International Journal of Pressure Vessels and Piping 83 (2006) 394–398

www.elsevier.com/locate/ijpvp

FCAW process to avoid the use of post weld heat treatment

A. Aloraier a,*, R. Ibrahim a, P. Thomson b
a
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Monash University, P.O. Box 197, Caulfield East, Vic. 3145, Australia
b
School of Physics and Materials Engineering, Monash University, Box 69M, Clayton, Vic. 3800, Australia

Abstract

Post weld heat treatment (PWHT) is the most common technique employed for relieving residual stresses after general repair welding. Besides,
the primary purpose of reducing the effect of stresses induced by welding, PWHT is also intended to temper the metallurgical structure of the heat-
affected zone (HAZ). Unfortunately, there are significant difficulties in carrying out post weld heat treatment such as; the complexity of weld
geometry, the possibility of distortion in the case of any mechanical loads, difficulty in heating symmetrically, and also PWHT may cause
degradation of the material properties (especially creep and tensile strength in the case of multi PWHT cycles). Most of the repairs in industry are
performed with manual metal arc welding (MMAW), however, the benefits of the flux cored arc welding (FCAW) process have been appreciated
by industry for many years.
Guidelines in the current welding standards in addressing the issue of temper bead welding (TBW) when fully automated flux cored arc welding
is used are very limited. This paper reports research work carried out to investigate, whether a fully automated flux cored arc welding process with
bead tempering can be used in repair welding instead of manual metal arc welding in order to eliminate the use of post weld heat treatment. The
paper also examines different percentages of bead overlaps and studies their effects on the mechanical properties as well as the microstructures.
The results show that desirable microstructures and hardness values can be obtained using flux cored arc welding when 70% bead overlap is used.
q 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Temper bead welding; Flux cored arc welding; Bead overlaps; Post weld heat treatment

1. Introduction overlaps and examines their effects on the hardness as well

TBW has been accepted and employed as an alternative
technique for PWHT [1–4]. TBW is affected enormously by
welding parameters such as wire diameter, heat input and
bead overlap [5,6]. Bead overlap is considered to be one of
the most important factors that needs to be controlled in
order to achieve a high percentage of refinement. Bead
overlap in any repair welding and especially near the toe
areas is very important in softening hard microstructure [7,8].
Repair welding in the industry is carried out by using 50%
bead overlap due to its practicality, however, recent
development in automated welding allows the use of
different percentages of bead overlap precisely [9]. Unfortu-
nately, there are limited number of detailed studies that focus
on bead overlaps and their effects on microstructure and
hardness. This paper studies different percentages of bead
* Corresponding author.
E-mail address: abdulkareem.aloraier@eng.monash.edu.au (A. Aloraier).
0308-0161/$ - see front matter q 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.ijpvp.2006.02.028
as the microstructures of the HAZ.
1.1. Post weld heat treatment (PWHT)
In repair welding, residual stresses may approach the yield
point of the steel and undesirable microstructures may also be
present due to fast cooling rates. Both situations are considered
detrimental to the performance of the weld repair. PWHT is the
common process for relieving residual stresses which are
locked into a component after it had been repaired by welding.
PWHT is also performed to temper hard and un-tempered
microstructures such as martensite.
The Australian Standard AS4458-1997 for example, states
that PWHT is intended to reduce residual stresses, improve
resistance to brittle fracture and stress corrosion, and it is also
intended to achieve or restore the material properties required
for the design and service conditions. Another major role of
PWHT is diffusing hydrogen trapped in the weldment as the
weld metal cools and solidifies.
There are many reasons for omitting PWHT altogether in
maintenance and repair activities because it is an expensive
process, both in the requirements of the equipment and in the
duration of the process which may go on for many hours.
 A. Aloraier et al. / International Journal of Pressure Vessels and Piping 83 (2006) 394–398 395

1.2. Bead tempering for avoiding PWHT
Several techniques for bead tempering have been developed
to modify the microstructure of both weld metal and HAZ in
order to improve the as-welded fracture toughness. Among
those are half bead and temper bead welding. In the half bead
technique, the beads of the first layer are ground back before
welding the next layer. In the TBW technique, however, the
subsequent weld passes partially heat treat the earlier passes.
The TBW technique was originally developed to minimize
the risk of stress relief cracking in the repair and reclamation of
Cr–Mo–V steel casting and pipe work. This technique utilizes a
controlled method of weld bead deposition to achieve
microstructural refinement of the HAZ. The effectiveness of
the approach is dependent on the welding parameters used for
each layer of the weld [10].
The idea of bead tempering is that the heat of one pass of the
weld pool will be used to temper the metallurgical structure of
previous beads [9]. The second layer will then be used to
control the eventual grain size in the HAZ of the first layer [10].
The final passes of the weld bead may be in an untempered
state but these can be removed by grinding. The amount of
damage and the depth of material required to be tempered are
reduced by using small weld beads, hence small diameter
consumables and lower amperages and heat inputs.
A key example of temper bead welding used in Australia is
found in the Hazelwood Power Station. In the 1990s, some of
Hazelwood station boiler drums (108 mm thick low alloy steel)
were repaired (for the second time in some cases) using temper
bead welding [1].
1.3. Flux cored arc welding (FCAW)
The Flux cored arc welding process used in the experimen-
tal stage is a fully automated process, in which the welding
electrode is a tubular wire that is continuously fed to the weld
area. The flux materials are in the core of the tube. The outer
shell of the tube conducts the electricity that forms the arc and
then becomes the filler metal as it is consumed.
Recent studies indicate [4–6,11] that FCAW has a number of
advantages over the common welding techniques available that
use solid wires such as manual metal arc welding (MMAW) and
gas metal arc welding (GMAW). Using FCAW in any repair
technique can provide better control over current and heat input
that is necessary to carry out the temper bead repair, which is
discussed in more detail in Section 2.
As a fully automatic process, FCAW should also have cost
advantages over other commonly used processes. Flux cored arc
welding is considered a high deposition rate welding process that
adds the benefits of flux to the simplicity of MIG welding.
2. Experimental work
2.1. Consumables
The welds (beads on plate) were carried out on 200!100!
12 mm steel plates (AS 3678-250). The welding of these steel
plates (nominal chemical composition, as shown in Table 1)
was performed by controlling the welding parameters as given
in Table 2. The welds were carried out using a fully automated
flux cored arc-welding machine with SUPER-COR5 welding
electrode, conforming to AWS A5.20. The chemical analysis
of the weld metal is given in Table 3. Argoshield 52 was used
as an external supply of shielding gas (77% Ar and 23% CO2).
2.2. Welding procedure
The first weld bead was deposited in the centre of the plate
as shown in Fig. 1. The second weld bead was deposited to one
side of the first bead after the latter had cooled to ambient
temperature. The width of the weld beads varied from 12 mm
at the start of welding to 14 mm at the end. The length of weld
beads was approximately 165 mm. Fig. 1 shows the dimen-
sions of the first bead. After depositing the first bead, the plate

Table 1
Nominal chemical composition of the parent material (AS 3678-250)

C Si Mn P S Cr Ni Cu Mo Al Ti V
0.12 0.13 0.63 0.02 0.01 0.01 0.02 0.01 !0.01 0.03 !0.01 !0.01

Table 2
Fixed parameters used in the experimental work

Electrode diameter Current range Voltage range Traverse speed Wire feeding speed Electrode stick-out Gas flow rate
(mm) (mm/min) (mm/min) distance (mm/min) (l/min)
1.6 260–280 28–30 360 3600 20 20

Table 3
Chemical analysis of weld metal using Argoshield 52

C Mn Si S P Ni Cr Mo V
0.10 1.73 0.68 0.017 0.019 0.05 0.03 0.04 0.04
396 A. Aloraier et al. / International Journal of Pressure Vessels and Piping 83 (2006) 394–398
Fig. 1. Schematic illustration of the first bead dimensions.
was placed at an angle so that the second bead overlapped the
first completely at the end of welding and there was no overlap
at the start. Neither post weld heat treatment nor preheating
were performed in this experimental work. The whole plate
was then sectioned transversely and samples of equal width
were obtained with different percentages of overlap as shown
in Fig. 2. The samples were then ground and polished for
optical microscopy using conventional metallographic inspec-
tion techniques.
2.3. Hardness measurements
Hardness profiles across the weld bead, the HAZ and the
parent material, under different percentages of bead overlap,
were measured under a 5 kg indention load (Fig. 3). The
hardness measurements of every specimen were taken along
three vertical lines as shown in Fig. 3, moving from the weld
metal through the heat affected zone to the parent material.
Fig. 2. Schematic illustration of the percentage of bead overlap.
Fig. 3. Hardness measurements were taken across lines 1, 2 and 3.
2.4. Microstructure for different percentages of bead overlap
Transverse sections of the weldments of every specimen
were ground and polished to 3 mm finish, and etched in 2% nital
solution, for optical microscopy, to study the effect of bead
overlap on the microstructure of the HAZ. Fig. 4 shows the
effect of the percentage of bead overlap across the weldments
on the macrostructure.
3. Results and discussion
3.1. The effect of the percentage of the bead overlaps
on the hardness of the HAZ
Figs. 5 and 6 represent two sets of hardness measurements
only at 10 and 50% bead overlap respectively. By studying the
hardness profiles produced by different percentages of bead
overlap, it was observed that the hardness increased in the areas
that were not tempered by the overlap. High hardness values
were recorded in the areas that did not encounter any overlap,
Fig. 4. Macroscopy of different percentage of bead overlaps.
 A. Aloraier et al. / International Journal of Pressure Vessels and Piping 83 (2006) 394–398
Fig. 5. Hardness traverses for line 1, 2 and 3 for 10% overlap.
Fig. 6. Hardness traverses for line 1, 2 and 3 for 50% overlap.
Fig. 7. The hardness peaks obtained for different bead overlap in the HAZ
plotted against their overlap percentage.
particularly in the bead toes, however, these values decreased
significantly when tempering took place. It was found that
the coarse-grained HAZ associated with the first bead was
partially refined when the second bead was deposited.
Fig. 8. (a) Parent material microstructure, (b) the microstructure of the weld metal, the HAZ and the parent material.
397
This refinement actually depends on the percentage of overlap.
For instance, samples which were subject to 70% overlap
showed greater refinement that the ones that were subject to
50% overlap. The peak hardness values in the heat affected
zone of each sample are plotted in Fig. 7 against the
percentages of bead overlap. It was found that 70% of bead
overlap gave lowest hardness.
3.2. The effect of the percentage of bead overlap
on the microstructure
The microstructure of the parent material consists of
laminated ferrite and pearlite oriented in the rolling direction
as can be seen in Fig. 8(a). Fig. 8(b) shows a general view of the
microstructure of the weld metal, the HAZ and the parent
material of the first bead. The microstructure of the first bead
was substantially transformed by the heat of the subsequent
beads, depending on the degree of the overlap. During
deposition of the second bead and depending on the percentage
of bead overlap, the microstructure formed due to depositing
the first bead was considerably refined. The refinement of
microstructure in the first bead was affected by the location of
the second bead. In the sample with 10% of bead overlap for
example, only 10% of the volume of the first bead was covered
by the second bead; consequently, only a small portion of the
first bead was refined and tempered. However, in the sample
that was overlapped by 70, 70% of the entire volume of the first
bead was covered by the subsequent bead, and hence 70% of
the microstructure of the first bead was tempered and refined. A
comparison between the microstructures of same areas in the
HAZ before and after depositing the second bead is given in
Fig. 9(a) and (b). The microstructure was transformed to
partially spherodite bainite which has better mechanical
properties.
4. Conclusions
Different percentages of bead overlap and their effects on
the hardness and the microstructures of the HAZ were
examined. The results show that better microstructures and
lower hardness values were obtained when a flux cored arc
welding process with temper bead welding with 50–70% bead
overlap was used. The microstructure in the HAZ was
398 A. Aloraier et al. / International Journal of Pressure Vessels and Piping 83 (2006) 394–398
Fig. 9. (a) Microstructure of the HAZ without overlap, bainitic structure (acicular type), (b) Microstructure of the HAZ (same location) after the overlap, partially
spherodite bainite !1000 mag.
transformed from acicular to spherodite bainite and conse-
quently the hardness values were reduced in the HAZ by 22%
as a result of bead overlap.
References
[1] Edgley JS, Pitrun M. The temper bead welding repair of the Hazelwood
steam drum. In: IMMA conference: pressure vessels and pipework;
1993.
[2] Zeemann A, Ferreira DA. Temper bead technique a practical situation.
Weld World Le Soudage Dans Le Monde 1993;31(6):412–3.
[3] Ibrahim RN, Shehata T, Use of temper bead welding for the repair of thick
walled pressure vessels. Key engineering materials fourth international
conference on fracture and strength of solids; August 16–18, 2000, vol.
183(II); 2000. p. 1339–44.
[4] Ibrahim R, Shehata T. Effects of flux-cored wire on temper bead welding
technique to repair damaged carbon steel structures. In: Eighth
international conference of mechanical behaviour of materials,
Canada—British Colombia; 1999.
[5] Ibrahim R, Shehata T. Repair welding using flux cored arc welding
process. In: The second international ‘HIDA’ conference: advances in
defect assessment in high temperature plant, Stuttgart, Germany; 2000.
[6] Ibrahim R, Shehata T. Effect of welding operation parameters on the
depth of penetration in flux-cored arc welding application. In: Ninth
international conference on pressure vessels technology, Sydney,
Australia; 2000.
[7] Kiefer JH. Bead tempering effects on FCAW heat-affected zone hardness.
Weld J Miami, FL 1995;74(11):363.
[8] Alberry PJ. Simple test reveals level of two-layer refinement, vol. 49(9);
1981. p. 543–47.
[9] Lau, TW, Lau ML, Poon GC. Development of controlled deposition
repair welding procedures at Ontario hydro. Weld Res Counc Bull
1996;(412):35–42.
[10] Jones RL. Development of two-layer deposition techniques for the
manual metal arc repair welding of thick C–Mn steel plate without post
weld heat treatment. In: WRC Bull, vol. 335; 1997. p. 3–31.
[11] Sadek AA, Ibrahim RN, Price JWH, Shehata T. Optimization of welding
conditions of FCAW process to weld thick-wall steel constructions. In:
Sixth international conference and exhibition operating pressure
equipment, Brisbane, Australia; 2001.