12/1/2020 Preheat and heat input to reduce hydrogen cracking risk - TWI

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DO INCREASED PREHEAT AND HEAT

INPUT ALWAYS REDUCE THE RISK
OF HYDROGEN CRACKING?

  

Frequently asked questions

Generally, increasing preheat enables the material to spend more time at a higher

temperature, thus allowing more opportunity for hydrogen to escape from the weld and heat

a ected zone, thereby reducing the risk of hydrogen cracking. However, if the steel has not

transformed from austenite, then the escape of hydrogen from the weld will be hindered

because the solubility of hydrogen is higher in austenite than in ferrite and the di usion

coe cient is lower. Care must therefore be taken with regard to the relative positions of

preheat and martensite nish temperatures to enable transformation to take place and

hydrogen to escape. An example of this incorrect use of increased preheat involved an AISI

8630 steel, which was found to have cracked at 250°C. Increasing the preheat temperature to

316°C still gave cracks, since M90 ~280°C, meaning that the transformation from austenite

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12/1/2020 Preheat and heat input to reduce hydrogen cracking risk - TWI

would be incomplete at the higher preheat temperature. Other measures, such as improved

hydrogen control, should have been implemented to prevent cracking.

The principal bene t of increasing heat input is a slower rate of cooling through

transformation from austenite, meaning that transformation to harder, more susceptible,

microstructures can be avoided. However, a larger weld bead size, arising from increased heat

input, will increase the di usion distance for hydrogen to leave the weld, thus permitting less

hydrogen to escape. The faster joint completion rate typically associated with higher heat input

will confer a shorter overall di usion time on the joint and will mean that the di usion distance

increases more rapidly. Thus, greater heat input can increase the hydrogen content of the weld

metal. For C-Mn steel weld metals, the hardness of the microstructure is not strongly

dependent on the cooling rate and the risk of cracking will increase with higher heat input over

a typical range of heat inputs.

Further information

More information on hydrogen cracking in ferritic steel welds can be found in the following.

Sorry, but some items are only available to TWI Industrial Member companies.

N Bailey et al., Welding Steels without Hydrogen Cracking, 2nd Edition, Abington Publishing Ltd,

1993.

PHM Hart, Hydrogen cracking - its causes, costs and future occurrence, Weld Metal Hydrogen

Cracking in Pipeline Girth Welds, Proc. 1st International Conference, Wollongong, Australia, 1-2

March 1999. Published by Welding Technology Institute of Australia (WTIA), Silverwater, NSW,

Australia, 1999.

You can read this paper on this website.

Defects: hydrogen cracks in steels - identi cation.

How do I measure the di usible hydrogen level in my ferritic steel weld?

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12/1/2020 Preheat and heat input to reduce hydrogen cracking risk - TWI

Fabrication cracking mechanisms in ferritic steels - a guide to best practice.

PHM Hart, 'Higher preheat - not always a panacea for hydrogen cracking'. TWI Research

Bulletin, Vol. 15, No.12, December 1974, pp. 375-376.

For more information please email:

contactus@twi.co.uk

Granta Park, Great Abington, Cambridge, CB21 6AL, UK

+44(0)1223 899000

contactus@twi.co.uk

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