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Comparative study of high-strength steel weld metals obtained by the SMAW and FCAW processes for offshore applications and mooring chains
Humberto N. Farneze , Jorge Carlos F. Jorge , Lus Felipe G. de Souza & Ivan de S. Bott
a b c c a b b

CEFET/RJ, UnED Itagua, Itagua, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil CEFET/RJ, DEPMC, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil PUC-Rio, DCMM, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Available online: 09 Nov 2010

To cite this article: Humberto N. Farneze, Jorge Carlos F. Jorge, Lus Felipe G. de Souza & Ivan de S. Bott (2010): Comparative study of high-strength steel weld metals obtained by the SMAW and FCAW processes for offshore applications and mooring chains, Welding International, 24:12, 903-910 To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09507110903568943

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Welding International Vol. 24, No. 12, December 2010, 903910 Selected from Soldagem & Inspecao 2009 14(2) 151 160

Comparative study of high-strength steel weld metals obtained by the SMAW and FCAW processes for offshore applications and mooring chains
Humberto N. Farnezea1, Jorge Carlos F. Jorgeb2, Lus Felipe G. de Souzab3 and Ivan de S. Bottc4
a

CEFET/RJ, UnED Itagua, Itagua, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; bCEFET/RJ, DEPMC, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; cPUC-Rio, DCMM, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (Received 11 May 2008; nal version received 31 March 2009) A comparative study of the clad electrode and tubular wire processes was carried out, looking at the mechanical and micro-structural properties of weld metals of high-resistance steel, in the as-welded and stress-relief heat treatment (PWHT) conditions. The results show that the procedures adopted for welding with tubular wire and clad electrodes allow satisfactory levels of mechanical resistance to be obtained, with the exception of the value of percentage lengthening of the tubular wire, in the as-welded condition. The impact tests show that both the weld metals showed satisfactory impact resistance, in both the as-welded and PWHT conditions, observing that, for the tubular wire, the impact resistance is lower for the clad electrode in both conditions, lying close to the limit applied for the acceptance criterion of 50 J at 08C in the PWHT condition. It was conrmed that the productivity achieved by the tubular wire process was approximately twice as high as that for the clad electrode process. As a result, the inherent advantage of the tubular wire process must be complemented with a consideration of all the mechanical properties obtained, orienting suitable selection of the welding process, in particular, for application in equipment that operates in fatigue conditions. Keywords: high resistance; weld metal; toughness

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1.

Introduction

The need for technological development of processes for both manufacturing and recovery of welding components for naval and offshore use, principally those that are subject to severe service conditions, such as the mooring systems for oil exploration and production units, is the reason for increasing research that may bring consistent scientic technical foundations to these processes. In this context, the development and application of tempered and clad steels with a minimum limit of resistance of 690 MPa are set out, where, in parallel, consumables for welding are also developed, particularly the clad electrodes in AWS class 11018M and AWS class E110C-G tubular wires. These consumables are characterized by the low level of carbon and by the signicant quantities of Ni and Mn. The demand for the use of such processes in platform mooring equipment, within the technical requisites of resistance and toughness, allied to productivity, encourages the establishment of a process that may offer the best combination, demanding an analysis of the benets and limitations brought about by the specic features of each one. When dealing with the productivity aspect of the processes in question, the foundations that justify the higher productivity of welding carried out with tubular wire in comparison with clad electrode are associated with greater efciency and deposition rate, adding up to a high work cycle, where such characteristics are being improved by means of new formulations of ow types for tubular wires. Myres1 points to the development of metal-cored wires as a great technological advance for the welding process, since they have a band deposit

efciency rate of 92 98% above that for the clad electrode band which is 68 72%. However, the advantage of the tubular wire process over the clad electrode process, from a productivity point of view, needs to be weighted to allow for the mechanical properties of the weld metals produced by these processes. In this context, toughness is highly important in welds on platforms for oil extraction in open seas, since low toughness leads towards fragile fractures occurring at low stress levels. Previous studies2 5 have demonstrated that highresistance weld metals exhibit a tendency to reduce impact resistance after PWHT, in particular, in the case of repair welds. This imposes limitations on their applications, which will be the object of more detailed analyses. The use of this treatment is more intensely pronounced for welded joints in components for equipment that will suffer the most severe demands, requiring the joint to have good toughness allied to high resistance. In this area, it is important to take into account that the effect of the re-heating cycle, below the critical A1 transformation zone, causes transformation in the micro-structure of the weld metal, such as precipitation of metastable carbides or the decomposition of austenite retained in ferrites and carbides6 8. These micro-structural changes, caused by PWHT, affect the toughness of the weld metal, in which the aspects and kinetics of the transformations will determine whether the consequences will be benecial or prejudicial to the toughness of the weld metal. The present work is intended to form a comparative study of the clad electrode and tubular wire processes in terms of productivity and the mechanical properties of weld metals

ISSN 0950-7116 print/ISSN 1754-2138 online q 2010 Taylor & Francis DOI: 10.1080/09507110903568943 http://www.informaworld.com

904
Table 1.

H.N. Farneze et al.

Chemical composition of the metals deposited according to manufacturers data (% by weight). C 0.052 0.012 Si 0.406 0.310 P 0.016 0.018 S 0.009 0.009 Mn 1.75 1.32 Mo 0.38 0.57 Ni 2.27 1.98 Cr 0.104 V 0.029

Consumable E 11018M E 110C G

from high-resistance steel obtained in the as-welded and post heat treatment conditions.

2. Materials and methods 2.1 Materials 2.1.1 Base material With the objective of evaluating the weld metal, welded joints were produced using ASTM A-36 steel plate cut to a size of 650 300 19 mm as the base material.

The values set out for heat support in Table 2 must be considered as references, since they do not take into account the heat efciencies of the processes used. According to the literature10,11, the efciency for the clad electrode and tubular wire processes is 0.9. 2.3 Thermal treatments

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2.1.2 Addition material As an addition material, the following consumables were used: AWS E 110C-G-type tubular wire, 1.2 mm in diameter (metal cored), and AWS E 11018M-type clad electrode, 4.0 mm in diameter. Table 1 shows the chemical composition of the metals deposited by the consumables as dened by the manufacturers.

After the welding, stress-relief heat treatments (PWHT) were carried out, consisting of heating at 5808C for 2 h, with this condition compared to the as-welded joint. It can be seen that the PWHT applied is referenced against the metal base and is obligatory in repair welding, but there is no specication of post-welding heat treatment for the consumables used. 2.4 Chemical analysis

2.2

Welding procedure

A chemical analysis was carried out by optical emission spectrometry, on test pieces extracted from welded joints by processes with clad electrode and tubular wire, with the aim of determining the levels of the main elements present in the weld metals. 2.5 Mechanical and metallographic tests

The joints were prepared from plates as in Item 2.1.1. Figure 1 shows the sizes and characteristics of the geometry of the joint used, which aim to eliminate the effect of dilution in the properties of the weld metal. It must be noted that the geometry of the joint used is in line with the alternative set out in the AWS standard A 5.5-969 for welding with E 9018M-, E 10018M-, E 11018M- and E 12018M-type clad electrodes, which is intended to meet the objective of guaranteeing that there is no dilution interference, given that the test pieces for analysis are removed from the region dened by this standard9. The joint was preheated to a temperature of 2008C and then multi-pass welding took place, in a at position, with the temperature between passes kept at 3008C, in line with the procedures used for welding a grade R3 high-resistance steel. The welding parameters employed are presented in Table 2.

Longitudinal and transverse test pieces were removed from the weld bead for tensile, Charpy V impact, hardness and metallographic tests. The hardness tests were carried out on test pieces removed transversally from the weld bead. Charpy V impact tests were carried out at temperatures of 2 60, 2 40, 2 20, 0 and 238C, in standardized test pieces (10 10 55 mm) and removed transversally from the weld bead, 2 mm from the surface of the joint. The groove was positioned along the thickness plane and in the centre of the welded joint. A metallographic analysis of the weld metals was carried out, consisting of macrography, optical microscope analysis and electron scan microscope analysis. Preparation of the samples consisted of conventional bleaching and polishing techniques, followed by a chemical attack with a 2% Nital reagent. Both the micro-structures and the columnar regions were evaluated, for the reheated weld metals, in the as-welded and post heat treatment (PWHT) conditions, where the analysed regions correspond to the Charpy V grooved area. 3. Results and discussion

Figure 1.

Details of the geometry of the joint used.

3.1 Chemical analysis Table 3 presents the chemical composition of the weld metals obtained and the corresponding specications contained in the AWS standards.

Welding International
Table 2. Welding parameters used. F (mm) 4.0 1.2 Current (A) 180 193 257 260 Voltage (V) 25 30 26 28 HS (kJ/mm) 1.48 1.10 Arc time (s) 4087 2089

905

Consumable Clad electrode Tubular wire

No. of passes 32 20

Note: F, electrode diameter; HS, heat support.

Table 3.

Chemical composition of the weld metals (% by weight). C 0.033 0.020 0.10 Si 0.446 0.450 0.60 P 0.015 0.016 0.030 S 0.012 0.011 0.030 Mn 1.71 1.37 1.30 1.80 Mo 0.32 0.54 0.25 0.50 0.20 Ni 1.74 2.66 1.25 2.50 0.50 Cr 0.36 0.037 0.40 0.30 Cu 0.032 V 0.014 0.05

Consumable Clad electrode Tubular wire E 11018M AWSa E 110C Gb

a b

According to AWS A 5.5-96. NS, not specied, in accordance with AWS A 5.28-96.

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3.2

Metallographic analysis

Figure 2 shows the macrographic appearance of the welded joints. It can be seen that a lower number of passes were used to complete the joint with the tubular wire process as a function of its higher productivity. Figures 3 and 4 show the micro-structural appearance as seen under the optical microscope in the as-welded and PWHT conditions for the columnar and reheated regions. Due to the limits of resolution in using the optical microscope, the indication of the presence of martensite as shown in Figures 3 and 4 was conrmed by a subsequent analysis under an electron scan microscope. The same sequence is applied in Figures 5 7 for the electron scan microscope. In the as-welded condition, note that, for the clad electrode, the columnar region is composed of a mixture of acicular ferrite (FA), ferrite with second phase aligned (FSA) and martensite (M). For the weld metal produced by the tubular wire process, note a columnar region with a predominance of martensite and ferrite with a non-aligned second phase. For the reheated regions, note the partial decomposition of the micro-structures in the columnar region. In the case of the clad electrode process, an increase in the ferritic areas can be seen with a coalescence of carbonates and the occurrence of AM micro-constituents. In the case of tubular wire, the reheated region shows a predominance of FSA. For the PWHT condition, note the cladding of a martensitic structure and the coalescence of the FSA carbonates. Table 4 shows the result of a quantitative analysis of the percentages of the columnar and reheated regions. The percentages were obtained by taking the average for the three 10 mm segments located in the grooved region of the test pieces for the Charpy V impact test. 3.3 Mechanical tests

thickness. In Figure 8, for the clad electrode process, it can be conrmed that there is no signicant variation in the hardness values along the joint between the as-welded and PWHT conditions, although there is a trend to lower hardness values in the root of the welded joint, which can be attributed to the reheating cycle in multi-pass welding. In Figure 9, for the tubular wire process, note a slightly larger variation between the as-welded and PWHT conditions, although with a smaller difference between the top and root regions. In addition, it can be seen that, on average, the weld metal for the clad electrode shows slightly higher values than those obtained for the tubular wire, being higher than 250 HV10 for the as-welded condition. 3.3.2 Tensile test

Table 5 presents the result of the tensile test for the weld metals obtained and the expected properties that conform

3.3.1 Hardness test Figures 8 and 9 show the hardness proles obtained for the joints welded in as-welded and PWHT conditions, measured from the surface of the plate on the plane of

Figure 2. Macrographic appearance of the welded joints.

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Figure 3. Micro-structural appearance of the as-welded condition, seen under an optical microscope. Magnication 500 . Attack: 2% Nital.

Figure 4. Micro-structural appearance of the PWHT condition, seen under an optical microscope. Magnication 500 . Attack: 2% Nital.

to the specications of the AWS standards. The acceptance criterion used here refers to grade R3 steel12 used for mooring accessories. It is conrmed that the weld metal

obtained by the tubular wire process does not comply with the R3 requirement for lengthening, in the as-welded condition.

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Figure 6. AM micro-constituents in the reheated region of the weld metal, with clad electrode in the as-welded condition seen under an electron scan microscope. Magnication 2000 . Attack: 2% Nital.

Figure 5. Micro-structural appearance of the as-welded condition, seen under an electron scan microscope. Magnication 1000 . Attack: 2% Nital.

3.3.3 Charpy V impact test Table 6 and Figure 10 show the results of the Charpy V impact tests for the weld metals in the as-welded and

PWHT conditions. It can be seen that the clad electrode has greater resistance than the tubular wire. Taking into account the minimum requirement of 50 J at 08C for an R3 weld metal12, note that the tubular wire gives results close to the acceptable limits. Both the consumables show a slight reduction in energy absorbed for the PWHT condition. Looking at the resulting micro-structures for the weld metals obtained, a higher percentage of martensite can be seen in the tubular wire as a counterpart to the existence of FA and martensite in the clad electrode. After PWHT, partial decomposition could be seen of the AM constituents for the electrode. Both the weld metals show resulting micro-structures of a chemical composition that enables high-mechanical resistance, which results in weld metals of higher temperability. However, the low level of carbon associated with the balance of the alloy elements, in particular Ni and Mn, tends to produce weld metals with hardness levels lower than 300 HV13 15. It can also be seen that the weld metal produced by the tubular wire, with a higher proportion of a martensitic structure, has lower hardness than the weld metal produced by the clad electrode. Even with a lower hardness level, the weld metal for tubular wire was shown to have lower resistance. This characteristic can be justied by an analysis of the percentages of columnar and reheated regions that exist in the weld metal. In Table 4, it can be seen that the weld metal of tubular wire has a higher percentage of a columnar region (50%) in comparison with the weld metal from the clad electrode (30%). This difference is also reected in the hardness prole shown in Figure 8, which reveals greater variations in regard to the

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Table 4. Percentage of the columnar region and reheated region in the weld metals. Consumable Clad electrode Tubular wire Columnar region (%) 30 50 Reheated region (%) 70 50

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deposition rate means that the joint can be completed with a lower number of passes. As a result, it can be suggested that the best results for impact resistance, for the weld metal produced by the tubular wire used in this work, may be increased by an increase in the number of passes, aimed at a higher percentage of the reheated region along the joint. However, this action leads to a reduction in advantage of the tubular wire process in terms of productivity, which in the present case was around twice as high as that in the clad electrode process as shown in Table 2, taking into account the time the arc was open. As a result, the selection of the most suitable process must look for a solution that nds a balance between productivity and the mechanical properties desired.

Figure 8. Hardness prole for welding with clad electrode.

Figure 7. Micro-structural appearance of the PWHT condition, seen under an electron scan microscope. Magnication 1000 . Attack: 2% Nital.

differences between the columnar and reheated regions. The higher percentage of columnar grains for the tubular wire is inherent in the process, given that the higher

Figure 9. Hardness prole for welding with tubular wire.

Welding International
Table 5. Material Clad electrode Clad electrode Tubular wire Tubular wire R3 min grade steel9 E11018M ASWa E110C Gb
a b

909

Results of tensile tests and requisites for the weld metal and base metal. Condition As-welded PWHT As-welded PWHT As-welded NS LE (MPa) 670 650 717 668 410 680 760 NS LR (MPa) 733 743 775 759 690 760 690 Al (%) 24 23 12 22 17 20 NS RA (%) 71 68 31 58 50

According to AWS A 5.5-96. NS, not specied, in accordance with AWS A 5.28-96.

Table 6. Material

Results of the Charpy V impact tests, in Joules. Condition As-welded T (8C) 23 0 2 20 2 40 2 60 23 0 2 20 2 40 2 60 23 0 2 20 2 40 2 60 23 0 2 20 2 40 2 60 0 Test 1 141.5 138.5 115.0 87.5 27.5 161.5 120.0 108.5 85.5 32.0 70.5 67.0 61.0 27.0 29.5 66.5 49.5 45.5 19.0 10.0 Test 2 137.5 148.5 130.0 89.5 33.5 155.5 133.5 107.0 56.5 18.5 66.5 60.5 57.5 41.5 28.0 63.5 58.0 47.5 19.5 20.0 Test 3 161.5 142.0 116.5 57.0 42.0 136.5 133.5 109.0 88.5 38.5 71.5 63.5 50.0 41.5 20.5 65.5 55.0 49.5 31.5 18.0 Average 146.8 143.0 120.5 78.0 37.7 151.2 129.0 108.2 76.8 29.7 69.5 63.7 56.2 36.7 26.0 65.2 54.2 47.5 23.3 16.0 50

Clad electrode

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PWHT

Tubular wire

As-welded

PWHT

Min demanded (R3)

Base metal

4.

Conclusions

Given the above, it can be concluded that (1) Weld metals from high-resistance steel produced by the clad electrode and tubular wire processes did not show a signicant reduction in toughness with the application of PWHT at 5808C for 2 h, obligatory in applications to repair grade R3 steel. (2) The weld metal obtained by the tubular wire process tends to have lower impact resistance when compared to that obtained with the clad electrode process. This difference can be attributed to the occurrence of a larger micro-structure, with the greater percentage in the columnar region of the weld metal in the tubular wire resulting from the lower number of passes. (3) The weld metal from the clad electrode meets the minimum required values for a grade R3 steel, in both as-welded and PWHT conditions, which thereby gives it greater reliability that tends to be a decisive factor in choosing this process for a specic application, in view of the need to evaluate the performance in fatigue terms.

Figure 10.

Energy absorbed in the Charpy V impact test.

910 Acknowledgements

H.N. Farneze et al.

5. Suman JA, et al. Effect of post-welding heat treatments on the properties of high resistance welded steel for maritime platform mooring systems. Weld Insp. 2004 Dec;9(4): 205212. 6. Ikawa H, et al. Effect of martensite austenite constituent on HAZ toughness of a high strength steel. IIW DOC.IX 1156 80. 7. Ferrante M, Farrar RA. The role of oxygen rich inclusions in determining the micro structure of weld deposits. J Mater Sci. 1982 Nov;17(11):3293 3298. 8. Evans GM. Factors affecting the microstructure and properties of C Mn in all weld metals deposits. Weld Res Abroad. 1983;28(1):1 69. 9. American Welding Society. AWS A.5.5 96: specication for low-alloy steel electrodes for shielded metal arc welding. 1996. p. 110. 10. American Society for Metals. Metal handbook: welding, brazing, and soldering. 9th ed. Vol. 6; 1983. 11. Kou S. Welding metallurgy. 2nd ed. New Jersey: Wiley Inter-science Publication; 2002. 12. American Bureau of Shipping. Certication of offshore mooring chain. New York; 1999. 13. Taylor DS, Evans GM. Development of MMA electrodes for offshore fabrication. Met Constr. 1983 Aug;15(8):438 443. 14. Zhang Z, Farrar RA. Inuence of Mn and Ni on the microstructure and toughness of C Mn Ni weld metals. Weld J. 1997 May;76(5):183 196. 15. Keehan E, et al. New developments with C Mn Ni highstrength steel weld metals, part A microstructure. Weld J. 2006 Sept;85(9):200 210.

The authors would like to thank the following institutions for the support they provided in the present work: Fluke Engenharia Ltda. for its experimental support and CAPES, CNPq and FINEP for their nancial support. The authors would also like to thank Marcio Moura of Fluke Engenharia Ltda. for his support in producing the welds and carrying out the mechanical tests.

Notes
1. 2. 3. 4. Email: humbertofarneze@globo.com Email: jorge@ukeengenharia.com.br Email: lfelipe@cefet-rj.br Email: bott@puc-rio.br

References
1. Myres D. Metal cored wires: advantages and disadvantages. Weld J. 2002 Sep;81(9):39 42. 2. Jorge JCF, Rebelo JMA. Inuence of post-welding heat treatment on the mechanical properties of high resistance weld beads. In: Minutes of the XVI National Meeting of Welding Technology; Caxambu, Minas Gerais; 1990. p. 8799. 3. Salvador LS, Jorge JCF, Bott IS. Effect of the chemical composition and stress relief heat treatment on the properties of high resistance weld metals for application in offshore structures. In: Minutes of the XXI National Welding Technology Conference, Caxias do Sul, RS; 1995. p. 337 351. 4. Jorge CFJ, et al. The state of the art in the a study of the weakness of cladding welded steel joints, 2.25% Cr 1.0% Mo. Technol Cult. CEFET/RJ 2001 Jan;4(4):68 97.

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