Engineering Encyclopedia

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DEFECT-RELATED METAL FAILURES

Note: The source of the technical material in this volume is the Professional
Engineering Development Program (PEDP) of Engineering Services.
Warning: The material contained in this document was developed for Saudi
Aramco and is intended for the exclusive use of Saudi Aramco’s employees.
Any material contained in this document which is not already in the public
domain may not be copied, reproduced, sold, given, or disclosed to third
parties, or otherwise used in whole, or in part, without the written permission
of the Vice President, Engineering Services, Saudi Aramco.

Chapter : Corrosion For additional information on this subject, contact

File Reference: COE-110.08 PEDD Coordinator on 874-6556
Engineering Encyclopedia Materials Selection and Failure Analysis

Defect-Related Metal Failures

Section Page

TYPES OF MANUFACTURER DEFECTS ..................................................................... 2

Casting Defects ................................................................................................... 2
Centrifugal Castings.................................................................................. 4
Processing Defects.............................................................................................. 5
Additional Defects................................................................................................ 6
TYPES OF FABRICATION DEFECTS........................................................................... 7
Common Welding Defects ................................................................................... 7
Dimensional Defects ................................................................................. 7
Structural Discontinuities .......................................................................... 9
Weld Cracking ........................................................................................ 10
High Hardness Welds ............................................................................. 12
Additional Metal Defects .................................................................................... 12
Quench Cracking .................................................................................... 12
Cladding.................................................................................................. 13
Workmanship.......................................................................................... 13
Shipping, Storage, and Handling ............................................................ 13
SUMMARY................................................................................................................... 14

GLOSSARY ................................................................................................................. 15

REFERENCES............................................................................................................. 18

List of Figures

Figure 1. ID Surface Defect in Seamless Steel Tube .................................................... 6

Figure 2. Typical Single “V” Joint Design Dimensions................................................... 8
Figure 3. Acceptable and Unacceptable Weld Profiles.................................................. 9
Figure 4. Underbead Cracking .................................................................................... 11

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TYPES OF MANUFACTURER DEFECTS

Defects in metals account for a large number of field failures.

The defects often can be traced back to the manufacturer of the
material or the fabricator of the component/equipment.

Metals and alloys that are used in the petroleum industry usually
originate as castings that were poured from molten metal.
Complex component shapes that require little or no finishing are
produced by means of casting techniques such as sand, shell,
and investment molding. In other cases, molten metal is cast in
ingots, which are further processed into wrought products such
as bars or tubes with improved homogeneity and mechanical
properties.

Casting Defects

Several types of defects are inherent to castings. Failures most

commonly occur when the defects are of such size that the
remaining sound metal is insufficient to maintain the load
requirements of the part. In some cases, defects provide stress
risers which lead to crack propagation. In other cases, surface
defects cause flow-induced erosion or they provide regions for
concentration of corrodants, which cause accelerated corrosion.

Common castings defects include the following:

• Sand or nonmetallic inclusions, which occur when slag

particles, or sand that has broken away from the mold
become entrapped in the casting during solidification.
These defects can occur at any location within the casting,
and they must be identified by metallography or scanning
electron microscopy (SEM) that employs energy dispersive
X-ray spectroscopy.

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• Porosity, which is caused by gas bubbles that become

trapped within the molten metal and cannot escape during
solidification. Examples of gases that are generated during
pouring are vaporized moisture or binders in mold sands.
Large pores on the casting surface are called blowholes.
Porosity may occur in individual regions or it may be
randomly distributed through the casting. Additional types
of porosity are described as pinholes, interdendritic
porosity, and microporosity.

• Shrinkage, which occurs from thermal contraction during

solidification. Thinner sections of a casting solidify rapidly
and shrink, and thereby cause molten metal to feed from
the thicker, molten sections. As a result, shrinkage cavities
form in the thicker sections. These cavities usually are
more irregular than gas porosity.

• Hot tears, which occur primarily at corners or abrupt

changes in casting section thickness. They are caused by
shrinkage and stress concentration due to differential
thermal contraction. Hot tears appear as cracks which are
oxidized significantly.

• Cold shuts, which are surface or internal discontinuities

that are caused by a hot stream of molten metal as it flows
into or over an already solidified surface. Other
discontinuities can result when chaplets or chills inside the
mold fail to melt and become part of the casting.

• Misruns, which occur when a casting is not fully formed as

a result of premature solidification of the molten metal
before the mold is filled. Misruns typically exhibit rounded
edges or corners that may be rejectable for certain
applications.

The above defects represent some of the most common

problems with castings.

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In the analysis of failures in castings, it often is prudent to

radiograph the casting to locate defects. If a casting had one
defect that caused a failure, it often has additional, similar
defects. After defects are located, metallographic examinations
and elemental analyses are used to categorize the defects.
Experience indicates that when defects are found in a casting
such as a valve body or pump casing, similar valves or pumps
from the same foundry will also contain defects and, therefore,
these valves or pumps will require inspection.

Centrifugal
Castings
High temperature tubing that is used in the petroleum industry is
often centrifugally cast from high alloy steel. The process
involves the pouring of the molten alloy into molds that are
spinning at high velocities. The resulting product has superior
properties compared to static castings. While centrifugal
castings usually contain far fewer internal defects, poor melt
shop practices can result in surface defects that cause failures.
When orders are rushed, numerous defects can result. In one
case, a batch of centrifugal tubes was found to contain surface
pits and imperfections, hot cracks (formed while pulling tubes
from molds), dimensional problems, and weld defects (tubes are
welded together to make up coils).

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Processing Defects

Wrought alloy products typically are produced from castings that

are called ingots. The ingots are then hot rolled into
semifinished forms that are called blooms, billets, or slabs, or
forged into more complex shapes. Blooms and billets are further
hot rolled into bars and tubes, and slabs are rolled into sheets.
Final finishing may also involve cold rolling, cold drawing, and
extruding.

The above forming processes can create various defects, which

are mostly surface-related, in the finished products. The most
common defects are seams and laps, where the metal is folded
over, which result in unwelded discontinuities that are similar to
cold shuts. Rolled-in scale, scratches, roll marks, and internal
inclusions are additional defects that are found in finished
products.

Failures that result from processing defects are analyzed

through the use of ordinary metallographic and fractographic
methods. Defects in rolled, drawn, or extruded products usually
run longitudinally for great distances, and regions away from the
failure typically reveal indications of the defects. On the
surfaces, the defects may appear as thin lines or scratches.
Transverse cross sections provide information on the nature
and depth of the defect. Seams or laps appear in cross sections
as straight or curved cracks, as shown in Figure 1. In this case,
the defect was on the ID surface of the seamless tube, and it
caused a catastrophic failure. Defects do not necessarily have
to run deeply below the surface to cause problems. The sharp
tips of the defects are stress risers, which promote crack
propagation, and the defect regions often provide crevices for
contaminant concentration, corrosion, and environmental
cracking.

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Figure 1. ID Surface Defect in Seamless Steel Tube

Additional Defects

Refined metals and alloys have specified composition ranges or

limits for various elements. While occurrences are infrequent,
cast or wrought components may not meet compositional
specifications, and failures can result from degraded mechanical
and physical properties. The manufacturer of the alloy is
responsible for producing heats of material with compositions
within specifications.

Improperly applied and/or mixed (improperly identified) materials

are more common causes of failure than are off-chemistry
alloys. Mixed materials can occur at the manufacturer’s shop,
fabricator’s shop, or at various warehouses and supply
companies. In recent years, there have been specific equipment
problems that have involved substandard bolts and valves. For
the above reasons, compositional checks should almost always
be included in failure analyses.

Welded pipe and tubing have failed in service due to poor

welds. Quality problems with low frequency electrical resistance
welded (ERW) pipe in particular have resulted in failures.

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TYPES OF FABRICATION DEFECTS

Common Welding Defects

Failures in welds account for a high percentage of the total

number of failures in equipment. Defects occasionally occur in
shop welds, but more defects are found in field welds. Defective
welds may be produced from improper weld technique, incorrect
filler, or incorrect heat treatment. All welding must follow a
welding procedure and each procedure needs to be qualified
prior to use. The WPS (Welding Procedure Specification) and
PQR (Welding Procedure Qualification Record) are the two
pieces of documentation that are required. Common welding
defects and their descriptions are listed below:

Dimensional
Defects
When weldment dimensions do not meet specifications,
structures and components are prone to failure by overload.
Common dimensional defects are as follows:

• Weld Discontinuities due to Incorrect Joint Preparation:

Incorrect preparation of a joint with the proper dimensions
can result in weld discontinuities and possible failure.
Typical single “V” joint design dimensions are shown in
Figure 2. The joint geometry is keyed to weld composition,
thickness, and welding process.

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1 - Bevel Angle
2 - Groove Angle
3 - Groove Face
4 - Land (Root Face)
1 5 - Gap (Root Opening)

5
3
4

Figure 2. Typical Single “V” Joint Design Dimensions

• Weld Discontinuities due to Joint Misalignment, which

refers to offset or mismatch across butt joints. This
misalignment causes stress risers at the toe and root of the
weld.

• Undersized Welds, which result in inadequate strength for

the intended application.

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Structural
Discontinuities
Types of structural discontinuities are as follows:

• Porosity and Slag Inclusions, which affect the soundness

of welds just as in the case of castings.

• Incomplete Fusion, which results when the weld metal

does not fuse to the base metal or when successive weld
passes do not fuse to each other.

• Incorrect Weld Profiles (Figure 3), which can result in

incomplete fusion or slag inclusions when successive
layers are deposited. Improper profile can also lead to
stress risers. Undercutting, underfill, and overlap are
common causes of failures.

Acceptable Butt Weld Profile

R

R
Note: R denotes reinforcement.

Unacceptable Butt Weld Profiles

Excessive Insufficient Excessive

Overlap
Convexity Throat Undercut

Figure 3. Acceptable and Unacceptable Weld Profiles

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Weld Cracking
Cracks occur in the weld metal, base metal, and heat-affected
zone (HAZ) of a weldment when localized stresses exceed the
ultimate tensile strength of the metal. Cracking is often
associated with stress risers at discontinuities or mechanical
notches in the weldment. Hydrogen embrittlement often
contributes to crack formation in steel. Cracking also can result
from insufficient preheat, excessive interpass temperatures,
using the wrong filler metal, rapid cooling, or poor fit-up.

Cracks can be classified as either “hot” or “cold” types. Hot

cracks develop at elevated temperatures, commonly during
solidification of the weld metal. Hot cracks may be associated
with impurities and high restraint. Cold cracks result from
thermal stresses developed during cooling and are often
associated with hardenable alloys, high restraint, and/or
hydrogen embrittlement. Hot cracks propagate intergranularly,
while cold cracks can be either transgranular or intergranular.

In multiple layer welds, weld cracking is most likely to occur in

the first weld layer (root pass or root bead). Unless the cracking
is repaired, crack propagation occurs through subsequent
passes as the weld is completed.

Three types of cracks that can occur in weld metal are as

follows:

• Transverse Weld Cracks, which appear perpendicular to

the axis of the weld and, in some cases, extend beyond the
weld into the HAZ and base metal. This type of crack is
more common in joints that have a high degree of restraint.

• Longitudinal Weld Cracks, which are found mostly within

the weld metal and are confined to the center of the weld.
Such cracks may be the extension of cracks that were
formed at the end of the weld or in the root of the weld.

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• Crater Cracks, which occur whenever the welding

operation is interrupted and a crater is formed. The cracks
are usually star-shaped and progress only to the edge of
the crater. However, crater cracks can be initiation sites
for larger longitudinal and transverse cracks. Crater cracks
are found most frequently in alloys with high coefficients of
thermal expansion, such as austenitic stainless steels.

Weld cracking that is caused by hydrogen embrittlement can

also occur in the HAZ and base metal. This cracking generally
occurs at temperatures below 120 °C (248 °F) and immediately
upon cooling or after a period of several hours. Such cracking
is known by several names, including underbead, cold, and
delayed cracking.

• Underbead Cracking (Figure 4) typically occurs in the HAZ,

may be transverse or longitudinal, and is almost always
associated with hardenable steel alloys.

Weld Metal

Heat Affected
Zone (HAZ)

Crack

Figure 4. Underbead Cracking

• Lamellar tearing is a form of cold cracking that results from

high stress in the through-thickness direction. Lamellar
tears are generally terrace-like separations in base metal
that are caused by welding thermal stresses. Inclusions
are often associated with the cracking. Fractographic
examination of the cracks reveals a fibrous appearance.

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High Hardness
Welds
Carbon steel generally is easy to weld. However, if the welding
process is not followed correctly, or the carbon content of the
steel is too high, high hardness in the weld metal or heat
affected zone may occur. Hardnesses above approximately
200 HB or 225 HB, which is determined by using the Brinell
hardness scale discussed in COE 106.07, generally are
considered “high.” High hardnesses can result in cracking in
service, especially if the service contains hydrogen sulfide or
caustic. Proper weld procedures must be used to avoid high
hardness welds. If the hardness continues to be too high, a post
weld heat treatment (PWHT) should be performed. Alloy steels
harden very easily and almost always require a post weld heat
treatment.

Additional Metal Defects

Incorrectly following heat-treating requirements/specifications

can result in corrosion or mechanical failures in service.
Quench cracking is one of the most serious problems with
hardenable steels.

Quench Cracking
This type of cracking can occur when ferritic steels are heated
above approximately 816 °C (1500 °F) and rapidly cooled
(quenched). As the steel is heated, the ferrite and pearlite
microstructure transforms to austenite. Upon quenching, brittle
martensite is formed and accompanied by internal stresses that
are due to the thermal gradients. The internal stresses place
the surface of the piece in tension, which results in immediate or
delayed cracking.

Quench cracks usually originate at the surface and propagate

toward the center of the piece. Cracks are very fine and clean
after quenching. If the piece was tempered after cracking, oxide
may be observed within the cracks. Fractographic examination
of the crack surfaces reveals a shiny, crystalline appearance
since quench cracks are always intergranular.

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Cladding
Cladding of vessels and equipment is performed for corrosion or
erosion resistance. Whether the clad is applied by co-rolling,
explosive bonding welding, or casting, it is important that a
sound interface is formed between the layers to avoid
delamination. Weld overlays, as well as weld joints where clad
sections are fabricated, are especially prone to failure due to
defects.

Failures in weld overlayed equipment result from many of the

same defects, especially porosity, slag inclusions, and brittle
cracking, that are found in other welded joints.

Workmanship
While most failures can be explained in terms of a scientific
mechanism, the root cause of many failures is poor
workmanship. Lack of reasonable cleanliness can result in
contamination and corrosion. Careless work habits can result in
failures. For example, failures have been analyzed where
catastrophic cracks grew from defects such as arc strikes on the
workpiece.

Shipping, Storage,
and Handling
When it is not well protected, equipment is often damaged
during shipment or installation. Excessive vibration and
exposure to the atmosphere during transit have caused fatigue
cracking and stress corrosion cracking. Bumping and dropping
components during installation have caused overload and
impact failures.

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SUMMARY

This module described the characteristics of the typical failures

that are related to manufacturer defects and fabrication defects.
Manufacturing defects are typically casting or process related.
Fabrication defects are typically associated with welding
defects.

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GLOSSARY

billet A semifinished product with a smaller rectangular cross

section than a bloom, that is produced by hot rolling,
forging, or extrusion.

bloom A semifinished product with a rectangular cross section

that is produced by hot rolling an ingot.

castings (cast alloys/ Parts or components that are solidified (molded) directly
static castings) from liquid metal into the desired shape.

chaplets Solid metal that is used to support internal parts of the

mold. (Similar to chills.)

centrifugal castings Cylindrical shapes that are formed by solidification in a

rotating mold, and result in improved physical properties.

chills Solid pieces of metal that are added to a mold to increase

the rate of solidification in regions of the casting. The chill
becomes part of the casting.

cladding The attachment of a special alloy to a component surface

to improve corrosion or erosion (wear) resistance.

cold cracks Cracking in weld regions after the weld has cooled.
(cold cracking)

cold drawing Final forming by pulling bars or tubes through a die of a

desired cross section.

cold shuts Discontinuities that are formed in castings when molten

metal solidifies over previously solidified metal.

crater cracks Cracks that occur in the final molten puddle that remains at
the end of a weld pass.

defect Flow in a part or piece of equipment that exceeds the limits

of standards.

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extrusion Hot or cold forming of metal or plastic by pushing billets

through a die of the desired cross section.

flaw Detectable imperfection in a part or piece of equipment.

forged (forging) Hot forming of metal into desired shapes by means of

compressive stresses.

Heat-Affected Zone Region that is adjacent to welds and in which the base
(HAZ) metal mechanical properties and microstructural features
were altered by heating.

hot cracks (hot Cracking in weld regions that occurs while the region is at
cracking) high temperatures due to welding.

hot tears Casting defect that is caused by shrinkage and stress

concentration due to differential thermal contraction.

indication A flaw or defect detectable by NDE.

incomplete fusion Lack of metallurgical bonding (mixing of molten metals) of

weld metal to base metal or between weld passes.

lamellar tearing Base metal cracking that is parallel to the rolling direction
of plates, and is caused by thermal stress.

misrun Casting defect that results from incomplete filling of the

mold.

nonmetallic inclusions Foreign particles that have been entrapped in castings

during solidification.

porosity Casting defect that is caused by gas bubbles.

quench cracking Cracking, that is caused by internal stresses, which were

created by rapid cooling from a high temperature.

rolling Hot or cold forming of metal by compressing metal

between mechanical rolls.

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shrinkage Casting defect that is caused by thermal contraction during

solidification.

underbead cracking Cracks that occur in the HAZ of hardenable steel welds.

Welding Procedure A record of welding data that is used for a test coupon.

Qualification Record The supporting data used to establish a WPS.

(PQR)

Welding Procedure A document that provides instruction to the welder on how

Specification (WPS) to make a weld that complies with the code.

workmanship Quality that is imparted to a product by the craftsman.

wrought products Metal forms that are produced by hot working after
(wrought alloys) solidification. Wrought materials with improved properties
generally are more homogeneous than are castings.

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REFERENCES

1. D. B. Roach and F. H. Beck, “Performance and Reliability

of Corrosion-Resistant Alloy Castings,” MTI Manual No. 5:
Phase 1 Causes of Unsatisfactory Performance, and MTI
Manual No. 6: Phase 2 Casting Discontinuities, Materials
Technology Institute of the Chemical Process Industries,
Columbus, Ohio, USA, 1981.

2. American Society for Metals (ASM), “Failure Analysis and

Prevention,” Metals Handbook, Ninth Ed., Vol. 11, Metals
Park, Ohio, USA, 1986.

3. The Making, Shaping, and Treating of Steel, Tenth Ed.,

Association of Iron and Steel Engineers, Herbick and Held,
Publishers, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA, 1985.

4. R. D. Port and H. M. Herro, The Nalco Guide to Boiler

Failure Analysis, McGraw-Hill, Inc., New York, New York,
USA (1991).

5. American Society for Metals (ASM), “Fractography,” Metals

Handbook, Ninth Ed., Vol. 12, Metals Park, Ohio, USA
(1987).

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