Today welding is the most common method used for joining steel fabrications

largely because of the speed at which joints can be made and the reliability of
these joints in service. However because most welding operations are now
relatively simple to perform it is all too easy to forget the complexity of the
chemical and metallurgical actions that are taking place when the weld is being
deposited. Therefore not surprisingly welds occasionally fail.
The most common causes of weld failure can be attributed to one of the
following causes:-
Overload.
Before applying the various design formulas, the problem itself must be analysed
and clearly stated. This is not always obvious, and trying to solve the wrong pr
oblem
can quickly lead to insufficient design stresses. When a load is placed on a mem
ber,
stress and strain result. Stress is the internal resistance to the applied force
. Strain is
the amount of "give or deformation caused by the stress, such as deflection in
bending, elongation in tension, contraction in compression, and angular twist in
torsion.
For example of this is a lifting lug on a pressure vessel. If the vessel is lift
ed by
a spreader beam the loading condition on the lug consists of a simple vertical
force putting the attachment welds either in tension or shear. However if the
vessel is lifted with a rope sling the loading condition becomes more complex
because there is now a horizontal component of the force to consider as well a
the vertical one, which effectively increases the loading on the welds.
Joint Design.
A welded joint should be designed such that the
welder can easily manipulate the electrode to ensure
good fusion, particularly in the root of the joint. The
profile of each run should be roughly as wide as it is
deep; wide shallow weld beads and particularly deep
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This type of cracking occurs when the weld is starting to solidify, in the pasty
state, as it posses very little strength and therefore any residual loading is l
ikely
to cause it to break before it has fully solidified. The problem can be
compounded by impurities that are forced out of the solidifying weld,
becoming trapped in the centre of the weld during final solidification. Hot
cracking can occur where their is a high degree of restraint in the structure of
the fabrication or where the structure moves slightly as the weld solidifies.
narrow beads are both ideal candidates for hot
cracking.
A good example of this type of failure is on the
weld used to secure the small plug in the mandrill
hole of a spun dished head on a pressure vessel, a
weld that many people do not take seriously
because of its size. As the weld cools it contracts
causing the plug to move , if the weld at the other
side of the plug is still solidifying it could easily
fail. This is because of the very high contraction
stresses generated by the plug as the weld starts to
solidify.
Bad Welding Method.
It is very important when carrying out any welding
to ensure that it is done correctly. Consideration has
to be given to all aspects of the process and also the
environment. Often welding has to be carried out
under site conditions, the welding is often carried out
in situation so that small general purpose electrodes
are used resulting in low weld heat input which
when combined with no preheat gives very rapid
heat dissipation Which can create a hard micro
structure particularly in the location of the heat
affected zone. This along with high levels of residual stress will create the
ideal condition for hydrogen induced cracking, which although normally
associated with high strength steels can
occur in low carbon steels if the
conditions are right. The resulting crack
may not occur immediately the weld
cools down but some time afterward,
therefore if this type of failure is expected
non destructive examination should be
delayed by at least 48 hours after welding.
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Metallurgical failure.
Materials that are to be welded have to tolerate severe thermal transients
created by the welding process without suffering deterioration of their
mechanical properties or adverse phase changes. The metallurgical composition
or temper conditions of certain types of metal may make them unsuitable to
weld or may require special controls to be imposed during the welding
operation. For example some steels that are easy to machine may contain high
levels of sulphur that may result in cracking of any attaching weld. Therefore
this type of material should not be used on load bearing fabricated items such
as the eye bolts that are often found holding down manway covers on pressure
vessels.
Weld Defects.
They can usually be attributed to the welders
inability to set up and manipulate the welding
equipment; although bad joint design and faulty
welding equipment can also be responsible. The
most significant defects are cracks and those that
resemble cracks such as lack of fusion, cold overlap
etc. This is because of the risk that the crack may
become unstable and propagate when loaded
causing a dramatic failure often by brittle fracture.
Porosity seldom causes weld failure in multi-run welds however it is a sign that
something has gone wrong with welding operation and can often be caused by
other defects that may not have been detected such as lack of side wall fusion.
Weld profile can also cause failure, if the weld size is too small because the
joint is underfilled with weld then its load carrying capability will be reduced
,
if the joint contains excessive weld metal this can create a notch effect which
can lead to failure by fatigue if the loading condition fluctuates. Bad fit up
excessive root penetration on single sided welds can create defects in the root
of the weld such as wormholes and even cracking. Distortion of welded joints
can cause failure by buckling if the welded member is subjected to compressive
loads.
Guidance on imperfection levels of welded joints is given in EN ISO 5817
To minimise these problems the following points should be considered:-
1. Design of the weld based on the loading condition(s) the joint will carry
2. Accessibility to enable ease of welding
3. Control of distortion
4. Careful consideration of the welding environment
5. Matching welding process with materials
6. A factor of safty applied to the design stress of the weld which should be
based on the consequance of weld failure and the level of non
destructive testing that is to be carried out.
For example a pressure vessel made to PD5500 category 3, (no radiographic
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inspection), can be up to twice a thick as an equivalent vessel made to category
2, (10% Radiography). Fillet welds and Partial Penetration welds should be
used with care as they contain lack of fusion, they are only suitable for
relatively low stressed joints that are not subject to any form of fatigue loadi
ng
and should be used with a suitable factor of safety, which for fillet welds is a
t
least two.
Once the weld has been designed it is then necessary to decide upon the
welding method, this is then documented in the form of a welding procedure
specification. The European Welding Standard for welding procedures, EN ISO
15609-1 (formerly EN288 Part 2), gives guidance on the content and format of
such a specification.
However this document on its own is not sufficient because we need to prove
that this welding method will produce a weld of acceptable quality possessing
the right mechanical properties. Therefore it is necessary to simulate the joint
in
all essential features and weld it under normal production conditions. The
completed joint can then be subject to both non destructive and destructive
examinations to determine if the joint is going to be suitable for the
application.
For most stringent applications the European Standard EN ISO 15614 Part 1
(formerly EN 288 Part 3) is preferred for welding procedure tests in steel
materials and part 2 for Aluminium and its alloys. There are other parts of EN
288 that deal with alternative routes for qualifying procedures, other than a
procedure test, for less onerous applications. See Welding Procedure Section
for details.
Once we have established that the proposed welding method is satisfactory we
then have to ensure that the production welds will also be of the same quality.
This involves making sure the welders posses the required skill and knowledge
to deposit sound welds in accordance with the approved procedure. Whilst we
can be confident that the welder who did the procedure will be able, any other
welder used must also demonstrate his ability by successfully completing a
welder approval test. The preferred standard for this is EN 287 Part 1 for steel
and part 2 for aluminium and its alloys. This standard not only tests the
performance of the welder but also requires it to be monitored and revalidated
every 2 years to ensure that the welders skill can be relied upon.
Finally make sure that when the welding operation is being carried out it is
supervised and coordinated by properly qualified personnel.
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Last Modified 28 March 2008
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