Welding Defects: Defects in Welding: Types of

Welding Defects (With PDF)

whatispiping.com/welding-defects-types-of-welding-defects

Anup Kumar
Dey

Welding defects can be defined as an

unacceptable imperfection. Any
unacceptable deviation with respect to set
technical and design requirements in the
welding process is termed as welding
defects. Various parameters could cause
the deviation from the ideal welding
process as defined by codes and
standards. Wrong welding, human
behavior, wrong electrode, poor process
condition, improper job preparation,
unskilled welder, incorrect weld parameters, etc could be a few of such reasons. Defects
in Welding can occur at any stage of the welding process and they can easily be detected
in forms of geometric imperfections. Such weld defects can affect both the inside and
outside of the metallic structure.

Various codes and standards like BS EN ISO 6520-1, BS EN ISO 5817, BS EN ISO
10042 provides the acceptable limits for welding irregularities. When any discontinuity
exceeds those acceptable code limits they are considered as welding defects. It is
important that a welding defect is correctly identified so the cause can be established
and actions are taken to prevent further occurrence.

Types of Welding Defects / Welding Defect Types

Depending on the location of the Welding defects, they are classified into two groups:

External Welding Defects and

Internal Welding Defects.

External welding defects are found on the surface itself and can sometimes be
recognized by naked eyes. Surface Cracks, Undercut, Porosity, Overlaps, Crater,
Underfill, Spatters, Excessive penetration, Arc Strike, etc are examples of external
welding defects.

Internal welding defects exist in the material at some depth and are hidden from
naked eyes. Incomplete penetration, Slag inclusion, Internal porosity, Internal crack,
Incomplete fusion, Internal Blowholes, etc are examples of internal welding defects.

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In the welding process, both internal and external types of welding are quite common.
In the next paragraphs, we will explore these welding defects in Detail.

Welding Defects Crack

Welding defects Crack is an imperfection produced by a local rupture in the solid state
arising from the effect of cooling or stresses. Welding Cracks are more significant than
other types of welding defects as their geometry produces a very large stress
concentration at the crack tip making them prone to cause fracture.

Welding cracks are normally found in the weld metal, parent metal or the Heat Affected
one. Welding Defect cracks can be of various types like:

Longitudinal.
Transverse.
Radiating.
Crater (found only in the weld metal)
Branching.

Welding defect cracks can be of various shapes and sizes and may appear on the surface
or at any depth or even at the root. The main reason for crack is the localized stress
exceeds the UTS of that material.

Depending on their nature, these welding cracks can be:

Hot cracks
Cold cracks
Lamellar tearing.

Hot Cracks:
Hot cracks normally occur during the solidification stage; means soon after welding.
Depending on their location and mode of occurrence, hot cracks can be of two types:

Solidification cracks: They occur in the weld metal during the solidification
process.
Liquation cracks: They occur in the coarse grain HAZ, as a result of elevated
temperature heating of the material that causes liquation of the low melting point
constituents on the grain boundaries.

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 Fig. 1: Welding Defects-Solidification Hot Crack

Solidification cracking (Fig. 1) normally occur when:

Weld metal possesses high carbon or impurity content.

The solidifying weld bead has a larger depth-to-width ratio (deep and narrow).
Heat Flow disruption occurs.

The cracks can be wide and open and possibly narrow. Solidification cracking occurs in
compositions having a wide freezing temperature range. For steels, solidification cracks
occur due to the presence of high carbon content and impurity elements like sulfur and
phosphorus. During solidification, these elements segregate such that intergranular
liquid films remain once the bulk of the weld has solidified. The thermal shrinkage of
the cooling weld bead can cause these to rupture and form a crack.

Cold Cracks:
Cold cracks occur after the weld metal solidification in the grain coarsened region of the
HAZ. They are also known as delayed cracking as they can normally develop after
several days of welding. It lies parallel to the fusion boundary and its path is usually a
combination of inter and transgranular cracking.

The direction of the principal residual tensile stress can result in toe cracks cause the
crack path to grow progressively away from the fusion boundary towards a region of
lower sensitivity to hydrogen cracking. When this happens, the crack growth rate
decreases and eventually arrests.

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 Fig. 2: Welding Defects-Cold Crack

The main causes of Cold cracks (Fig. 2) are Lack of preheating, Low temperature, high
stresses, susceptible material structure, high hydrogen content, etc.

Lamellar tearing:
Lamellar tearing normally occurs in rolled steel plates. They are distinguished by the
cracking feature having a terraced appearance. Lamellar Cracking occurs in joints
where:

A thermal contraction strain can occur in the through-thickness direction of the

steel plate.
The possibility of non-metallic inclusions as very thin platelets with their principal
planes parallel to the plate surface is high.

Fig. 3: Welding Defect-Lamellar tearing

Welding Defects Undercut

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Undercuts are welding defects that present themselves as irregular narrow grooves on
the parent metal. They are characterized by their depth, length, and sharpness. The
undercut runs parallel to the weld metal and acts as a stress raiser during fatigue
loading due to the weakened section. Welding defects Undercut is of three types;
Continuous undercut, Intermediate undercut, and Inter-run undercut.

Causes of Undercuts
Probable causes of undercut welding defects are

Melting of the top edge due to fast weld speed or high voltage.
High arc voltage.
Too large electrode; Incorrect electrode angle.
Use of wrong filler metal.
Incorrect shielding gas selection.
Excessive weaving

Fig. 4: Welding Defect-Undercut

Remedies/Prevention of Welding undercut

The following steps should be exercised to prevent the possibility of undercut welding
defects.

Decrease the travel speed, Reduce the power input.

Use the right electrode size with correct positioning; between 30 to 45 degrees
angle.
Reduce the length of the arc and lower the voltage.
Weld in flat positions.
Use proper current with attention to thinner areas and edges.
Use the correct gas mixture based on material type and thickness.

Heat input must be controlled during weld repairs of undercut welding defects.

Welding Defects Porosity

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Welding Defect Porosity is caused by entrapment of gas or air bubbles in the weld metal.
These trapped gases collapse over time and weaken the weld section. They can be
localized or uniformly distributed. Depending on the Porosity formations they are of
various types like:

Gas Porosity
Worm Holes
Surface Porosity

Gas Porosity:
Gas porosity is a small cavity of spherical shape generated in the weld metal due to the
trapped gases. They are of various forms like Isolated; Uniformly distributed porosity,
Surface pore, Localized Clustered porosity; Elongated cavity, or Linear porosity.

Worm Holes:
Sometimes, during solidification of the trapped gas can form tubular or elongated
cavities which are known as Wormholes. They can appear singly or in groups over the
weld surface. Progressive entrapment of gas between the solidifying metal crystals
causes wormholes.

Surface Porosity:
Porosities that break the surface are known as surface porosities. They are similar to
uniform porosities.

Fig. 5: Welding Defects-Porosity

Causes of Porosity
Major causes of welding defect porosity are:

Electrode is not well coated / Corroded Electrode

Presence of oil, grease, hydrocarbon, water, or rust on the weld surface.
Use of incorrect shielding gas or improper shielding or air entrapment.
Too high gas flow/ Too great arc voltage
Gas evolution due to improper surface treatment.

Prevention or Remedies of Porosity:

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To reduce the formation of welding defect porosity the following remedial actions can
be taken:

Clean the weld surface and materials; Ensure that the prepared surface is free
from oil, rust, or other contaminants.
Use of dry, good quality electrodes.
Optimize the welding process to allow gases to escape.
Gas flow meter to be configured with the correct flow settings.

Welding Defects Overlap

Welding defect overlap occurs when the weld pool overflows on the welding surface of
the parent metal. In such scenario, the molten metal does not fuse with the base metal.

Causes of Overlaps:
Large weld deposition in one go.
Poor electrode manipulation; Wrong electrode coating.
Using the electrode at the wrong angle.
High current/Heat Input.
Incorrect Weld positioning.
Longer arc.

Fig. 6: Welding Defects-Overlap

Remedies of Overlap:
Use correct welding technique to avoid wrong arc length.
Position the electrode at the appropriate angle.
Change to flat position.
Use correct deposition during each run; Correct Electrode Coating
Use low welding current; Low heat input.

Welding Defects Solid Inclusions

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Various solid particles may be included during the welding process. These welding
defects are known as solid inclusions. They can be of various types as listed below:

Slag inclusion
Oxide inclusion
Flux inclusion
Metallic inclusion
Tungsten
Copper
Other Metal

Fig. 7: Welding Defects-Slag Inclusion

Welding Defect Lack of Fusion

Welding defect lack of fusion arises due to incomplete fusion between the weld metal
with the parent metal. Lack of fusion is also known as Cold lapping or cold shuts. Lack
of fusion is an internal welding defect, but it can occur on the external surface too. Lack
of fusion can be categorized into three groups:

Lack of sidewall fusion

Lack of inter-run fusion and
Lack of root fusion

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 Fig. 8: Welding Defects-Lack of Fusion

Causes for welding defect Incomplete or Lack of fusion:

The following parameters can contribute to the lack of fusion welding defect:

Low heat input/Low Arc current

Wrong electrode diameter with respect to the material thickness.
High travel speed.
Large Weld Pool.
Improper bead placement.
Oxide or Scale in weld preparation.
Large Root Face/Small root gap/Excessive root misalignment

Remedies/Prevention of Lack Of Fusion:;

To prevent or reduce the possibility of incomplete fusion the following steps can be
followed:

Reduce travel speed.

Appropriate bead positioning.
Maintaining Correct root gaps.
Increase current or heat input.
Inprove edge preparation.

Welding Defect Lack of Penetration

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When the weld metal doesn’t completely penetrate the joint, It creates the weld defect
known as lack of penetration or incomplete penetration. As the weld depth is not
sufficient, this zone will be highly stressed and can fail easily. They are of two types;
Incomplete penetration and Incomplete root Penetration.

Fig. 9: Welding Defects-Lack of Penetration

Causes behind Lack of Penetration welding defects:

Excessive thick root face.
Root gap too small
Fast travel speed
Use of vertically down welding
Low heat input
Too large electrode

Prevention of welding defect Incomplete Penetration:

Reduce Electrode Size
Proper joint preparation i.e. providing a suitable root gap.
Proper heat input
Correct travel speed
Vertical up procedure

Welding Defects Spatter

Spatters as welding defects are small globular weld metal droplets expelled during
welding process and stuck to the base metal surface.

Reasons For Spatter:

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 High Welding current can cause this defect.
Damp Electrodes.
The longer the arc the more chances of getting this defect.
Magnetic Arc Blow.
Incorrect polarity.
Improper gas shields may also cause this defect.

Fig. 10: Welding Defects-Spatter

Remedies for Spatter:

Reduce the arc length and welding current
Use dry electrodes.
Using the right polarity and according to the conditions of the welding.
Use of AC power.
Increasing the plate angle and using proper gas shielding.

However, Spatter does not affect the weld integrity and can be easily removed by
brushes.

Other Welding defects

There are few other welding defects as mentioned below:

Shrinkage cavity
Blow-Holes
Warpage
Excessive penetration
Excess weld Metal
Burn-Through
Linear Misalignment
Irregular Width
Root Concavity
Stray Arc
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 Torn Surface
Grinding Mark
Under-flushing
Chipping Mark, etc

Fig. 11 shows few of those welding defects.

Fig. 11: Various Welding defects

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