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Materials Today: Proceedings 5 (2018) 24741–24749 www.materialstoday.com/proceedings

IConAMMA_2017

A review on methodologies to reduce welding distortion

V.D.Kalyankara, Prassan Shahb,*
a
Sardar Vallabhbai National Institute of Technology. Surat 395007, India
b
HJD Institute of Technical Education and Research Kera 370043, India

Abstract

The weld component which is to be assembled has to be in limit of geometric dimension and tolerance otherwise considerable
amount of energy and time will be consumed to repair the welding distortion. It also induces residual stress which degrades not
only mechanical properties but can be a cause of stress induced corrosion crack. It is inevitable to know the mechanism of
welding distortion and techniques to reduce it. This article represents these two important aspects. Distortion is classified into
three ways as action is taken before, transient or after welding. All these techniques cannot be applied to one process and material
so pro and cons of these techniques have been concluded along with its effectiveness in particular type of distortion.
© 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Selection and/or Peer-review under responsibility of International Conference on Advances in Materials and Manufacturing Applications
[IConAMMA 2017].

Keywords:Distortion; temperature distribution; welding process; pre welding and post welding.

1. Introduction

As it is observed that welding involves localized heating and cooling of material, which is prime reason for
producing distortion. As welding commences, temperature of the region near the joint starts increasing. It is a fact
that due to rise in temperature, every material starts to expand, provided no restraint is there. There are three types of
expansion [1] observed in the material namely solid expansion, transitional and fluid expansion. Solid expansion
occurs when the solid is heated up to transitional temperature, transitional expansion occurs when the solid converts
from one crystalline structure to another structure but the metal is still in the form solid and fluid expansion occurs
when the metal change its state from solid to liquid. But continuation of expansion is not possible due to nearby low
temperature region. Nonlinearity of temperature distribution can be observed from Fig.1.

* Corresponding author. Tel.: +0-992-5485-5725.

E-mail address:pmshah05me649@gmail.com

2214-7853© 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Selection and/or Peer-review under responsibility of International Conference on Advances in Materials and Manufacturing Applications
[IConAMMA 2017].
24742 V.D.Kalyankar,P.M.Shah/ Materials Today: Proceedings 5 (2018) 24741–24749

Fig. 1. Calculated temperature distribution along x, y and z direction of the plate for point heat source [1].

The temperature distribution in the joint is not uniform and changes with time. Fig.1.1. demonstrates the
temperature distribution of a butt joint under a moving heat source, shown in isothermal curves. The temperature is
highest around the heat source, and the shape of the isothermal curves is almost a circle. Apart from the heat source,
isothermal curves become elliptic. When the joint is sufficiently long, the same temperature distribution is moving
with the moving heat source except near the starting and finishing points of welding. It is also observed that the
slope of temperature gradient around the heat source is very steep in any direction and apart from the heat source
along the welding direction; it becomes gentle in its direction, but remains steep in the transverse direction. It proves
that the temperature gradient is non-linear. Due to this nonlinearity of temperature gradient thermal expansion and
contraction are also not same which results into indirect cause of distortion.
It is obvious that the expansion cannot be carried out continuously due to adjacent cooler region,
compressive stresses are generated within the weld region. As the temperature is higher at that time the yield
strength of material is lower and material will be plasticized. Now as the weld join will cool to room temperature the
cycle will reverse and tensile stress will be generated within the weld region. This tensile stress will be compensated
with compressive stress generated away from weld joint. But excessive compressive stress will be always present
within the weld region and if this stress does not reach the yield stress than this stress will be stored within the
material in the form of residual stresses. Due to this residual stresses the mechanical properties will be degraded so it
needs to follow the post weld heat treatment process like annealing.
Vetriselvan et al. [2] presented the effect of temperature distribution on welding of tube-tube fillet weld
joint. FEM analysis has done to record the thermal cycle and its effect on welding distortion is also observed. Tsai et
al.[3] presented thermo-elastic-plastic phenomena to define the mechanism of distortion. As per the temperature
reached during welding, material is bifurcated into four regions and distortion is observed in each region. Okano et
al. [4] represented the effect of cooling on the thermal cycle and consequently distortion. Overall, from the past
literature, it is observed that welding distortion is bound to occur in welding process and has complex nature of
formation. It also consumes time and energy to repair.
Keeping in view the importance of distortion in weld joints, important types of distortion have been
discussed in section 2, important techniques to reduce the welding distortion are discussed in section 3 and lastly
important conclusions have been deduced from above.
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2. Important types of welding distortion.

When the residual stress within a material reaches beyond its yield stress distortion is observed. It is caused
due to uneven expansion and contraction of metal. Distortion changes the shape of component after welding and in
which manner it occurs, the classification of welding distortion is done in two ways [5] namely in plane welding
distortion and out of plane welding distortion. Again in plane welding distortion can be sub classified into angular,
transverse and longitudinal distortion. Buckling distortion is a type of out of plane welding distortion.

2.1. Angular distortion.

It is bending transverse perpendicular to weld and along the thickness due to non-uniform heating and
cooling of plate. It is also observed in T-joints where it tries to move the vertical member to out of perpendicularity
as shown in Fig.2. It is major cause of mismatch in assembly and dimensional inaccuracy. This type of distortion
causes due to welding of joints along one side only. So it can be removed by doing welding on both sides. It can be
controlled by pre cambering the welded part so after welding it will come in horizontal or vertical position. Another
method to prevent it is to weld from back side of joint. The schematic presentation of angular distortion is shown in
Fig. 2.

Fig.2. Schematic representation of angular welding distortion [5]

2.2. Transverse distortion.

Transverse distortion is produced due to shrinkage perpendicular to the weld direction and it is responsible
for producing high residual stress and also cracking in case of highly restrained joints. Due to transverse shrinkage
the width of plate is decreased. The tendency of it is to decrease the width of plate and it can be easily seen in Fig. 3.
This distortion is observed mainly in groove type of weld joint. Transverse welding distortion can be reduced by
providing tacks at the two ends and at intermediate of joint.

Fig. 3. Schematic representation of transverse welding distortion [5]

2.3. Longitudinal distortion.

Longitudinal shrinkage is produced in the direction of welding. Its effect can be seen higher along the weld
line and away from it longitudinal distortion is lesser. It is noticeable when the length of plate is higher. It is
produced mainly due to the contraction of weld reinforcement that is above the weld surface. This contraction pulls
the weldment when it cools so its effect is highest at the start and end of welding because at this portion no adjacent
24744 V.D.Kalyankar,P.M.Shah/ Materials Today: Proceedings 5 (2018) 24741–24749

material is available. This effect can be minimized in general by keeping the weld reinforcement minimum in
groove joint and by introducing convexity in fillet joint. It can be easily analysed by Fig. 4. This indicates the shape
of plate before and after welding.

Fig.4. Schematic representation of longitudinal distortion. [5]

2.4. Buckling distortion (Out of plane welding distortion.)

Fig. 5. shows the manner of buckling distortion. Out of plane buckling distortion is combination of three
distortions namely longitudinal, transverse and angular distortion. In thick plate only transverse distortion is
dominant and in case of thin plate for out of plane distortion buckling and transverse both are dominant. This is
generated due to induction of thermal and mechanical residual stresses within it. This type of distortion is very
difficult to control and it can be minimized by controlled and well defined flame heating processes.

Buckling distortion
Fig.5 Schematic representation of buckling distortion[5].

3. Important techniques to reduce welding distortion.

It is observed that welding distortion can be an adverse phenomenon which is bound to occur during
welding. Due to it, dimensional integrity will be lost which results in mismatch in assembled parts. For example in
ship building thin plates are used on which vertical stiffeners are fitted with fillet welding. From Fig.6 it can be
concluded that large amount of time and energy is required for joining below panel with adjacent panel.

Fig. 6. A sample of simulated distorted welded ship structure [5].

 V.D.Kalyankar,P.M.Shah/ Materials Today: Proceedings 5 (2018) 24741–24749 24745

So here important welding distortion techniques are discussed and as per the action taken before, in process
or after welding, these techniques are classified as follows.
3.1 Pre welding distortion prevention method.
3.2 In transient welding distortion prevention method.
3.3 Post welding distortion prevention method.
Important description of all these methods is presented individually in the following sections.
3.1. Pre welding distortion prevention method.
It would be better if there would not be any distortion after welding. In this category, the technique is
included which is applied before welding. In most of the techniques in this category, mechanical restraint is
provided to compensate the distortion. It is relatively easy to follow this process and they are inevitable to follow
with subsequent process. However these techniques can result into residual stress which is harmful. However in this
technique finite element analysis is required to find out the effectiveness.
Feng [6] stated that cambering a component before welding can be beneficial to prevent the permanent
distortion. When welding is completed, cambered part will experience plastic distortion but in direction opposite to
it. So component will return after springing back by minimal distortion. Schenk et al. [7] stated the effect of
clamping parameter on the prevention of welding distortion. With the experiments he showed that clamping force
and clamping time are effective parameter to be considered to reduce welding distortion. With increase in clamping
time and force one can reduce the angular distortion in thin plate but it can lead to formation of buckling distortion.
It has to be optimization between these two parameters. Venketesh et al. [8] did experiment with FCAW welding on
stainless steel 409M to study the effect of welding parameter like welding current, voltage and shielding gas on
welding distortion. With their experiments it has been shown that larger the bead width and lower the penetration
lead to increase in angular distortion. Increase in current, voltage leads to increase in angular distortion and increase
in shielding flow rate decrease in angular distortion. Shao et al. [9] represented the influence of welding sequence
with other parameters like welding speed, current and voltage.

In transient welding reduction method.

It has been claimed that the action taken to prevent the welding before or after the welding leads to
consumption of considerable amount of time. So a process is required to develop which has capability to control the
welding distortion in process only. It can reduce the welding distortion with larger magnitude because it acts with
thermal cycles and produces tensile stress which can compensate the compressive stress.
Deo et al. [10] stated the thermal transient method to control the angular and buckling distortion. As shown in Fig.7.
on both side electrical heaters are there which has temperature of 250˚C before welding commences. With
experiment it claimed that with only thermal transient method only buckling distortion can be controlled and with
the help of mechanical restraint it is possible to control angular and buckling distortion also.

Fig.7. Schematic Representation of experimental set up of thermal transient method. [10]

24746 V.D.Kalyankar,P.M.Shah/ Materials Today: Proceedings 5 (2018) 24741–24749

Li et al. [11] presents DC-LSND (Dynamically Controlled Low Stress No Distortion) method which is
based on FE analysis. Here one heat sink is travelled behind the heat source at particular distance with calculated
flow rate of water in such a way that saddle like temperature distribution is produced. In saddle shape only lowest
temperature is existed and due to high cooling tensile stress will be generated which compensate the effect of
compressive stress generated due to heating of welding. This technique is very effective which produces no
distortion and small amount residual stress. Schematic representation is given in below Fig. 8. Here for cooling,
atomized water is used which increases the heat transfer rapidly.

Fig. 8 Schematic representation of DC-LSND experimental set-up [11]

Lin et al.[12] represents the concepts of PWH(Parallel Heat Welding) in which along with autogenously
TIG welding as shown in Fig.9. Two heating torch also moves parallel to the welding. Here reduction in temperature
gradient principle is used. Due to side heating adjacent temperature of weldment will increase and this reduces
temperature gradient and reduction in residual stress and distortion

C. Lin

Fig. 9. Schematic representation of PWH [12]

Zargar et al. [13] have represented the effect of welding sequence on welding distortion. He has done
experiment with different welding sequences on already butt welded plate and analyzes the effect of welding
sequence on fillet weld joint on it. With experiments it has been shown that direction from center to out of the plate
shows relatively better control on welding sequence. Fig.10 shows the different welding sequences of fillet weld.
Here sequence “e” has lowest angular distortion compared to remaining welding sequences.
 V.D.Kalyankar,P.M.Shah/ Materials Today: Proceedings 5 (2018) 24741–24749 24747

Fig. 10. Five different welding sequences of fillet welded plates [13].
Guo et al.[14] has represented the effect of angular welding distortion on the position of cooling torch is
obvserved. Fu et al.[15] has represented the effect of welding sequence on DH36 metal for fillet welding. It is
observed that double sided welding can result into smaller distortion. Ilman et al[16] has represented the effect of
static thermal tensioning technique to reduce the residual stress, distortion and fatigue crack growth.

3.2. Post welded distortion reduction techniques

This technique deals with welding distortion after produced so as far as possible this stage should not faced.
However if distortion has been there then above techniques are useful. These techniques are on the basis of
reduction of distortion by thermal reverse cycle. It consumes considerable amount of time and chances of over
burning is there so it can be used with appropriate attention. Cozzolino et al.[17] represented a method in which
roller moves with stipulated force immediately after welding on the toe of weld bead to minimize the welding
distortion. He has done two experiments for study of distortion first one roller directly on weld bead and second with
two rollers nearby the weld bead. It has been shown that rolling on top of weld is more beneficial to reduce welding
distortion because in two roller methods location of roller are very important to weld bead and affect the result
significantly. Here also load on the rollers are important to prevent the welding distortion because it changes the
amount of compressive stresses applied on it.Fig.11. represents the schematic representation of both methods.

Fig. 11. (a, c) Schematic representation of rolling on the bead, (b, d) Schematic representation of two rollers method [17].

Zhang et al. [18] stated that after welding provision of a strong temperature field can reduce the residual stress of
turbine bladder. If the temperature is higher than 800˚C then there can be corrosion crack at the corner of blade.
Press straightening [1] method can be more beneficial in butt welded parts with no projecting components on it. This
method can reduce the welding distortion up to zero level. LSP(Laser Shock Processing) [3] method is also used to
reduce the welding distortion. Here like shot penning and rolling method high pulse laser shock are produced on the
24748 V.D.Kalyankar,P.M.Shah/ Materials Today: Proceedings 5 (2018) 24741–24749

surface and subsurface of weld. Load of compressive stress is higher of 4 to 7 times than that of shot penning
method. Hacini et al. [19] represented the effect of hot peening on residual stresses on 304L stainless steel plates. It
is observed that after doing hot peening less residual stress and distortion is found. Gao et al.[20] has represented a
new technique of Ultrasonic Impact Treatment on weld bead to reduce residual stress, distortion and fatigue life of
weld bead.
There are many important techniques to control the welding distortion but each has its application in
particular region of processes and depends on geometry of component. Investigation has to be done before applying
the process. Many a time it required to follow a combination of techniques to fulfill our requirement. Application of
techniques depends upon the type of distortion. For example angular distortion in fillet welded vertical component
can be controlled easily by precamebring technique while controlling buckling distortion transient welding
distortion techniques are required.

4. Conclusion

In this article, mechanism of welding distortion has been discussed and the types of welding distortion and
techniques to reduce the welding distortion are also presented. On the basis of these, following important conclusion
conclusions are drawn.

(1) If distortion is not present then it may be the case of induced residual stress. These stresses are adverse in
context of mechanical and metallurgical properties.
(2) Action taken before and after to prevent welding distortion can lead to consume considerable amount of time.
So, if possible in progress welding distortion reduction method should be followed.
(3) With comparison of pre cambering and optimized parameter method, latter is beneficial because it reduces the
welding distortion without consuming time and money while former requires design of some fixture. Use of
excessive current also results into more weld bead reinforcement which can create corrosion and aesthetic
problem.
(4) DC-LSND method requires FEM analysis and it has capability to reduce distortion at zero level and residual
stress at minimal level.
(5) In post weld mitigation method, shape and size are two important factors needs to be considered. For complex
shape LPS or PWHT technique is more beneficial and for simple shape press straightening is good option.

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