Welding Processes &

Welding defects
Welding metallurgy
Kanchan kumar
Institute of material testing & evaluation

Acknowledgement

Some images are from the Internet

Sindo Kou's book on Welding Metallurgy

ASM Handbook vol. 6 on Welding,

Brazing and Soldering

Contents
Welding Processes, bonds, common
processes, hard surfacing, solid state
brazing, soldering - brief outline, Fusion
and pressure bonding, Distortion and
stresses, Heat for welding, Manual and
automotive welding, Special welding
processes Electron beam welding, Plasma
arc, Ultrasonic welding, Basic design
welding symbols, electrodes, weld defects

What is welding?
Welding is a joining technique
Permanent union of metallic surfaces by
establishing atom to atom bonds between
the surfaces
Distinction from fastening & adhesive
bonding
Formation of Metallurgical Bond

More distinctions
(Fusion) Welding : base materials melt
Soldering : only the filler material melts
(T < 450 oC)
Brazing : same as soldering
(T > 450 oC)

Soldering

Has been around for 1000s of years, but a lot of it is still an

art
Need right balance of surface energies, solder, flux, and
base material
Need a flux that will properly wet the liquid solder and
solid base material but not have such a strong affinity for
the base material that the liquid solder cannot displace it
soldering metals, since they have a high surface energy, will
bond with almost anything, but need a right balance of
interfacial energies.
Soldering v. brazing: temperature below 425 oC is
soldering, above is brazing
The distinction is because no common metal melts between
the range of zinc and aluminum alloys

Brazing

Higher temperatures (>425 oC)

More flexibility in choice of fluxes

More reactive fluxes mean more base metals/non-metals can

be brazed

solder fluxes tend to use organics

brazing fluxes can use anhydrous salts, more aggressive

most base metals can be brazed, many ceramics

can almost always find a flux that will work for brazing
often used for joining dissimilar metals where welding is a problem

Room temperature strength of filler metal is greater (5,00010,000psi)

Volatization of alloy elements can be a problem.
Intermetallics may form.
Thermal stresses may be severe.
Erosion of the base metal may occur.

Hard surfacing

Weld overlay
Single piece over which a desired material is
clad

Flexibility of welding processes

Flexibility of choice of overlay materials

Welding Processes

When does welding take place?

When the materials are brought to intimate
contact with each other
Enabled by absence of surface
contamination
Enabled by fusion
Enabled also by pressure (and heat)

A word about the power density

Metals have good thermal
diffusivity
Rate of heating must be
more than rate of heat
removal by thermal
diffusion to be able to
melt
About 1000 W/cm2 is
necessary to melt metals
Heating sources are
available from 100 W/cm2
to 107 W/cm2 (gas flame
to laser / electron beam)

Heat
time x area

Classes of Welding Processes

Fusion Welding: where base materials melt

Diffusion Welding
Pressure Welding
Resistance Spot Welding

Some abbreviations

SMAW: Shielded Metal Arc Welding

MMAW: Manual Metal Arc Welding
FCAW: Flux Cored Arc Welding
GTAW: Gas Tungsten Arc Welding
GMAW: Gas Metal Arc Welding
SAW: Submerged Arc Welding
FRW: Friction Welding
FSW: Friction Stir Welding
LBW: Laser Beam Welding
EBW: Electron Beam Welding

Arc Welding Processes

Fusion Welding
Two materials join by
melting at the mating
surfaces
Adequate heat
intensity
Moving heat source
for a continuous joint
Protection from
environment

Fusion Welding Process

Example of SMAW

Shielded Metal Arc Welding

Arc Welding Electrodes

Arc welding electrodes are identified using the A.W.S, (American Welding Society)
numbering system

Ex: a welding rod identified as an 1/8" E6011 electrode.

The electrode is 1/8" in diameter

The "E" stands for arc welding electrode.

Next will be either a 4 or 5 digit number stamped on the electrode. The first two
numbers of a 4 digit number and the first 3 digits of a 5 digit number indicate the
minimum tensile strength (in thousands of pounds per square inch) of the weld that the
rod will produce, stress relieved.
For example, E60xx would have a tensile strength of 60,000 psi E110XX would be
110,000 psi

The next to last digit indicates the position the electrode can be used in.

1.

EXX1X is for use in all positions

2.

EXX2X is for use in flat and horizontal positions

3.

EXX3X is for flat welding

The last two digits together, indicate the type of coating on the electrode and the
welding current the electrode can be used with. Such as DC straight, (DC -) DC reverse
(DC+) or A.C.

GTAW

Polarities

Work function

DCEN, DCEP, AC

Automation in welding

Precision and productivity

Improves weld repeatability.

Welds in more than one axis and where

accessibility is difficult
Automating the torch motions decreases the error
potential which means decreased scrap and rework.
A fully equipped and optimised robot cell can work
for 24 hours a day, 365 days a year without breaks
makes it more efficient than a manual cell.

Submerged Arc Welding

Plasma Arc welding process

Discharging high
temperature ionized
plasma through an
orifice.
A non consumable
electrode is used.
The plasma, at
temperatures as high
as 10,000 C at its
core

deeper penetration with reduced heat-affected zones

Beam assisted welding processes

Electron Beam Welding

Features of EBW

Entire chamber to be at high vacuum

Easily vaporising metals?

X-Ray shielding necessary

Needs alignment of joint with beam traversal

High capital cost

Flexibility of power density

Welds very thick or thin sheets in one go!

EBW vs GTAW

Laser Beam Welding

Comparison of welding processes

Spot Welding Processes

Resistance Spot Welding

Sequence of operation in Resistance

Spot Welding

Ultrasonic Welding

(a) Wedge Reed System

(b) Lateral Drive System

Features of Ultrasonic Welding

Suitable for thin sheets
Essentially spot welds
Series of spot welds to give
a continuous weld

Friction Welding Processes

Friction Stir welding

Benefits of FSW

Low distortion, even in long welds

Excellent mechanical properties as proven by fatigue, tensile and bend
tests.

No fumes

No porosity

No spatter

Low shrinkage

Can operate in all positions

Energy efficient

Non consumable tool

No filler wire

No gas shielding

Some tolerance to imperfect welds preparation

Schematic diagram of microstructural

zones in FSW of Al

Joint Configurations possible with

FSW

FRICTION
WELDING
A solid state welding process

Heat obtained from

mechanically-induced sliding
motion
This process can be
accurately controlled
when speed, pressure, and
time are closely regulated.

FRW Applications
FRW can weld almost all
metallic materials. The
basic requirement is some
plasticity at higher
temperature and thermal
stability
Process is used to fabricate
axle cases, drills, pipes,
steering columns, hydraulic
cylinders and piston rods,
general tractor components,
half-shafts, fasteners, engine
valves, and many others.

Diffusion Joining

Diffusion Bonding

Diffusion Bonding
Squeeze and add heat,

Heat helps deform surface asperities to get

better surface contact,

Heat also helps diffuse away the surface

contaminants in some cases

Cold welding with heat, but usually dont

have significant shear
example: hollow titanium air foils, diffusion
bonded at interfaces for F-22 fighter planes

Stages in diffusion Bonding process

a) Initial contact
limited to few
asperities at room
temperature

b) Deformation
of surface
asperities by
plastic flow and
creep

C) Grain boundary diffusion

of atoms to the voids and grain
boundary migration

d) Volume diffusion
of atoms to the voids

Characteristics of Diffusion Bonding

Bonding temperature is typically 0.6 to 0.8 of melting point

Tm (K)
Want a high enough temperature to get deformation at
bonding pressure
Bonding pressures 500-5000psi
Some materials (like aluminum and magnesium) are not
diffusion bondable (unless interpose say a copper layer even
then very difficult)
Sometimes use thermal expansion mismatch to create the
pressure, special steel and titanium, or molybdenum
This is commonly used for high value parts, aerospace
industry and not generally used in automotive industry due
to high cost associated with the furnaces.

Weld Defects

Casting during welding !

Melt pool re-solidifies

after the heat source
moves away
Mini casting
Casting defects need
to be extended to
solidified welds

Filler material

Almost necessary above 3 mm thick welds

Weld bead shape and geometry depends on
processing parameters
Variable thicknesses possible
Compatibility with the base material on
either side of the weld

Properties relevant to Solidification

Most metallic alloys shrink when they
solidify
They also shrink when they cool down
If adequate liquid metal is not available to
compensate the shrinkage, porosity will
result
Shrinkage leads to residual stresses

Development of Weld Microstructure

Development of Weld Microstructure

Microporosity
Connected porosity
Liquation cracking
etc.,

Welding Defects

Cracks

In weld metal or HAZ

Porosity

Gas bubbles entrapped in weld metal

Incomplete fusion (interrun or at preparation edge)

Inclusions

Slag or other matter entrapped in weld

Defective profile

Under-weld, over-weld, lack of penetration, overlap, undercut

Causes of weld defects

Poor design of weldment

Lack of access to make weld

Mistakes by welder

Lack of skill

Poor placement of weld metal

Inadequate cleaning

Poor welding procedure

Defects in Welds

Defects in weldments

Incomplete fusion

Incomplete joint penetration

Groove welds and defects

Cracks in Welds

Solidification cracking
Contraction strains
cause rupture of the
weld at the point
where the last
material solidifies.
Solidification range
Weld pool size &
shape

Distortion in Weldments

Distortion is mainly caused by highly localized

heating and cooling of the metal being joined
together.

Remedies for angular distortion

Place weld around neutral

axis

Prefer single pass deep

penetration to reduce volume of
weld metal

Stress in weld joints

During heating weld pool
metal tries to expand but is
restricted by surrounding
metal with relatively low
temp, causing comp stress on
the weld region and tensile
stress nearby
During cooling the reverse
process will happen
Therefore after completion
of welding high tensile
stresses are developed near
weld, while compressive
stresses are produced in
regions away from the weld
These are called internal
stress or residual stresses

Effect of Residual stresses

Distortion of work piece.

Reduction in dimensional stability

Results in weld cracking

Results in brittle fracture

Affects fatigue strength adversely

Lowers creep strength

Out of plane distortion causes reduction in

buckling strength

Welding Positions
Four standard
positions of welding
based on the
direction of gravity

Basic Welding Joints

Typical Weld Joint Variations

Weld Symbols

A standard welding symbol consists of

a reference line

becomes the foundation of the welding symbol

. used to apply weld symbols, dimensions, and other data to the

weld

an arrow

arrow simply connects the reference line to the joint or area to be

welded

direction of the arrow has no bearing on the significance of the

reference line.

a tail.

used only when necessary to include a specification, process, or

other reference information

Elements of a Weld Symbol

Specifying
weld
locations
Symbols applied to
reference line

Concluding Remarks

Attention to process details

Consider material characteristics

Localized nature of the process

Geometrical complexity

Critical nature of the function of a weld in a

structure

Thank you

Presentation