POCK MARKS IN

SUBMERGE ARC
WELDING (SAW) DURING
CARBON STEEL
WELDING
 How to identify pock marks in SAW?

Pock marks on weld bead of Submerged Arc Welded part Air cavity at below to solidified slag
• When it occurred?
• It's commonly found with high Mn-silicate low basicity fluxes.
• It has been reported that if the manganese silicate flux viscosity at 1450 °C (2640 °F) is above 0.7 Pa · s (7 P),
a definite increase in weld surface pocking will occur.
• Pock marks have been associated with easily reducible oxides in the flux, which contribute oxygen to the weld
pool. The weld pool reacts with carbon to form carbon monoxide, which cannot be transported through a
high-viscosity flux and is trapped at the liquid-metal/flux interface. The result is a weld metal surface blemished
by surface defects or pocks.
• Because viscosity is sensitive to temperature and thus heat input, pocking can be the evidence that a flux
formulated for high-current welding is being used at too low a current or too great a travel speed.

• When it not occurred?

• High quality, and highly basic fluxes (Basicity 2.7 and above) will hardly produce this defect, unless they are
properly baked, or reused or recycled.
• Recycled fluxes will have too many fine particles which will hinder the passage of gases on the flux layer. Ideally
the gas pockets should all be entrapped in SAW flux layer.
 Suggestions to reduce this problem
1. Reduce travel speed, to allow more time for solidification and gas entrapment at the
same operating current. You may need a few trials to get the correct operating
parameters.
2. Remove surface scales or dirt, because they also generate gases.
3. Check the condition of fluxes, if it's too old with a lot of fines, sieve, and get rid
of the fines. If fluxes have too many fines, talk to manufacturer.
4. Last of all, if all solutions fail, change to basic fluxes (which generally have more
deoxidizers). However welding productivity may be hampered, because basic fluxes
are not high speed fluxes.