ASME SECTION VIII DIV 2

Article D-4 Welded Joints

AM-400 Welded Joint Categories

Category defines the location of a joint in a vessel
Established for use in specifying joint type and
degree of inspection
Based on service, material and thickness, special
requirements are specified in code
Category A
Category B
Category C
Category D
Article D-4 Welded Joints
 Article F-1 General Fabrication Requirements

AF-104 Repair of defective materials

Defect may be removed and material repaired by
vessel manufacturer or unless prohibited by
material specification may also be repaired by
material manufacturer with approval of vessel
manufacturer
Material repair that exceed those permitted by
material specification shall be made to satisfaction
of inspector
Article F-1 General Fabrication Requirements

AM-104.1 Examination of defective area

By MPT (Article 9-1) or by LPT (Article 9-2)
AM-104.2 Repair by welding
Procedure & welds must be qualified in
accordance with Sec IX, including impact testing
Repaired material shall be heat treated when
required
AM-104.3 Examination of finished weld
Article F-1 General Fabrication Requirements
By Radiography (Article I-5) when depth of weld
deposit exceeds 10 mm or one-half material
thickness
 Article F-1 General Fabrication Requirements

AF-112 Base metal preparation

AF-112.1 Examination of materials
a Material examination before fabrication for
detecting defects which would affect safety of vessel.
Examination of edges of base materials (including
edges of openings cut through thickness)
b Cut edges of thickness >= 38 mm shall be examined
by MPT or LPT
c For openings, cut edges of all thickness, examination
by MPT or LPT
AF-220 Specific requirements for welded joints
Table AF-241.1
 AF-220 Specific requirements for welded joints

AF-228 Liquid Penetrant Examination

All austenitic Cr-Ni alloy steel welds, both butt &
fillet, which exceeds nominal thickness of 19 mm
shall be examined (Article 9-2)
LPT after heat treatment, if performed
All crack shall be eliminated
 AF-230 Miscellaneous Welding requirements

AF-235 Identification markings or records for welders

or welding operators
Stamp identifying number, letter or symbol on or
adjacent to and at intervals of not more than 1 m
along the welds in plates >= 6 mm in thickness or
record of welders / WOs employed on each joints
shall be kept
For multiple welds, tube to tube sheet welds
QA system shall have a procedure to identify
welders or welding operators
Welds in each category are of same type and
configuration and are welded with same WPS
 Article I-5 Radiographic Examination

AI-510 Acceptance standard for radiographs of welds

AI-511 Unacceptable defects and repair requirements
Imperfections are unacceptable under following
condition
Any crack or incomplete fusion or penetration
Any elongated indication which has length
greater than
6 mm for t upto 19 mm
1/3t for t from 19 mm to 56 mm
19 mm for t over 56 mm
 Article I-5 Radiographic Examination

AI-511 Unacceptable defects and repair requirements

Imperfections are unacceptable under following
condition
Any group of aligned indications with aggregate
length greater than t in length of 12t, except
distance between successive imperfections
exceeds 6L where L is length of longest
imperfection in group
Rounded indications in excess of that specified in
Appendix 4

t - thickness of weld excluding any allowable

reinforcement, including throat of fillet if any
Article T-2 Impact testing of welds and vessel test
plates of ferrous materials

AT-203 Impact tests of vessel test plates

When base material is required to be impact tested,
impact testing of weld and HAZ shall be made for
category A & B joints in accordance with AT-201 for
each qualified procedure used in vessel
Test plate shall be from one of heats of vessel or
group of vessels
For category A joint, test plate shall, where
practicable, be welded as an extension to end of
production joint or welded as close to start of
production welding as practicable, utilizing
equipment, welding material and procedures which
are to be used on production joints
Article T-2 Impact testing of welds and vessel test
plates of ferrous materials

AT-203 Impact tests of vessel test plates

For category B joint (welded using different welding
procedure than used on category A joints, test plate
shall be welded under production welding conditions
used for vessel, using same type of equipment and at
same location and using same procedures as used for
joint and it shall be welded concurrently with
production welds or as closed to start of production
welding as practicable
Article T-2 Impact testing of welds and vessel test
plates of ferrous materials

AT-203.1 Number of vessel Impact Plates required

For each vessel, one test plate shall be made for each
welding procedure used for category A & B
In addition, for category A & B joints, following
requirements shall apply
For automatic or semi automatic welding, one
test plate in each position
For manual welding, vertical upward welded test
plate qualify for all position.
AT-203.2 Rejection
If PTC fails to meet the impact requirements, welds
represented shall be unacceptable. Reheat treatment
and retesting or retesting only are permitted.
 Article 9-1 MPE Article 9-2 LPE

9-130 Acceptance standard

All surfaces to be examined shall be free of
Relevant linear indications
Relevant rounded indications greater than 5 mm
Four or more relevant rounded indication in a
line separated by 1.5 mm or less, edge to edge
Article 9-3 Ultrasonic Examination of welds

9-320 Acceptance-Rejection standards

Indications characterized as cracks, lack of fusion or
incomplete penetration are unacceptable regardless
of length
Other imperfections are unacceptable if indications
exceed reference level amplitude and have lengths
which exceed
6 mm for t upto 19 mm
1/3t for t from 19 mm to 57 mm
19 mm for t over 57 mm
T-thickness of weld, excluding any allowable
reinforcement