KULIAH

TEKNIK PENGELASAN LOGAM

BAB 6
METALURGI LAS BAJA
KARBON

JURUSAN TEKNIK MESIN

FAKULTAS TEKNOLOGI MANUFAKTUR - UNIVERSITAS JENDERAL ACHMAD YANI

PART - B

2020 TPL Bab 6 (Part B) 1

 Phase Diagram and CCT Diagram

Carbon steel weld: (a) HAZ; (b) phase diagram

Phase Diagram and CCT Diagram

The HAZ in a carbon steel can be related to the Fe–C phase diagram, if the
kinetic effect of rapid heating during welding on phase transformations is
neglected.
 HAZ : area in the workpiece that is heated to between the lower critical
temperature A1 (the eutectoid temperature) and the peritectic temperature.
 PMZ : area between the peritectic temperature and the liquidus temperature.
 Fusion Zone : area above the liquidus temperature.

Comparison between welding and heat treating of steel: (a) thermal

processes; (b) Fe–C phase diagram.

2020 TPL Bab 6 (Part B) 2

 The Fe–C phase diagram and the continuous-cooling
transformation (CCT) diagrams for heat treating carbon steels can
be useful for welding as well, but some fundamental differences
between welding and heat treating should be recognized. The
thermal processes during the welding and heat treating of a carbon
steel differ from each other significantly :
 First, in welding the peak temperature in the HAZ can approach
1500 °C. In heat treating, however, the maximum temperature is
around 900 °C, which is not much above the upper critical
temperature A3 required for austenite (γ) to form.
 Second, the heating rate is high and the retention time above
A3 is short during most welding processes (electroslag
welding being a notable exception). In heat treating, the heating
rate is much slower and the retention time above A3 is much
longer. The A1 and A3 temperatures during heating (chauffage)
are often referred to as the Ac1 and Ac3 temperatures,
respectively.

Weld Properties
 Weld metal memiliki komposisi yang berbeda dan thermal history yang
berbeda dengan base metal.
 Panas lasan memodifikasi (merubah) daerah HAZ (heat affected zone).
 Terjadi variasi strength, ductility, dan corrosion resistance di sepanjang lasan.

Peak Temperature & Cooling Rate

Peak Temperature (temperatur puncak)
 Grain growth on HAZ (perbesaran butir di HAZ)
 Local hardening and segregation of impurities at grain boundaries will
produce hot cracks (pengerasan lokal dan impurities tersegregasi di batas
butir menyebabkan hot crack).
 Harden material before welding will change to annealed structure due to
heat from welding (material yang dikeraskan sebelum pengelasan akan
kehilangan sifat kerasnya akibat panas tsb)
Cooling rate (kecepatan pendinginan)
 Quenching effect in HAZ (T = 800 to 500 °C)
 Microstructure varied from martensite, bainite, ferrite + carbide

2020 TPL Bab 6 (Part B) 3

 Microstructure of HAZ

Thermal gradients in HAZ

Cooling Time t8/5

Soundness of weld joint versus cooling rate

2020 TPL Bab 6 (Part B) 4

 Diagram TTT (Time to Temperature)
Cooling Rate, Cooling Time

 Heat Input
(Time in seconds)

 Plate thickness
Cooling Rate Microstructure
 Joint Shape
(butt joint, fillet joint)

 Preheat Temperature Mechanical Properties

Diagram TTT/CCT  Digunakan untuk mengetahui mikrostruktur yang

terbentuk pada pendinginan non-ekuilibrium

Diagram CCT (Continuous Cooling Transformation)

A = Austenite
F = Ferrite
P = Pearlite
B = Bainite
M = Martensite

2020 TPL Bab 6 (Part B) 5

  The base metal consists of a light-etching ferrite and a dark-
etching pearlite (position A).
 The HAZ microstructure can be divided into essentially three regions:
partial grain-refining, grain-refining, and grain-coarsening
regions (positions B–D).
 The peak temperatures at these positions are indicated in the phase
diagram.

Carbon steel weld and possible microstructure in the weld

Position B (partial grain-refining region) :

T > Ac1 : prior pearlite (P) colonies transform to austenite (γ) and
expand slightly into the prior ferrite (F) colonies upon heating to above
Ac1 and then decompose into extremely fine grains of pearlite and
ferrite during cooling.The prior ferrite colonies are essentially
unaffected.

Position C (grain-refining region) :

T > Ac3 : allowing austenite grains to nucleate. Austenite grains
decompose into small pearlite and ferrite grains during subsequent
cooling. The distribution of pearlite and ferrite is not exactly uniform
because the diffusion time for carbon is limited under the high heating
rate during welding and the resultant austenite is not homogeneous.

Position D (grain-coarsening region)

T >> Ac3 : allowing austenite grains to grow. The high cooling rate and
large grain size encourage the ferrite to form side plates from the grain
boundaries, called the Widmanstatten ferrite.

2020 TPL Bab 6 (Part B) 6

 HAZ Microstructure of Low Carbon Steel

(A) Base metal (C) Grain refining

(B) Partial grain refining (D) Grain coarsening

Fig. 17.3 HAZ microstructure of a gas–

tungsten arc weld of 1018 steel
(magnification 200X). Fig. 17.4 Mechanism of partial
grain refining in a carbon steel

Multi pass welding of low carbon steel

 Grain coarsening near the fusion
boundary results in coarse columnar
grains in the fusion zone that are
significantly larger than the HAZ grains
on the average.
 In multiple-pass welding of steels the
fusion zone of a weld pass can be
replaced by the HAZs of its subsequent
passes.
 This grain refining of the coarse-grained
fusion zone by multiple-pass welding has
been improved the weld metal toughness.
 Although martensite is normally not
observed in the HAZ of a low-carbon
steel, high-carbon martensite can form
when both the heating and the cooling
rates are very high, as in the case of
some laser and electron beam welding Fig. 17.5 Grain refining in multiple-
pass welding: (a) single-pass weld; (b)
microstructure of multiple-pass weld

2020 TPL Bab 6 (Part B) 7

 HAZ Microstructure of Medium and High Carbon Steel
Welding of higher carbon steels is
more difficult than welding lower
carbon steels because of the greater
tendency of martensite formation in
the HAZ and hence hydrogen
cracking.

 The base metal consists of a light-

etching ferrite and a dark-etching
pearlite (position A). Volume fraction of
pearlite is higher than low carbon steel
because of its higher carbon content.
 HAZ microstructure can be divided into
three regions: the partial grain-refining,
grain-refining, and grain-coarsening
regions (positions B–D).
HAZ microstructure of a gas–tungsten arc
weld of 1040 steel (magnification 400X).

 Because of the formation of martensite, preheating and control

of interpass temperature are often required when welding higher
carbon steels.
 For 1035 steel, the recommended preheat and interpass
temperatures are about 40 °C for 25-mm (1-in.) plates, 90 °C for
50-mm (2-in.) plates, and 150 °C for 75-mm (3-in.) plates
(assuming using low-hydrogen electrodes).
 For 1040 steel, they are about 90 °C for 25-mm (1-in.) plates,
150 °C for 50-mm (2-in.) plates, and 200 °C for 75-mm (3-in.)
plates.
 The reason for more preheating for thicker plates is because for
a given heat input the cooling rate is higher in a thicker plate.
In addition to the higher cooling rate, a thicker plate often has a
slightly higher carbon content in order to ensure proper
hardening during the heat-treating step of the steelmaking
process.

2020 TPL Bab 6 (Part B) 8

 When welded with preheating, the size of the HAZ increases but the
maximum hardness decreases. Examination of the HAZ microstructure
near the fusion boundary of the preheated weld reveals more pearlite and
ferrite but less martensite. This is because the cooling rate decreases
significantly with preheating.

Hardness profiles across HAZ of a 1040 steel : (a) without preheating, (b) with
250°C preheating.

HYDROGEN CRACKING
Cause
Hydrogen cracking occurs when the following four factors are present
simultaneously:
 hydrogen in the weld metal
 high stresses
 susceptible microstructure (martensite)
 and relatively low temperature (between -100 and 200 °C).

Fig. 17.16 Diffusion of hydrogen from weld

metal to HAZ during welding

2020 TPL Bab 6 (Part B) 9

 High stresses can be induced during cooling by solidification shrinkage
and thermal contraction under constraints. Martensite, especially hard and
brittle high-carbon martensite, is susceptible to hydrogen cracking. Since
the martensite formation temperature Ms is relatively low, hydrogen
cracking tends to occur at relatively low temperatures. For this reason,it is
often called “cold cracking” It is also called “delayed cracking” due to the
incubation time required for crack development in some cases.

Figure 17.16 depicts the diffusion of hydrogen from the weld metal to the HAZ
during welding. The terms TF and TB are the austenite/(ferrite + pearlite) and
austenite/martensite transformation temperatures. As the weld metal
transforms from austenite (γ) into ferrite and pearlite (α + Fe3C), hydrogen is
rejected by the former to the latter because of the lower solubility of hydrogen
in ferrite than in austenite. The weld metal is usually lower in carbon content
than the base metal because the filler metal usually has a lower carbon
content than the base metal. As such, it is likely that the weld metal
transforms from austenite into ferrite and pearlite before the HAZ transforms
from austenite into martensite (M). The build-up of hydrogen in the weld
metal ferrite causes it to diffuse into the adjacent HAZ austenite near the
fusion boundary, as indicated by the short arrows in the figure.

The diffusion coefficient of

hydrogen is much higher in ferritic
materials than austenitic
materials. The high diffusion
coefficient of hydrogen in ferrite
favors this diffusion process. On
the contrary, the much lower
diffusion coefficient of hydrogen in
austenite discourages hydrogen
diffusion from the HAZ to the base
metal before the HAZ austenite
transforms to martensite. This
combination of hydrogen and
martensite in the HAZ promotes
hydrogen cracking.

Diffusion coefficient of hydrogen in ferritic

and austenitic materials as a function of
temperature

2020 TPL Bab 6 (Part B) 10

 Appearance

 Figure 17.18 is a typical form of

hydrogen crack called “underbead
crack”. The crack is essentially
parallel to the fusion boundary.
Hydrogen cracking can be Fig 17.18 Underbead crack in a low-
accentuated by stress alloy steel HAZ (magnification 8X).
concentrations.
 Figure 17.19 shows cracking at the
junctions between the weld metal
surface and the workpiece surface of
a fillet weld of 1040 steel (28).This
type of crack is called “toe crack.”
The same figure also shows
cracking at the root of the weld,
where lack of fusion is evident. This
type of crack is called “root cracks.” Fig 17.19 Hydrogen cracking in a fillet
weld of 1040 steel (magnification 4.5X).

Remedies
A. Control of Welding Parameters

A.1. Preheating
The use of the proper preheat and interpass temperatures can help reduce
hydrogen cracking. Two general approaches have been used to select the most
appropriate temperatures. One approach is to use empirically derived tables that
list the steels and the recommended welding procedures, including the preheat and
interpass temperatures.The other approach is to relate the cracking tendency to the
hardenability of steels based on the carbon equivalence. Figure 17.24 shows the
recommended preheat and interpass temperatures based on this formula.
A.2. Postweld Heating
Postweld heat treatment, can be used to stress relieve the weld before it cools
down to room temperature. In the event that stress relief heat treatment cannot be
carried out immediately upon completion of welding, the completed weldment can
be held at a proper temperature to allow austenite to transform into a less
susceptible microstructure than martensite. Postweld heating can also help
hydrogen diffuse out of the. For most carbon steels, the postweld heat treatment
temperature range is 590–675°C (1100–1250°F).
A.3. Bead Tempering
Bead tempering in multiple-pass welding can also be effective in reducing
hydrogen cracking.

2020 TPL Bab 6 (Part B) 11

 Fig 17.23 Effect of preheating on hydrogen
cracking of a high-strength steel.

Fig 17.24 Effect of carbon equivalent

on preheat requirement to prevent
hydrogen cracking.

B. Use of Proper Welding Processes and Materials

B.1. Use of Low-Hydrogen Processes and Consumables

The use of lower hydrogen welding processes (such as GTAW or GMAW
instead of SMAW or FCAW) or consumables (such as basic rather than
cellulosic SMAW electrodes) reduces the amount of hydrogen present
in the welding zone. The electrodes should be kept in sealed
containers. If they are exposed, they may need to be baked around 300–
400°C (600–800°F) to dry them out.

B.2. Use of Lower Strength Filler Metals

The use of filler metals of lower strength than the base metal can help
reduce the stress levels in the HAZ and, hence, the chance of
hydrogen cracking.

2020 TPL Bab 6 (Part B) 12

 Why Preheat ?
Preheat reduces the temperature differential between the weld region and
the base metal.
 Reduces the cooling rate, which reduces the chance of forming
martensite in steels
 Reduces distortion and shrinkage stress
 Reduces the danger of weld cracking
 Allows hydrogen to escape

Interaction of preheat and composition

 Carbon equivalent (CE) measures ability to form martensite, which is

necessary for hydrogen cracking
 CE < 0.35 : no preheat or post weld heat treatment
 0.35 < CE < 0.55 : preheat
 CE > 0.55 : preheat and post weld heat treatment

 Preheat temperature as CE and plate thickness

Effect of preheating on the hardness of HAZ

Hardness distribu ons of 0.4C−1.5Mn−0.2Mo steel welds

2020 TPL Bab 6 (Part B) 13

 Effect of Preheat on HAZ hydrogen

Why Post Weld Heat Treatment (PWHT) ?

 The fast cooling rate associated with welding often produce

martensite.
 During post weld heat treatment, tempers any martensite that may
have formed (martensite transforms to ferrite and carbides)
 Reduces hardness
 Reduces strength
 Increases ductility
 Increases toughness
 Residual stress is decreased by the post weld heat treatment
 Rule of thumb : hold at temperature (600-650 °C for carbon steel)
for 1 hour per inch of plate thickness, minimum hold of 30
minutes.

2020 TPL Bab 6 (Part B) 14

2020 TPL Bab 6 (Part B) 15