WELD DESIGN AND WELD

DEFECT
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 Before welding executed, it is important to design whole parameters correctly, in

order to obtain satisfied result.
 Some welding design needs engineering drawing to show details of the plan
 Bad weld design contribute 50% weld defect, as well as welding process itself.
 Weld crack, for example, could be caused by the material, procedure, or the design.
 Weld design consideration
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1. Selection of material (type, dimension)

2. Method of welding (type, number of layer, position, weaving)
3. General requirements (the use, welding parameters, condition, economical
efficiency, welder qualification)
4. Stress calculations (if necessary)
5. Treatment of the particular shape of specific parts, and geometric determination of
welding area and its size.
6. Treatment of post-welding and inspection methods
 Sample of Weaving (Electrode movement)
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 Other things that must be put under consideration in the weld design are
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1. Residual stress, which might bring out crack. It needs further concern when welding
finishes
2. Avoid welding cross. A welding cross is a metal joints which come from several
direction and intersect on a point. This condition might replicate heat on a point, and
yields excessive heat
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3. Minimizing the unbalanced stress at each of weld area

4. Avoiding weld joint design wherein the concentration of weld lines adjacent to each
other or intersect each other
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 To prevent stress concentration, avoid structures that has sharp edges in any forms,
and notches
 Examination and inspection the weld defects after the welding process is completed
 Heating and cooling occurs during welding, hence these lead to expansion and
contraction of the metal. Expansion and shrinkage yield the tendency of residual
stress or deformation
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 Improper design and welding execution yield following result:

 Excessive residual stress
 Deformation/ distortion

 Crack

 Weld defect
 Residual Stress
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 A weldment undergoes localized heating during welding processes; therefore, the

temperature distribution in the weldment is not uniform, since heating of workpiece
moves along the working path.
 As the weld pool solidifies and shrinks, it begins to exert stress on the surrounding
weld metal and heat-affected zones.
 When the weld metal first solidifies, it is hot and relatively weak; thus, it exerts little
stress. As the weld cools to room temperature, however, the stress in the weld area
increases.
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 If two plates are welded (butt joint), tensile stress (+) occurs along the weld line in the
welding area (region B), while region A and C, will have the compressive stress (-) as
result of pressure from region B.
Low temperature zone
High temperature zone
Weld bead

Low temperature zone

 Deformation caused by local heat at region B will be restrained by region A and C

since expansion at these regions have not been started.
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 As shown on figures above, the distribution of stress varies along the working path.
 The spread or variation of stress causing tension and compression at certain zone.
 If the residual stress reaches yield point of workpiece, there are two possibilities
might occurs on the workpiece (crack or distortion).

Residual stress Potential to create crack

 Residual stress also might caused by:

Distortion
 Clamping of workpiece
 High thickness of the workpiece (rigidity factor)
 How to minimize Residual Stress
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 Basically residual stress is a normal phenomenon on welding, since it comes from

expansion and shrinkage.
 However, wrong weld design might cause undesirable residual stress.
 Hence, some treatment should be used to avoid/ minimize it. For example:
 Peening, tempering (post weld heat treatment), choosing multilayer welding process
rather than one pass high current + large electrode size
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1 2

 Multi layer on figure 2 is preferable to avoid/ minimize residual stress. However this
option bring another effect, which is larger HAZ zone, since there is “more” repeating
heat passes the workpiece
 Deformation and distortion
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 Welding deformation is the permanent deformation as the result of local heating

during welding process, which yields a shifting/ change of final shape.
 Welding process involving localized heating and cooling, which creating expansion
and shrinkage.
 At some point/ location, because of welding parameters and complexity during
welding, expansion and shrinkage do not make work piece return into its original
shape
 Distortion
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 Distortion is the non-uniform expansion and contraction of weld metal and

adjacent (near) base metal during the heating and cooling cycle of the welding
process
 If a work piece is prevented from distortion after the welding process, it is
required to design fixtures. However, this plan will cause internal/ residual stress.
 If work piece distortion is allowed, internal stress will be minimum, however there
will be a change in shape.
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 Effect of Distortion
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 Changes of shape of welds results  will complicate further process / ruin weld
result/ do not pass the quality test
 The final shape is not eligible either the aesthetic and function.
 Difficult in assembling.
 Misalignment occurs that causes styles - eccentric.
 Could make the weakest part.
 Disruptive force distribution.
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 Resolving distortion
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a. Build workpiece arrangement such that for movement due to contraction, size
becomes appropriate. For example:

before joining

after joining

b. Set the welding speed that is suitable for the size of the workpiece.
c. Setting the corresponding fixture.
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d. Given a distinct gap between the first gap and the gap end.
e. Number of multiple layer should be reduced (means reducing the amount of heat
given in the workpiece).
f. Using the welding sequence and step back.
 Weld Defects
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 The presence of thermal cycling and changes in microstructure cause the weld is also
susceptible to defect. Some of which are described below
 Porosity
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• Caused by trapped oxygen or other gas during cooling

• Humid/ wet electrode / flux, which store H2O

• Burned contaminant and produce gas

Porosity might in form of spherical or slightly elongated cavity

Porosity types can be classified according to the distribution and shape of pores
 uniformly distributed porosity

 Localized porosity

 Linear porosity
 Prevent porosity
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 Correct and proper handling of flux

 Selection of the appropriate current and voltage

 Cleaning the surface of the workpiece from impurities

 Decrease welding speed, hence there will be time for the gas to release from
molten pool
 Slag Inclusion
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 Slag is a nonmetallic component that exists in the weld or trapped in the weld metal
 Slag is the residue of the flux coating in arc welding, it is principally a deoxidation
product from the reaction between the flux, air and surface oxide
 This slag often occurs on multilayer welding with improper chipping process
 Inclusion prevention
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 Clean the weld bead on a multi-layer welding

 Repair/ control shielding system
 Good storage electrode to avoid humid/ wet. Humid electrodes causing incomplete
combustion and cause the electrode broke up in the weld pool
 Incomplete Fusion
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 Or lack of fusion, is inability of base metal to create union with the weld pool
 Could be caused by lack of heat input which make the temperature only reach
slightly above melting temperature. This yields a failure to flow inside/ fill gap
between base metal.
 Improvements:
 Increase heat input

 Reduce travel speed

 Welding design modifications (eg groove)

 Clean the base metal before welding

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 Weld Profile
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 Underfilling
 A failure to fill the groove on weld pool
 Undercut
 A notch between weld metal and base metal, or narrow channel between weld
metal and base metal
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 Underfilling can be caused by lack of weld layer, or lack of heat to melt the
electrode, and high travel speed. Hence to prevent this, large current or slower speed
must be applied to workpiece.
 Undercut can be caused by large gap size, and small current applied. Undercut is
commonly found on multilayer welding. To avoid this, additional layer must be
applied to workpiece
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 Overlap
 The presence of excess weld metal above base metal. It covers base metal, but fusion
does not occur.
 Can lead to crevice corrosion, the coating imperfection

Improvement
 The speed of welding and appropriate current applied
 Weld Crack
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 May occur at any locations with various shapes and direction.

 Type of crack: transverse, longitudinal, crater, underbead and toe crack
 Cause of crack
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 Temperature gradient causes thermal stress  expansion and shrinkage

 Variations in the composition of weld metal (because the existence of filler, for
example) causes different cooling rate
 Hydrogen embrittlement
 Dimensions/ thickness
 Hot Crack
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 Hot Crack, which is a liquid metal that loses its ductility and increased tensile stress. A
case shown in the figure below.
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 Left curve, when ductility decreases, the tensile strength decreases as well. While on
the right curve, ductility decreases, but not followed the decline in tensile strength
 A crack resistance steel has a narrow brittle range when it is heated to high
temperature.
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 Hot crack can also be caused by low melting temperature of elements inside weld
pool.
 This condition affect the ability of weld to expand and shrinkage.
 This can be worse with wrong size groove
 If ratio D : W more than 1.4 … hot crack tends to occurs.
 Why?
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 Because of these low melting points these elements are pushed to the center of the
weld bead as it is solidifying.
 These elements can then get trapped in the middle of the weld
 Because of different conductivity and expansion coefficient, especially on the
elements in the weld metal, then the shrinkage will be unbalance.
 When this occurs we get a centerline crack as the one pictured below.
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 Hot crack is also influenced by the design, which is called restraint.

 Restraint can be defined as ability to resist from a change of its geometry
 The greater the degree of restraint, the greater the possibility of crack.
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To prevent hot cracking, following actions have to do :

 Have proper width to depth ratio on weld beads (1:1 to 1.4:1 is ideal). Sometime
joint redesign is needed to accomplish this.
 Select electrode composition carefully.

 Select the right process. Especially travel speed  should not too fast
 Cold Crack
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 Only occurs in solid phase so that only occurs in base metal and HAZ. It occurs several
hours or days after welding finished
 Cold Crack is influenced by: enough sensitive material involved, sufficient level of
hydrogen, and a high level of residual stress
 High cooling rates and high carbon content materials create conditions susceptible to
cold cracking. The faster the cooling rate the more likely to get cold cracks.
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 Factors like greater base material thickness, low heat input procedures and colder
base metal temperatures, all increase the cooling rate.
 High cooling rates create martensite in the HAZ which is hard and brittle. It also has
lower ductility than the weld and the rest of the base material therefore shrinking at
different rates as the weld cools.
 Hydrogen finds its way into the martensite and when stress is applied the crack
occurs.
 To Avoid Cold Crack
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 Proper weld design (groove, polarity, high heat input) that considering the thickness
of the base metal
 Selection of low hydrogen filler electrode (H2, H4 or H8), and proper handling of the
electrode
 Design of pre and post heat treatment
 Low welding speed