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INTRODUCTION TO WELDING
Welding is recognized all over the world, today, as a remarkably versatile means of metal fabrication. A large number of welding processes have come into industrial use in the last 30 years. Variations & extensions of these processes are being developed and put into practical use from time to time. Thus the metal joining technology is in a constant state of flux. The wide range & variety of these processes enable the modern engineer to join almost all commercial metal and alloys in many different shapes & sizes and in thicknesses ranging from a fraction of a millimeter to over 500mm. Modern industrial products such as automobiles, railway rolling stock, transmission pipelines, pressure vessels, storage tanks, power generation equipment, oil refineries etc. owe their development and efficient performance to welding. The technique of joining metal pieces by welding apparently originated more than 1500 years ago. Welding receive special impetus during world war 2, when the urgency of providing large fleets of ships, tanks, trucks and aircrafts at the short notice led to the large scale replacement of riveting by welding. Having briefly touched upon the history of welding let us, revert to the present day welding processes. These can be conveniently grouped under following main headings: Fusion welding Electric resistance welding Solid Phase welding
These processes involved fusion of the base metal to complete the weld. Fusion welds ordinarily do not require the application of pressure and they may be completed with or without addition of filler metal. Fusion weld made without the addition of filler metal is called autogenous weld. In most cases welding involves the use of filler metal.
In semiautomatic welding, operator guides the flexible welding head along the seam. In doing so he controls speed of travel & line of travel. In fully automatic version, the welding head is mounted on a trolley which travels along the joint. This process gives very high productivity & excellent weld quality. Generally applied on mild steel, high tensile steel, low alloy & stainless steels.
MIG WELDING
MIG welding is an abbreviation of metal inert gas welding. It is also known as GMAW which stands for gas metal arc welding. In this process coalescence is achieved by an arc formed between the work piece and a consumable solid wire electrode which is fed through a gun at controlled speeds. Inert argon gas flows through the gun & forms a blanket over the weld puddle to protect it from atmospheric contamination.
The power source is a rectifier or a DC generator. Reverse polarity is used, as it gives a better melting, deeper penetration and a better cleaning action. Three distinct techniques are possible in MIG welding, depending on electrode size, shielding gas & welding current.
SPRAY MODE OF METAL TRANSFER: This technique uses heavy wires, large currents & preferably argon- oxygen mixture. This gives high heat input, high deposition rate and deep penetration.
GLOBULAR MODE OF METAL TRANSFER: When current is low, metal transfer occurs in large globules. The result is poor arc stability, shallow penetration and excessive spatter.
SHORT CIRCUITING: This technique is most practical at current below 200amps. It permits welding thinner section with ease and is extremely practical for all welding positions.
MIG is versatile process, and is gradually replacing manual metal arc welding. Most metals like aluminum carbon steel, stainless steel, nickel can be welded.
GRAVITY WELDING
This is a semi automatic version of manual metal arc welding. The bare end of a specially designed heavy coated manual welding electrode is clamped in a holder which is fixed on one of the legs of tripod. When the arc is struck, the electrode begins to consume and the arc length is automatically maintained due to the sleeve formation at the burning end. At the same time, the holder slides down by gravity. The fillet size (throat thickness) ranges between 3.5 to 5.5mm. The length of the weld per electrode is in the range of 600 to 1000mm. This process is fairly popular in ship building and under water welding.
TIG WELDING
TIG is the abbreviation of tungsten inert gas. This process is also termed as gas tungsten arc welding GTAW. In this process an arc is struck between a non consumable tungsten electrode and the base metal. The arc is shielded by inert argon or helium or argonhelium mixture. A filler wire may or may not be used. The welder also has to control the arc length and arc travel speed. An AC power source is used for welding aluminum and its alloys, while a DC source is used for all other metals. This is an ideal process for welding non ferrous metal and stainless steel in limited thickness.
GAS WELDING
In this process, the melting of the base metal is achieved by means of gas flame which derives its intense heat from the combustion of fuel with oxygen. The most commonly used fuel is acetylene, though mapp gas and hydrogen are sometimes used. So it is sometimes called oxyfuel or oxyacetylene welding. The oxyacetylene process depends on the chemical reaction which occurs in two stages.
Gas welding has limited application for industrial production purposes because it is much slower than arc welding processes.
Its ability to produce deeper and narrower weld with total heat input much lower than in arc welding.
Good control over weld penetration and weld dimension. High purity weld free from oxides and nitrides. Very high welding speed and production rate.
Electron beam welding can join materials ranging from thin foils to sheets of 50mm thickness. It is particularly suited for welding of refractory metal such as tungsten, molybdenum, tantalum and metals which oxidize such as titanium, beryllium and zirconium. An electron beam welder is very expensive but its use is justified for critical application like metal cuttings saws, aircraft engine etc.
LASER WELDING
In this process fusion is achieved by directing a highly concentrated beam to a spot about the diameter of human hair. A laser beam has high energy concentration than even electron beam. Since the heat input to the work piece is extremely small, the size of the heat affected zone (HAZ) and the thermal damage to adjacent part is negligible Laser welding can be used to join dissimilar metals and other difficult to weld metals like copper, nickel, tungsten and columbium. Laser welding is largely used in aerospace and electronic industries. Its major limitations are shallow penetration.
SPOT WELDING
In this process, a spot of weld is made between overlapping sheets by means of two cylindrical copper alloy electrodes one on top and other at bottom, which carry a high current. The electrodes also clamp the work and applying pressure when the metal at the joint gets sufficiently heated by electrical resistance.
A tiny button of fused metal results at the sheet interface which is called nugget. The process is used on a large scale in automotive production, and in sheet metal fabrication.
STITCH WELDING
This is an extension of spot welding, in which a series of overlapping spot welds are made in the same manner as stitching clothes. Stitch welding can be performed with a normal spot welding machine or a specially designed one.
SEAM WELDING
Seam welding is similar to the spot welding, except that the copper alloy electrodes are in form of circular rollers. The overlapping sheets are held under a const pressure between the roller electrodes, which rotate at constant speed and carry current.
FORGE WELDING
This is the age old process used by blacksmith. It consists of heating the surfaces to be joined, placing these surfaces in contact, and hammering them together to form a weld. The surfaces are heated below the melting point, so that they are in plastic state. The welding can be done also by using dies and rollers.
In die welding, the parts heated in the furnace and the pressure is applied by means of dies. The also form the work while it is hot.
In roll welding the pressure on heated parts is applied by means of rollers. Roll welding is mainly used for the manufacture of clad steel plates and sheets.
ULTRASONIC WELDING
It is a solid state process for joining similar or dissimilar metals by application of a high frequency vibratory energy to work pieces held together under moderate static pressure. The process has proved to be economical as it welds fast, uses less power, and usually requires lower capital investment.
The vibrations break up and disperse oxides, surface films and some types of insulations at the joint surface to permit bare metal contact. Inter atomic diffusion occurs across the facing surfaces and results in a metallurgical bond without the application of heat. The joint so produced possess electrical resistance and mechanical strength similar to parent metal.
The equipment consists of a frequency converter which changes 60 cycle power to the high frequency (15 to 60 KHz) required by the ultrasonic head. The head incorporates the piezoelectric transducer, which converts the high frequency electrical output into vibratory mechanical motion. The process has been successfully used in electrical equipment production.
PLASMA PROCESSES
Plasma is considered the fourth state of matter, the other three being solid, liquid and gas. Plasma is a superheated gas which has dissociated into positive ions, neutral atoms and negative electrons. Plasma is formed when an electrical discharge takes place in a gas, and also in an electric arc. In normal arc welding process plasma is easily blown away by moving gas streams. But in plasma processes, the plasma is contained and used effectively.
The plasma arc is of two types: Transferred and Non Transferred arc. In the former, the arc is formed between the electrode and the work piece, in the latter; the arc is formed between the electrode and the constricting orifice inside the torch.
PLASMA WELDING
Plasma welding is an extension of TIG welding. The main difference as explained above is the constriction of arc column, resulting in much higher heat transfer rate. The torch is further modified to provide an outer sheath of cool gas around the central plasma core. Plasma welding makes use of keyhole technique. When the plasma jet strikes the metal it cuts or keyholes entirely through the work piece producing a small hole, which is carried along the weld seam. During this cutting action the molten metal in front of arc flows around the arc column, then gets drawn together immediately behind the hole by surface tension forces and reforms as weld bead. The process can weld carbon steels, stainless steels, copper, brass, aluminium etc.
CHAPTER 3
CLASSIFICATION OF ELECTRODES
CHAPTER 4
WELDING DEFECTS
In welding the main objective is to obtain sound, defect free welded joints, but this is not always easy to maintain. It has to be admitted perfect welds are rarely obtained. Such small imperfections, which cause some variation in the normal average properties of the weld metal, are called discontinuities. When a discontinuity is large enough to affect the function of the joint, it is termed a defect. Defects are caused by substandard welding consumables, faulty welding procedures, inefficient workmanship, lack of cleanliness etc.
The following paragraphs describe typical defects which can occur in arc welds.
INCOMPLETE PENETRATION
This defect occurs at the root of the joint when the weld metal fails to fuse completely with the root faces of the joint. As a result, a void remains at the root zone, which may contain lag inclusions. In a fillet weld, poor penetration at the root zone can give rise to cracking. Incomplete penetration is caused by incorrect size of electrode in relation to the form of the joint, low welding current or inaccurate joint preparation and fit up. It occurs more often in vertical and overhead positions. Rectification of this defect is a very costly proposition, because it requires removal of the entire thickness of the weld and rewelding. Care must be taken that after
removing the defective metal, sufficiently wide groove remains, in which the electrode can be correctly manipulated.
LACK OF FUSION
Lack of fusion is defined as a condition where boundaries of unfused metal exist between the weld metal and base metal or between adjacent layers of weld metal. This defect is caused by the presence of scale, dirt, oxide, slag & other non metallic substances, which prevent the underlying metal from reaching the melting temperatures. It is also caused by improper deslagging of a weld pass, before an adjacent or overlapping pass is deposited. When individual passes are badly placed or their surfaces are rough, thorough deslagging becomes difficult. In such cases, the weld should be chipped before next pass. To prevent the occurrence of this defect, following steps should be taken: Keep joint surfaces clean. Use adequate welding current.
UNDERCUT
This defect occurs as a continuous groove at the toes of a weld pass and is located on the base metal or in the fusion face of a multipass weld. It occurs prominently on the edge of a fillet weld deposited in the horizontal position. It is usually caused by excessive welding current. It may also result from too high a speed of arc travel, wrong electrode angle or excessive side manipulation. In case of static load, the presence of small and intermittent undercutting can be neglected but not in the case where structure is dynamically loaded.
The defect is rectified by filling up the undercut groove with a weld pass. If undercut is deep and contains slag, it should be chipped away before rewelding.
SLAG INCLUSION
Non metallic of comparatively large size entrapped in the weld metal are termed as slag inclusion. The term should not be confused with non metallic inclusion. Slag inclusions are detected by the normal non destructive testing methods, while non metallic inclusions are observed in the weld microstructure at high magnification. Slag inclusions usually occur in multi pass welds due to imperfect cleaning of the slag between the depositions of the successive passes. It may also be caused by heavy mill scale, loose rust, grit and other substances present on the surface of the base metal. The strength of the welded joint may be reduced if large irregular inclusions or elongated lies of inclusions are present at the weld junction. To prevent the slag inclusion, take following steps: Use proper welding consumables. Avoid undercuts and gaps between deposited passes. Clean the slag thoroughly between weld passes.
To prevent this defect, the portions of weld metal which contain slag inclusions must be removed and then filled with sound weld metal.
POROSITY
The presence of a group of gas pores in a weld caused by the entrapment of gas during solidification is termed as porosity. The pores are in the form of small spherical cavities, either clustered locally or scattered throughout the weld deposit. Some times these cavities are termed as blowhole. The gases are evolved by the chemical reactions in the welding arc, which may have high solubility in the molten weld metal, but as the weld metal solidifies and cools, their solubility decreases rapidly and they are evolved from the metal. Sometimes if the weld metal solidification and cooling is too rapid, the gas gets entrapped in the form of porosity. Porosity is caused by: Chemically imperfect welding consumables, e.g. deficient in deoxidizers. Oil, grease, moisture and mill scale on the joint surface. Low welding current or too long an arc. Quick freezing of the weld deposit. Presence of excessive porosity or blowholes must be guarded as they can affect the static and even dynamic properties of welded joint.
SPATTER
During the deposition of a weld, small globules of metal from the electrode may be scattered over the surface of the weld and adjacent parent metal, and in most cases these globules adhere strongly to the surface on which they rest. They are termed as spatter. The main objection to excessive spatter is the waste of expensive weld metal and the cost of removal. Spatter is mainly caused by excessive welding current, although in some cases the welding characteristics of the electrode or dampness of the electrode covering may give rise to this condition. Arc blow also causes heavy spatter. Spatter has no measurable effect on the strength of a welded joint. The fault may be rectified by chipping and wire brushing the spatter deposit from the surface of the plate.
TUNGSTEN INCLUSIONS
In manual TIG welding, the occasional and accidental touching of the tungsten electrode to the work piece or to the molten weld metal results in the transfer of tungsten particles into the deposit. These tungsten inclusions constitute a defect, and for critical work a limit on the size and number of these inclusions is specified.
Generally they are beneath the weld surface and can be detected during radioactive inspection as the inclusions whiter and clearer on the film in contrast to slag inclusions or porosity. This defect can be minimized by using thoriated tungsten or zirconiated tungsten electrodes in preference to pure tungsten electrodes. The use of superimposed high frequency current for arc starting can eliminate tungsten inclusions at the start of the weld.