Module

4
Design for Assembly

Lecture
2
Design for Welding-I

Instructional Objective
By the end of this lecture, the student will learn:
(a) how a weld joint should be designed to improve the joint performance, and
(b) what are the possible welding defects and how the same can be avoided.

Introduction
Welding is the most prominent process for joining large components into complex assemblies
or structures. A necessary condition for welding is that the two or more surfaces to be joined
must be brought into intimate contact. When fusion takes place, the joint is achieved by
melting of two or more workpiece materials in a localized region. In contrast, the solid-state
joining processes rely on plastic deformation of the surface asperities along the contact
surface representing the original weld interface or the impending weld joint.
A variety of welding processes are available today that are outlined earlier in the Lecture 1 of
Module 4. The success of a welding process not only depends on the selection of appropriate
welding conditions or process parameters, but also on the joint configuration and welding
position. The loads applied on a welded structure in the actual application are transferred
from one member to another through the weld joints. Thus an examination of the types of
welds and weld joint configurations is of interest of the present lecture.

Types of Welds and Weld Joints

There are eight basic types of welds (Figure 4.2.1), which are commonly used to prepare
welded joints. Fillet weld is the most commonly used one and named so due to the
approximately triangular cross-sectional shape of the weld profile. The fillet is regarded as
being on the joint. Fillet welds are economical and requires no joint preparation and hence,
widely used to join corner, T- and Lap joint configurations. Groove weld is another type of
weld that is made between two members and regarded as being in the joint. Commonly, the
grooves are usually made V-shaped due to ease of machining while U-shaped and J-shaped
grooves are also used. Backing weld is usually made on the root side of a previously made
weld to improve the quality of the weld joint by ensuring complete penetration. Usually, the
root of the original weld is gouged, chipped and ground prior to the backing weld is made.
Spot and projection welds are made typically at the interface of the members being joined.
Seam welds are similar to spot welds while the actual weld geometry varies with the type of
the welding process. Stud weld is used to weld a metallic stud onto a workpiece. Surfacing

welds refer to a group of welds that are used to build up a broken surface on a base metal.
Figure 4.2.2 shows five basic types of weld joints commonly used in welded fabrication.

Joint Configuration

Symbol

Remarks
FILLET
Most popular of all welds
(may be single or double)

GROOVE
Second most popular-may be single
or double- has many variants
BACK OR BACKING WELD
Bead type back or backing welds of
single groove welds
PLUG OR SOPT WELD
Used with prepared holes

SOPT OR INJECTION WELD

Used without prepared holes
Use arc or resistance
SEAM WELD
Continuous-use are or resistance

STUD WELD
Special application welding process

SURFACING WELD
Surface built up by welding

Figure 4.2.1 Schematic outlines of eight basic types of welds [1]

Butt Joint

Tee Joint

Corner Joint

Edge joint

Lap Joint

Figure 4.2.2 Schematic outlines of five basic types of weld joints [1]

Design Recommendations for Economical and Efficient Welded Fabrication

1. Welded assemblies should be made up of as few parts as possible. Reduction in the
number of joints leads to less handling, processing time, equipment, service inspection,
testing, less distortion etc. It is always suggested to reduce the number of weld joints by
introducing formed parts.
2. Placement of weld joints should facilitate easy access of the welding nozzle. This is
particularly important for consumable electrode fusion arc welding processes.
3. Whenever possible, design should be such that the joint is horizontal during welding with
the electrode pointing downward.
4. Parts should fit-up properly. This is essential not only for welding speed but also for
minimizing distortion of the finished weldment (Figure 4.2.3). Especially with butt joints,
the edges of mating workpiece surfaces should be straight and uniform.
5. The fillet weld deposits should be kept to a minimum. Additional material in the convex
portion of the fillet weld cross section contributed little to the strength of the joint.
6. Cast and forged parts should be designed so that the wall thickness of both these parts to
be joined is equal at the joint interface to minimize weld joint distortion (Figure 4.2.4).

7. It is preferable to locate welds out of sight rather than in locations where special finishing
operations are required to improve the appearance of the final assembled part.
8. The joint should be designed so that it requires minimal edge preparation. It is often
advisable to use lap joints in welded assemblies to avoid the cost of edge preparation.
9. In some cases, curved edges parts can be used to provide the equivalent of a grooved edge
for the weld joints (Figure 4.2.5).
10. If machining after welding is required, welds should be placed away from the material to
be machined to avoid machining near to the weld joints (Figure 4.2.6a).
11. Back-up strip can be included as an integral part of the component to be welded to reduce
the effort related to holding the back strip (Figure 4.2.6b).

Figure 4.2.3 Poor and good fit-up of weld joints [1]

Figure 4.2.4 The wall thickness of parts to be joined should be equal at the joint [1]

Figure 4.2.5 Joints that have natural grooves and thus need little or no edge preparation [1]

(a)

(b)

Figure 4.2.6 (a) Keep the weld metal outside the portion of the weldment, (b) Integral
backup strip [1]

Design Recommendations for Weld Strength

Following are a few recommendations to improve the strength of the welded joint.
1. Square edged butt joint can be employed saving the edge preparation time if deeppenetration welding is used or the stock thickness is not great. Thicker stock or less
penetrating methods may require grooved edges or groove welding.
2. For efficient and economical welding, minimize the stress that the joint must carry.
Design the weld joint in such a fashion that it stays away from the stressed area or the part
itself bears the load instead of the weld joints [Figure 4.2.7]
3. Groove welds should be designed to be in either compression or tension. Fillet welds
should be in shear only. When using grooves for welds, follow the standard American
Welding Society weld-groove dimensions.
4. Length of each fillet should be at least 4 times the fillet thickness when intermittent welds
are used. If the joint is in compression, the spacing of the welds should not exceed 16
times the fillet thickness and for tension, the spacing may be as much as 32 times the fillet
thickness.

Not Recommended

Figure 4.2.7

Recommended

Joint design for minimize stress concentration field [1]

Residual Stress and Distortion in Welding

The inherent local non-uniform heating and cooling cycles associated with the joining
processes, in particular with the fusion welding processes, results in complex stresses and
strains in and around the weld joint. These finally lead to the development of residual stress
and distortion in welded structure. Residual stresses are referred to as internal stresses that
would exist in a body after the removal of all external loads. Distortion refers to the
permanent (plastic) strain that would be exhibited in terms of dimensional change after the
welding is over. While the residual stresses can reduce the service life of a structure or even
cause catastrophic failures, distortion usually results in misalignment with consequent
difficulties in assembly and poor appearance of the final structure.

Residual Stress
Three main reasons for the development of residual stresses in welded structure are
1. non-uniform heating and cooling of metal in and adjacent to the weld region,
2. volume shrinkage of metal in weld during solidification (freezing), and
3. microstructural change of metal, in particular solid state phase change in steel, on
solidification leading to volumetric strain.
Typical changes in temperature and thermally induced stresses during welding are shown
schematically in the Figure 4.2.8. The section A-A is far away from the welding heat source
and thus, is not affected by the same. The welding heat source is along the section B-B. Thus,
the longitudinal stresses will be close to zero in the region underneath the heat source since
molten metal cannot withstand any stress. In the region slightly away from the melt pool in
the transverse direction along section B-B, compressive stresses will be generated since
thermal expansion of this region will be restrained by the surrounding colder material, which
is at lower temperature. Along the section C-C, the weld metal and the adjacent base metal
are cooled and would shrink, thus producing tensile stresses since the compressive stresses
due to shrinkage in solidified melt pool will be opposed by the surrounding colder material.
As the weld metal will cool further, greater tensile stresses will be generated in the weld
center and compressive in the base metal as apparent along the section D-D.

Figure 4.2.8

Schematic distributions of temperature and longitudinal residual stresses in

fusion welding [2]

Effects of Residual Stress and Stress Relieving Methods

The effect of residual stress can be summarized as follows:

The effect of weld induced residual stresses on the performance of a welded structure is
significant only for the phenomena that occur at low applied stresses, such as brittle
fracture, fatigue and stress corrosion cracking.

As the level of applied stress increases, the effect of residual stress decreases.

The effect of residual stress tends to decrease after repeated loading.

The effect of residual stress on the performance of welded structures under applied
stresses greater than the yield strength is negligible.

Due to very high thermal gradient during welding process, it is not possible to avoid the
generation of residual stress. However, a number of stress-relieving methods are available
and applied after the welding. These stress-relieving methods include (a) vibratory stress
relieving, (b) peening of weld area, (c) post-weld heat treatment etc. Residual stress can also

be minimized if proper measures are taken during welding, such as preheating to primarily
reduce the temperature gradient and cooling rate, weld sequencing, preferring fillet weld over
a butt weld, etc.

Welding Distortion
Welding distortion is caused by the non-uniform expansion and contraction of the weld metal
and the adjacent base metal during the heating and cooling cycle of the welding process. The
extent of welding distortion will depend on various factors such as: (a) geometry of the joint,
(b) type of weld preparation, (c) width or volume of the web, (d) rate of heat input during
welding process, (e) volume of weld deposition, (e) alignment of structural elements in the
weldments, and (f) the sequence in which welds are made. Figure 4.2.9 schematically shows
six types of welding distortion which are common in fusion arc welding (a) transverse, (b)
longitudinal, (c) angular, (d) rotational, (e) longitudinal bending, and (f) buckling.

Figure 4.2.9

Types of distortion in fusion welding [2]

Guidelines for Minimizing Distortion

(1) Good fit-up of parts is important for minimizing distortion. As shown in Figure 4.2.3, the
maximum contact of all the mating surfaces minimizes the welding time and also the
requirement of the volume filler material. The more gap to fill, the greater the possible
weldment distortion.
(2) Heavier sections are less prone to distortion. So if distortion prevention is important to the
application, designers should consider the use of thicker, more rigid components.

(3) Long and thin sections are readily distorted and buckled unless a good rigid support is
provided. Use of short-flanged butt joint can minimize distortion in this case.
(4) Whenever possible, try to place welded joints in symmetric position. Distortion can be
reduced by placing welds opposite to one another which balance the shrinkage force in
the weld fillets.
(5) If sections of unequal thickness are to be welded together, then distortion can be reduced
by machining a groove in the thicker section such that the thickness of the both part at the
welded section becomes equal. (Figure 4.2.10).
(6) When dimensioning welded assemblies, it is essential that consideration be given to the
shrinkage inherent in each weld.

Figure 4.2.10 A short-flanged butt joint is often preferable for joining thin material [3]

Figure 4.2.11 Use of a machined groove to equalize wall thickness [3]

Exercise
1. Residual stresses can be measured by (a) stress relaxation method, (b) X-ray, (c) cracking
Method, (d) all the above.
2. What is the major problem when joining thin sheet by lap joint?
3. It is preferable to design groove joint in such a way that it would be subjected to (a)
tension only, (b) compression only, (c) tension or compression only, (d) tension and
compression simultaneously.
Ans. 1(d), 3(c)

References:
1. Bralla, Design for Manufacturability Handbook, The McGraw-Hill Companies
2. R. W. Messler (Jr.), Principles Of Welding (Processes Physics, chemistry and
Metallurgy), Wiley International, NY, 1999.
3. G Dieter, Engineering Design - a materials and processing approach, McGraw Hill,
NY, 2000.