Introduction

Welding
Application in
Power
Generation
Vinsensius Widi Sulistya
  Welding is an operation whereby two or more parts are united by
means of heat or pressure or both. It is usually used on metals and
thermoplastics but can also be used on wood.
 Some materials require the use of specific processes and
techniques. A number are considered 'unweldable' a term not
usually found in dictionaries but useful and descriptive in
engineering.
 The parts that are joined are known as a parent material. The

Definition material added to help form the join is called filler or consumable.
The form of these materials may see them referred to as parent
plate or pipe, filler wire, consumable electrode (for arc welding),
etc.
 Consumables are usually chosen to be similar in composition to the
parent material, thus forming a homogenous weld, but there are
occasions, such as when welding brittle cast irons, when a filler
with a very different composition and, therefore, properties is
used. These welds are called heterogeneous.
 The completed welded joint may be referred to as a weldment.
Joining Metals

 As opposed to brazing and soldering, which do not melt the base metal,
welding is a high heat process which melts the base material. Typically with
the addition of a filler material.
 Heat at a high temperature causes a weld pool of molten material which cools
to form the join, which can be stronger than the parent metal. Pressure can
also be used to produce a weld, either alongside the heat or by itself.
 It can also use a shielding gas to protect the melted and filler metals from
becoming contaminated or oxidised.
  Plastics welding also uses heat to join
the materials (although not in the case
of solvent welding) and is achieved in
three stages.
 Firstly, the surfaces are prepared
Joining Plastics before heat and pressure is applied
and, finally, the materials are allowed
to cool to create fusion. Joining
methods for plastics can be separated
into external or internal heating
methods, depending on the exact
process used.
Joining Wood

Wood welding uses heat generated from friction to join This is a fast process which allows wood to be joined
the materials. The materials to be joined are subjected without adhesives or nails in a matter of seconds.
to a great deal of pressure before a linear friction
movement creates heat to bond the workpieces together.
  As the name suggests, arc welding uses an electric arc to melt materials before joining them
together. The electric arc is brought between the two materials using an electrode (mostly non-
consumable electrode).This electric arc can create temperatures upwards of 3500°C, which is
sufficiently high to melt high strength metals like carbon steel. This method also uses shielding
gas in conjunction with arc welding. This is because the atmospheric air can interact with the
weld pool and cause oxidation.

Arc Welding 


There are different types of arc welding such as Shielded Metal Arc Welding (SMAW), Flux-Cored
Arc Welding (FCAW), Submerged Arc Welding (SAW), Plasma Arc welding (PAW), etc.

Applications of Arc Welding:

❑ Shipbuilding

❑ Automotive industries

❑ Construction industries

❑ Mechanical industries

 Advantages of Arc welding:

❑ Suitable for high-speed welds

❑ Simple welding apparatus

❑ Portability as a result of the simple equipment

❑ Can work on AC or DC

❑ Superior temperatures

 Disadvantages of Arc Welding:

❑ Not suitable for welding thin metals

❑ Requires skilled welders

❑ Cannot be used for reactive metals like Al or Ti

SMAW (Shielded Metal Arc Welding) SAW (Submerged Arc Welding)
  MIG or Metal Inert Gas Welding is another welding method that uses an electric arc to create
welds. However, when compared with arc welding, MIG requires a consumable electrode to join
metals. A consumable electrode is a metal that supplies electricity to the weld joint. However,
MIG welding - the electrode itself undergoes melting when it is near the weld pool. Hence it gets consumed
during the welding process.

Metal Inert Gas  In MIG welding, the melted electrode facilitates the joining of the two metals. Hence, MIG is
ideal for joining dissimilar metals. Shielding gas is also supplied through the weld gun to ensure
that the weld pool does not interact with the atmospheric air.

Welding  Some of the popular applications of MIG welding:

❑ Used for most types of sheet metal welding

❑ Fabrication of pressure vessels and steel structures

❑ Automotive industry and home improvement industry

❑ Advantages of MIG welding:

 Creates high-quality welds

❑ Minor weld splatter

❑ Can be used to join dissimilar metals

❑ Can be fully or semi-automatic

❑ Good weld speed

 Disadvantages of MIG welding:

❑ Unsuitable for outside welding

❑ Unsuitable for thick metals

❑ Needs metal preparation

  Tungsten Inert Gas welding uses a tungsten electrode to create an arc between the metals. TIG
welding is a non-consumable electrode welding method, therefore the tungsten doesn’t get
consumed with the process.

TIG Welding -  TIG welding also doesn’t use any form of flux or slag for shielding. Instead, an inert gas is used
as a shielding agent in the entire process. Argon is the most commonly used inert gas in TIG
welding.

Tungsten Inert  TIG welding can work on both AC and DC power sources. One of the greatest strengths of TIG
welding is that it can be used for welding non-ferrous metals like aluminum, copper,

Gas Welding
magnesium, copper, nickel, titanium, etc.

 Some of the popular applications of TIG welding include:

❑ Aerospace and aircraft construction

❑ Automotive industry

❑ Auto body repairs

 Advantages of TIG welding:

❑ Very clean welds

❑ Offer a high degree of control to the welder

❑ Can be used with or without filler material

❑ Can be done in manual or automatic methods

❑ Creates strong welds

 Disadvantages of TIG Welding:

❑ Time-consuming

❑ Needs skilled welders

❑ Cannot be used for thicker metal joints

  There are two types of flux cored arc welding - Self-Shielded vs. Gas-Shielded Flux-Cored
welding.
 Self-shielded flux core welding produces slag and gas from the flux that is positioned inside
the electrode when they get hot enough. They do not require the use of an external
shielding agent.
 Gas shielded flux cored welding uses an external gas shielding and flux is only tasked with

Flux Cored Arc 

producing slag. This form of welding gives much more freedom to the welders as they can
control the shielding gas quantity and direction.
Flux-cored arc welding uses a consumable electrode for the welding process. FCAW cannot

Welding
be used on non-ferrous metals like Aluminum, copper, etc.
 Some of the popular applications of Flux Cored arc welding are:

(FCAW)
❑ Manufacturing plants
❑ Shipbuilding
❑ Industrial piping
❑ Railroads
❑ Maintenance and repair
 Advantages of Flux Cored arc welding:
❑ Excellent weld penetration
❑ Suitable for thicker joints
❑ Flexibility in terms of torch movement and orientation
❑ Does not require skilled welders
❑ The highest metal deposition rate
 Disadvantages of Flux Cored arc welding:
❑ Can result in slag inclusion
❑ Flux-cored wires are more expensive
❑ Weld is often not aesthetically pleasing
  Gas welding uses the heat from a concentrated flame to melt metals and then join them. Gas
welding is possible with or without filler metal.

Gas Welding  The flame is controlled using a welding torch. An oxygen gas canister and a fuel gas canister is
connected to the welding torch. The welder can control the flame by controlling the number of
gases fed to the torch using a pressure regulator.

Oxyacetylene  Most commonly, we see a gas combination of Oxygen and Acetylene which is capable of
producing 3200°C. Other fuel gases that are also seen in gas welding are Hydrogen, Butane, &
Propane.

Welding  Some of the popular applications of Gas welding are:

❑ Fabrication of sheet metal

❑ Automobile and aircraft industries

❑ Joining ferrous and non-ferrous metals

❑ Joining thin metals

 Advantages of Gas welding:

❑ Easily portable equipment

❑ Superior flame control

❑ Low cost and maintenance

❑ Can also be used for Gas Cutting

❑ Cheaper equipment cost

 Disadvantages of Gas welding:

❑ Not suitable for very think sections

❑ Lower temperatures than arc welding

❑ Harder to flux shield

❑ No suitable for reactive metals

 Parent Metal: Metal to be joined or surfaced by
welding, braze welding or brazing.

 Filler Metal: Metal added during welding, braze

welding, brazing or surfacing.

 Weld Metal: All metal melted during the making of

a weld and retained in the weld.

 Heat Affected Zone (HAZ): The part of the parent

metal metallurgically affected by the weld or
thermal cutting heat, but not melted.

 Fusion Line: Boundary between the weld metal and

the HAZ in a fusion weld. This is a non-standard
term for weld junction.

 Weld Zone: Zone containing the weld metal and the

HAZ.

 Weld Face: The surface of a fusion weld exposed on

the side from which the weld has been made.

 Weld Root: Zone on the side of the first run furthest

from the welder.

 Weld Toe: Boundary between a weld face and the

parent metal or between runs. This is a very
important feature of a weld since toes are points of
high stress concentration and often they are
initiation points for different types of cracks (eg
fatigue cracks, cold cracks). In order to reduce the
stress concentration, toes must blend smoothly into
the parent metal surface.

 Excess Weld Metal: Weld metal lying outside the

plane joining the toes. Other non-standard terms for
this feature: reinforcement, overfill.
Study case I

 S-W 561 MW generator rotor energized for 30 minutes at standstill. Melted

copper and forging damage in rotor slots
 Cause: Operator error.
 Solution:
❑ Replace damaged coils
❑ Weld repair slots
❑ Rewind rotor
❑ High speed balance
Study Case II

Rotor Weld Restoration

When a steam turbine or centrifugal compressor rotor is damaged or

inoperable, the associated downtime results in increased costs and lost
revenue. Although a rotor replacement is a possible solution, this can
bequite costly, and lead time can be over a year
 Shaft overlay for rotors that have
damage to seal areas, journals, and
couplings.
 Full disk stage rebuild for rotor disks
that have cracks or rub damage. Full
disk repair can also be used to retrofit
 Disk rim rebuild for rotors that have
damage to the disk rim or disk root
where blades are attached.
 Stub shaft repair for rotors that have
been bent, cracked, or have severe
damage at the ends.
Restoration
using SAW
method
 ▪ PWHT:
▪ Improve mechanical
Post Weld Heat properties e.g. hardness
value
Treatment ▪ Prevent hydrogen cracking
▪ Release residual stress after
welding
Finish Product

- Material upgrade more superior than existing

base material.
- Cost saving compare to manufacture new rotor
- Reduce downtime
Study Case III

Stress Corrosion Cracking (SCC)

of Low Pressure Rotor Blade
Attachments
 Stress corrosion cracking (SCC) of low-pressure steam
turbine rotor blade attachments is an industry issue on
older fossil and nuclear units. Many units have
experienced forced outages and/or extended repairs
due to direct or collateral damage. Cracks that initiate
in rotor steeples can eventually propagate to failure
resulting in blade loss and significant damage. Since SCC
is a chronic and time dependent failure mechanism,
older units that have not previously experienced
problems are not immune from future problems.
 However risks related to SCC can be mitigated through
good inspection and repair contingency planning.
Understanding the causes, available inspection
techniques, and repair options is key to preventing this
issue from impacting unit availability.
Causes

 Several factors must be present for SCC to occur including high tensile surface
stress, material susceptibility to corrosion, corrosive environment, and
service time. Low-pressure blade attachments on older units that operate
near the Wilson Line, where the sudden transition from superheat to high
quality steam occurs, often meet these conditions.
 Blade attachments are high stress locations due to the transfer of blade loads
to the rotor. Many older blade attachments, designed before the advent of
finite element analysis, were not optimized for stress concentrations. This
often results in very high peak surface stresses as confirmed by post failure
analysis of designs that had experienced SCC.
 With side entry blade designs, the inlet and exhaust
side of the disc should be grit blasted and polished with
scotch bright abrasives. These inspections should
concentrate in the highest stress locations of the hook
fit or Christmas tree root area. If cracking is suspected,
a blade group should be removed and light polishing
done as necessary to confirm findings.
 Tangential reverse steeple/disc attachments cannot be
directly inspected. In these cases, NDE technologies
such as phased array must be employed. OEMs and
many other inspection companies offer this as a service.
If cracking is detected, a few blades should be removed
to confirm sizing.
  In general, cracks of up to 10 mils depth can be polished
out. Cracks of up to 20 mils depth may be removed
depending on the design. In all cases, the
Restoration by grinding/polishing tool radius employed should be equal or
greater than the original hook fit radius to not adversely
Welding affect the stress concentration factor. Care must also be
taken to avoid altering blade bearing stress surfaces and
potentially introducing galling/fretting concerns. Since the
stress intensity of a polished out area is less than a crack
tip, carefully removing cracks results in improved
remaining service life.
 If a crack is larger than what can be safely removed, weld
repair is generally required. All OEMs offer removal of the
attachment and either weld build-up or welding on a ring
and machining to form a new attachment. If the current
outage does not allow time for repair, an analysis of growth
rates and estimate of remaining life must be made to
determine if a repair can be deferred. For analysis, the
material yield strength should be confirmed. This can be
accomplished with local hardness readings correlated to
ultimate tensile stress (UTS), which is typically 15 ksi
higher than the yield.
Question..
Thank you.