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MECHANICAL TESTING
ON WELDMENTS
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Testing on welding results should be performed to

ensure that all welding plans and procedures
have been followed and implemented.
This test is performed by a fabricator with third
party supervision. Could also be witnessed by the
owner of the goods/ products
Generally, testing of materials / products is part
of quality control (QA / QC)
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Quality control can be Destructive Testing

and Non Destructive Testing
Destructive testing of welded materials /
products consists of
Tensile Test
Impact Test
Bending Test
Hardness test
Metallographic observation
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While the Non Destructive Test consists of

Liquid penetrant test
Magnetic particle test
Ultrasonic testing
Radiographic testing
 Tensile Testing
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Tensile Testing is performed to determine

whether a weld joint able to receive tension load
as predefined criteria/ design.
The criterion here refers to the tensile strength of
base material prior to welding, as well as the
strength required for its application.
There are three position of weld that might be
possible to send for testing, yields:
All weld metal test
Longitudinal weld test
Transverse weld test
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All weld metal test

The purpose of all weld metal

tensile test is to determine

the tensile properties of
weld metal for qualification
tests of filler metals and for
conformation of filler metal
specifications.
The test specimen orientation is

parallel to the weld axis and

should not involving HAZ/ base
metal
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Longitudinal weld test

In the longitudinal weld test, the direction of

loading of the specimen is parallel to the weld

axis, but contains weld metal, HAZ and parent
material in its cross sections. During testing, all
of the zones must strain equally and
simultaneously. Only the tensile strength of
longitudinal weld tests is usually reported.
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Transverse weld test

This test if often used to qualify
welding procedure (WPS), i.e. to
confirm that the strength of weld
metal will be equal to or exceed the
design strength requirements. Its
orientation is at right angles to the
axis of the weld, and therefore
contains a full cross section of the
weld and parent material, Heat
Affected Zone (HAZ) and weld metal.
It should be noted that only the

location of the fracture and the

tensile strength of the material
are usually reported.
 Standard
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EN ISO 5178 Destructive tests on welds in

metallic materials longitudinal tensile test.
BS EN 895 Destructive tests on welds in metallic
materials transverse tensile test
JIS Z2241 Tensile Test Procedure for Ferrous
Materials
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Based on results of this tensile test, the

result that has to be analyzed are:
Tensile Strength
The position of the specimen is broken
Fracture profile
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 Bending Test
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In order to study the ductility and soundness of

joint, the welded material is tested by bending
test (as per BS EN 910)
In this test, the sample is placed on two rollers
and the indentor/ former between the roller, and
then indentor presses the sample until the
deformation reach 90o, 120o or 180o, depends on
requirements
Distance between anvil (roller) Lf = d + 3a
(indentor diameter + 3 x specimen thickness).
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Bending test consists of consists of three

positions, which are
1. Face bend test
2. Transverse side bend test
3. Root bend test
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Transverse root and face bend tests of a butt

weld (RBB and FBB)
The thickness of the specimen should be the

same as the base material thickness closest to

the weld metal
If the width of the weld (t) > 30 mm, some

samples shall be made to represent the overall

thickness of the weld plate.
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The length Lt of test specimens shall be Lt l +

2R and at least be such that the requirements of
the appropriate application standards are
fulfilled.
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Transverse side bend tests of a butt weld

(SBB)
Specimen width (b) should be = thickness of

weld material
The thickness of the specimen (a) is minimal (10

0.5) mm, and the ratio b / a is b 1.5a.

If the joint thickness is > 40 mm, then the test

specimen can be taken from several locations,

with b value between 20 mm - 40 mm.
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Longitudinal bend tests of a butt weld (RBB

and FBB)
For a longitudinal bend test specimen thickness

(a) = thickness of base material near the joint.

If the connection thickness (t)> 12 mm, then the

thickness of the specimen should be equal to (12

0.5) mm
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From the results of bending tests, analysis can be

made:
No crack found at required bend angle. Or refer

to standard, if crack is found with length <3 mm,

it can be ignored
Elongation, by measuring the length after
bending on the outside of the specimen (outside
curve which not contact with the former /
indentor)
 Report
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 Impact Testing
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Impact test is performed to obtain the toughness

properties of weld and HAZ, and sensitivity to notch
Toughness is, broadly, a measure of the amount of
energy required to cause an item - a test piece - to
fracture and fail. The more energy that is required
then the tougher the material.
The area beneath a stress/strain curve produced
from a tensile test is a measure of the
toughness of the test piece under slow loading
conditions.
However, in the context of an impact test we are
looking at notch toughness, a measure of the metal's
resistance to brittle or fast fracture in the presence of
a flaw or notch and fast loading conditions.
 Impact Testing
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Standard specimen: BS EN 875 Destructive

tests on welds in metallic materials -
Impact tests - Test specimen location, notch
orientation and examination
Testing Standard EN 10045-1 Metallic Materials
- Charpy Impact test Part 1: test method
Sample size: 55 mm length and 10 mm sides
Notch: V-notch of 45o, 2mm deep with 0.25 mm
radius of curvature at base of notch
 Specimen and notch position
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Distance between anvil = 40 mm

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The test result is Impact Strength (IS) which is

the result of the Impact Energy (IE) divided by
cross section area.
IE = Einitial Efinal = W.hinitial - W.hfinal
Where W is the weight of the pendulum
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Ductile fracture : fibrous and grey color,

deformation exists
Brittle fracture : flat and shiny color, minor
deformation
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 Hardness Testing
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Hardness testing on weld result is performed to

study the distribution of hardness in weld metal,
HAZ and base metal as result of thermal cycle
during welding.
Hardness testing methods commonly used are
are Rockwell and Vickers hardness testing
While the location of data collection is at the
points where there is a change in temperature
(thermal cycle) during the welding process
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If necessary, hardness testing is performed with

multiple layers for wide workpieces and has
grooves
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Evaluation
Hardness on weld metal should not far lower
compared to base metal
A very high hardness of weld metal should be
noticed, since might correlated to toughness of
joint