established industrial welding process used for protecting the
surfaces of components that can suffer material loss due to corrosion, wear,
erosion and pitting.
In the Oil & Gas industry, weld overlay of new and ex-service valves is now
common practice.
With tougher environmental laws being implemented, discarding worn out metal
parts is difficult and expensive. Longer service life is therefore a prime
consideration.
The application of an alloy coating to the component can be undertaken using a
number of processes including thermal spraying, arc welding etc. In selecting a
particular weld overlay and cladding system, the following criteria may need to
be considered:
y Deposit rate (kg/hr)
y Heat input (kJ/mm)
y Welding position (1G, 2G, 4G)
y Accessibility of the surface to be welded
y Mobility of the component
y Required hardness, corrosion resistance, overlay tensile strength
y Availability of consumables with the required metallurgical and mechanical
properties
y Welding techniques & automation technologies

MATERIALS AND CONSUMABLES

The overlay material for corrosion resistance is primarily the range of Nickel
base, Cobalt base and stainless steel range of wires. These are applied to carbon
and low alloy steels. The corrosion resistance is enhanced by selecting
consumables with a low (< 0.02%) carbon content and additives of
molybdenum, colombium and tantalum. These reduce corrosion due to chrome
carbide precipitation in the inter-granular region of the weld overlay.
Low iron content is also required to reduce pitting corrosion.
For protection against wear and abrasion produced by high pressure flow of
fluids at high temperatures, a range of nickel (cladding) and cobalt (hard facing)
based consumables are available. The chemical composition of the wire is
generally selected to produce the required hardness, embrittlement and stress
cracking properties. Cobalt based materials are particularly suitable for extreme
wear, in high operating temperatures. Nickel based consumables are widely
used for general wear and corrosion resistance.

OIL INDUSTRY VALVES

Valves used to control the flow of oil and gas from wells are exposed to a flow of
acidic fluids at high pressures (10,000 psi) and temperatures. This results in
corrosion, erosion and wear within the flow and seal areas of the valves.
In-service life of the valves is limited to a few years. The high cost of shutting
down or disrupting wells that are in production has led to the industry developing
valves with longer operational lives. Since the early 1980's, extensive use has
been made of weld-cladding techniques to protect the wetted and seal areas of
wellhead valves. Commonly used wear and corrosion resistant materials include
Inconel 625, Stellite-6, stainless steels etc. The wellhead components weld-clad
range from gate/choke valves to large subsea and platform block valves
weighing up to 20 tons. The internal surfaces to be welded have complex
geometries which require special control systems for torch and component
manipulation. Typical bore sizes range from under 38mm to about 1500mm in
diameter. Internal bore lengths up to 2000mm are common.

WELD OVERLAY PROCESSES

TIG, MIG, MMA and Submerged arc are the most common weld overlay
processes used. PEC was the first company (1984) to apply the TIG process to
Oil & Gas industry valves. In the TIG process, an electric arc is produced
between the tungsten electrode and the component. The arc voltage, current
and wire feed rate are independently controlled and maintained within present
tolerances using electronic controls. Hence wire melting/burn off and weld pool
heat input can be matched for reproducible metallurgical and mechanical
properties in the weld. TIG has all-positional welding capabilities, and can be
applied to complex geometrical surfaces ranging from 1-G to overhead welding
without any parameter variations.

TIG & MIG weld cladding processes :

ColdWire TIG for cladding of internal bores less than 75mm diameter and for
repairing weld defects after machining. The heat required for melting the wire is
extracted from the weld pool which reduces overall heat input resulting in low
metal deposit rates.

Hotwire TIG is about 30-50% faster than the cold wire process To increase
deposit rates, the heat required for melting the wire is provided by a separate
supply which electrically pre-heats it prior to entry into the weld pool. For a
relatively small increase in heat input (<10%), deposit rate increases of up to
50% can be achieved. At the higher deposition rates, arc instabilities occur due
to the interaction between the electric fields produced by the wire and main arc
current. Conventional hotwire supplies do little to counter these "arc blow
effects" which can produce pores in the weldment. Special hotwire power
supplies have been developed at PEC that allow wire preheating at high wire
feed rates without discernible degradation of arc stability. The upper limit of the
hot wire process is reached when the wire preheating current is about 30% of
the main arc current. It is difficult to stabilise the arc plasma above these current
levels.

TwinWireTM TIG has a deposit rate up to 5kg/hr and produces low iron dilution
overlays. Two wires are fed simultaneously into one arc to produce weld beads
widths between 12-20mm. It uses torch oscillation (weave) and is only suitable y
for 1G (horizontal) welding positions.

TwinArcTM TIG has two arcs at exactly 1800 separation, producing welds on the
same component simultaneously. It halves the welding time compared to single
arc TIG . TwinArc TIG is unique to PEC and has been used since 1995 in the weld
cladding of bores greater than 6” diameter.
Pulsed MIG
The MIG process in particular was considered ideal for mechanised weld overlay
due to its low heat input and all position welding capability. It can provide high
metal deposit rates as high as 7.5kg/hr using PEC’s TwinArc MIG process.
A single layer of weld delivers low iron dilution (<5%) and metallurgical and
mechanical properties comparable to that for TIG welding. The MIG process does
however require a higher skill level and attention to detail is a necessity
regarding component setup, torch liners and contact tips, gas flow rates etc.

Weld-clad requirements:
• Low iron dilution (< 5%) by suppressing iron migration into the weldment
• Good fusion between overlay and base material and subsequent layers
• Controlled heat input to suppress chrome carbide precipitation & cracking
• Optimal overlay material thickness to minimise machining time and reduce
waste of expensive alloy materials

Common TIG weld defects and their causes

It has to be understood that welding is still an art rather than a science and as
such, random process problems and uncertainties are the norm.
Some of these are discussed below.

• In common with most open arc processes, TIG is prone to gas plasma related
porosity, lack of fusion, cold weld pores etc The plasma has a very high
bandwidth (10MHz ) and its structural stability can be affected by gas
flow/pressure rates and magnetic/electric fields
• Insufficient shielding gas coverage of the hot molten pool cause spatially
distributed oxides in the weldment. Some of these oxidised elements cannot be
melted by the welding arc as their melting points could be much higher than the
temperatures of the weld pool. Any secondary layer of weld metal will not fuse
uniformly o the first layer oxides, resulting in randomly occurring pores and lack
of fusion defects
• Regularly occurring pores, on the other hand, are due to dislodged oxide particles
being embedded in the weld pool and carried forward as the welding progresses
to produce a ‘train’ of pores.
• Insufficient or variable weldment thickness around the periphery of the bore is
caused by component rotation speed fluctuations and/or badly centred parts.

Best practices to follow to reduce defects in welds include:

• Aim for good arc stability by choice of suitable in-process control systems,
welding parameters and shielding gas properties
• Proper set up of the Torch weld head (angle, gas lens size, wire position)
• Use of in-process technology (standard feature on PEC’s MultiCLAD controllers) to
suppress arc deflection
• Ensure the tip od the wire is embedded in the weld pool all the time to prevent
cold lapping pores.
• Electronically stabilising ‘bounce’ in long torches
• Real time calculation of heat inputs with operator error warning
• Reducing operator errors through education and training
• Prevent welding consumable contamination (gas, wire, welded material)
• Profile root joints and corners to accept the weld bead

PEC’s MultiCLAD systems provide all the ‘in-process’ sensing and correction
stated above. The majority of our customers experience defect rates in the
region of 0.1 -1.0%.
Future technological advances
• Improved yield (low defects)
• Higher weld deposit rates
• Reduced operator intervention (e.g. pre-programming of weld procedures)
• Automation of valve and torch positioning
• Reducing non-arcing periods (setup, pre-heating etc)
• Automation of cladding of complex shaped bores

Summary:
This paper describes the use of the TIG process to the weld overlay of flow and
pressure seal areas of Oil & Gas industry surface and sub-sea valves.
The industry requirements, basic welding processes and associated welding
difficulties have been discussed.
Future technological advances that are either in progress or need to be
developed have been presented.
PEC designs and manufactures welding controllers which provide the in-process
capabilities described and are internationally recognized as market leaders in the
field of weld overlay of well head valves.

TwinArc TIG TwinArc Pulsed MIG Sectioned of weld clad valve

Precision type Conventional cladding system Rotary Head cladding system