INTRODUCTION

Q In some welding operations, it is necessary to apply

heat to the assembly before starting the welding. In
others, a post-heat - or application of heat after
welding - is needed to relieve the internal stresses that
have been developed. With certain weldments, heat
may also be applied between welding passes to
maintain a required temperature. Each of these
applications of heat has a bearing on the quality of
weld or the integrity of he finished weldment.
WHY IS IT NECESSARY TO PREHEAT?
Q REDUCE THERMAL STRAINS:
The high thermal strains which can be set up as a result of
welding may lead to ultimate cracking. The magnitude of
these strains may be controlled by applying preheat.
Q REDUCE HIGHER COOLING RATES:
Thick section carbon steel may be preheated as a
protection against the high thermal conductivity of steel.
This is particularly acute on thicker sections of plate when
the heat of the welding arc is taken away very rapidly by the
mass of metal adjacent to the weld preparation. In the case
of copper and aluminum alloys, the higher thermal
conductivity of these metals also makes it essential to apply
preheat to avoid the loss of heat from the weld area.
 PREVENTION OF EXCESSIVE HARDENING
Q Preheat retards the formation of undesirable metallurgical
structures having high hardness and susceptibility to
cracking.

HYDROGEN DIFFUSION:
Q Preheat increases the diffusion rate of hydrogen and
facilities its removal from a welded joint. Hydrogen
promotes cracking
Preheat also drives off moisture which is harmful if present
when a weld is made. An electric arc breaks down the
water into its elements, hydrogen and oxygen which may be
harmful to the weld.
 HYDROGEN DIFFUSION:
Atomic hydrogen produced from the moisture at the arc
diffuses into the weld, goes into solution and settles in the
structural voids. If the metal cools rapidly not all the
hydrogen diffuses from the joint. Some goes over to the
heat affected zone of he parent metal, with the attendant
risks of cracking, both in the weld metal and HAZ, or results
in porosity in the weld metal.
 BENEFICIAL EFFECTS OF PREHEATING
Q Throughout the world there is a growing realisation that
more thought has to be given to preheat when welding low
alloy steel,.s it has been proven time and time again the a
controlled electrical preheat is the best insurance for
making a good. Weld. Compared with mild steel, most alloy
steels have the advantage of he higher strength at high and
low temperatures and higher notch toughness. The higher
yield strength permits the use of higher working stresses
and hence lighter sections. The steels, however, suffer from
the disadvantages of a higher initial cost and a need for
much greater care in the specification of the welding
procedures. The main difficulty in welding these steels,
BENEFICIAL EFFECTS OF PREHEATING
particularly in large sections is the susceptibility to cracking
adjacent to the weld bead in the region where the
microstructure of the steel has been modified by the heat of
welding. This is the heat-affected zone (HAZ). These cracks
are Heat Affected Zone Cracks. They may result in almost
complete separation of a joint.
The crack may not break the surface and may not be
detected unless the weld has been subjected to non-
destructive testing. To avoid weld cracking, the following
factors are normally taken into account:
 BENEFICIAL EFFECTS OF PREHEATING
Q The composition of the steel.
Q The thickness of the joint and type of joint
Q The type of electrodes are welding process
Q The energy input of the welding process
Q The preheat temperature applied and the accuracy of he
preheat conditions.
Q The intermediate stress relief operation during build-up of
he weld.
Cracking can over occur when the Heat Affected Zone
cools to near ambient temperature. This heat affected zone
is comparatively heard and is formed during the welding
operation.
BENEFICIAL EFFECTS OF PREHEATING
It can also contain a concentration of hydrogen which
results, possibly, from moisture in the electrode coating or
the flux used in the welding operation. The force which
actually cracks the weld is the stress et up by the welding
operation and is referred to as the “Welding residual
stress”.
The ductility of a joint can generally be improved b y
preheating but the heating rate and the cooling rate to
ambient temperature should be closely watched on
complex fabrication. The area to be preheated depends
upon the complexity of he weld in the components. In a
simple fabrication a length of 150 mm eithe rside of he weld
may be quite sufficient whereas in complex fabrication
where stresses may be set up by local preheat, the entire
BENEFICIAL EFFECTS OF PREHEATING
structure may have to be heated. Caution should always be
taken to avoid excessive temperature differential during
local preheating since high stresses can develop, resulting
in distortion and broken tack welds. On completion of the
welding operation on complex structure the preheating
equipment should be used to bring down the structure
gradually to ambient temperature. Rapid cooling should be
avoided at all costs.
 WHAT IS STRESS RELIEVING?

Stress relieving is defined as heating to a suitable

temperature (for steel, below the critical): holding long
enough to reduce residual stresses; and then cooling slowly
enough to minimize the development of new residual
stresses. Stress relieving should not be confused with
normalizing or annealing, which are done at higher
temperature.
 STRESS RELIEVING PROCEDURE

Q Heating and cooling must be done slowly and uniformly;

uneven cooling could nullify much of the value of the heat
treatment or even cause additional stresses in the
weldment general, the greater the difference between
maximum and minimum thickness of the component parts,
the ???? should be the rate of temperature change.
If the ratio of maximum to minimum thickness of the
component parts is less than 4 to 1, heating and cooing
rates should not exceed 400 deg F/hour divided by the
thickness inches of the thickest section. However, the
heating and cooling rates should not exceed 400 deg
F/hour. If the ???? of the thickness of the component parts
vary more, rates should produced accordingly.
 STRESS RELIEVING PROCEDURE

For example the complex structures containing members of

widely varying thickness heating and cooling rates should
which that the maximum temperature difference of sections
of the same weldment should not exceed 75 deg F.
Temperature of critical sections can be monitored using
thermocouples mounted on the weldment.
 STRESS RELIEVING

Q The stress-relief range for most carbon steels is 1100 deg

to 1200 deg F, and the soaking time is usually one hour per
inch of thickness. For the low-alloy chrome-molybdenum
steels, with the chromium in the range of 1/2 to 2-1/4% and
the molybdenum up to 1% the stress relief range is1250
Deg to 1300 Deg F for one hour. Some of the higher alloy
steels require more soaking time. For example, E410, E-
502 and E-505 weld metal is stress relieved at 1550 to
1600 Deg F for two hours,and E430 at 1400 Deg F for four
hours.
 REASON FOR POST WELD HEAT
TREATMENT
Q High level residual stresses can occur in weldment due to
restraint by the parent metal during weld solidification. This
weld pool quickly solidifies and contracts. The parent metal
opposes this contraction with a result that both the plate
and the weld are stressed. These stresses may be as high
as the yield stress of he material itself. When combined with
normal load stresses these may exceed the design
stresses.
Q More ductility in the weld metal, and a lowering of harness.
Q Improved resistance to corrosion and caustic embrittlement
Q improved machining stability
Q relaxes residual stress
 WELDMENT LIFE AND SAFETY
Q The purpose of post-heat is usually the increased safety
after structure and insurance against premature failure
including failure by fracture during fabrication. Sometimes
post-heat is specified for structure subject to repeated loads
on the assumption that fatigue resistance is increased.
Failure of a weldment apart from metallurgical reasons,
such as avoids, is usually due to one of the three types of
loading:
Q Static loads which stress parts beyond its ultimate strength.
Q Repeated loads is stressed the material beyond endurance
limit.
Q A combination of loading and a temperature leading to
brittle fracture.
 WELDMENT LIFE AND SAFETY
Residual stresses are generally not an important factor in
the rupture of a weldment, in which static loading has set up
stresses exceeding he ultimate strength of the material.
Consider the case of a structure loaded statically in tensile,
where the weld has reached the tensile yield point of the
material due to a combination of tensile stresses set up by
the load, and the residual tensile stress in the weld. As
additional load is applied, local plastic deformation shifts the
load from the area of high stress to an area of lower stress
until finally the entire section reaches the yield point.
Residual stresses are therefore relieved locally and the
weldment behaves in the same manner as though no
residual stress had been present. In these instances stress
relieving may actually reduce the static load carrying -
 WELDMENT LIFE AND SAFETY
- capacity of structure.
It is generally stated that post-heat will lower the tensile and
yield stresses of the weld metal by approximately 10%. This
reduction in strength is not due to the removal of residual
stress but to the softening of material and the weld. There is
evidence on a worldwide basis that stress relieving can
improve the performance of certain joints under repeated
load conditions. Where the applied stress is wholly or for
the major part compressive, stress relieved details have a
greater resistance to fatigue failures. Fatigue failures are
unlikely in stress relieved structures working in a entirely
compressive stresses.
 WELDMENT LIFE AND SAFETY
A most important aspect of post-heat is the prevention of
brittle fracture. Structural steels normally considered to
behave in a ductile manner, can, under certain
circumstances, fail in a brittle manner. Fast running
transgranular cracks propagating through the material
appear in general low overall stress conditions.
Catastrophic collapse of bridges, failure of pressure vessels
and other welded constructions can occur.
To avoid brittle fracture one of the simplest solutions is to
use a material which is notch ductile. Special steels are
available which remain tough at low temperature but these
are sometimes to expensive for the particular application.
 WELDMENT LIFE AND SAFETY
Thermal stress relieving has proved to be the most effective
method for avoiding brittle fractures.
The relaxation of residual stresses and the elevation of the
metallurgical embrittlement by tempering provides an
effective method of protection. Most metals become harder
when operating at lower temperatures and most codes
applying to the welding of pressure vessel will allow much
lower sub-zero operating conditions if the vessels have
been stress relieved.