WELDING METALLURGY

ME 473 WELDING TECHNOLOGY

Instructor: Assist.Prof.Dr. Ouzhan Ylmaz

Welding Technology

Basic Metallurgy

The science of joining metals by welding that relates closely to the field of metallurgy. Metallurgy involves the science of producing metals from ores, of making and compounding alloys, and the reaction of metals to many different activities and situation.
Heat treatment (heating and cooling of metals to obtain desired shapes and mechanical properties) Steel making and processing Forging Foundry

Welding metallurgy can be considered a special branch, since reaction times are in the order of minutes, seconds, fraction of seconds, whereas in the other branches reactions are in hours and minutes. Welding metallurgy deals with the interaction of different metals and interaction of metals with gases and chemicals of all types.
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Welding Technology

Basic Metallurgy

Welding metallurgist will examine the changes in physical characteristics that happen in short periods. The solubility of gases in metals and between metals and the effect of impurities are all of major importance to the welding metallurgist.

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Welding Technology

Basic Metallurgy_Crystalline structures

The structure of metal is complex. When metal is in a liquid state, usually hot, it has no distinct structure or orderly arrangement of atoms. So that atoms move freely since they have high degrees of mobility due to the heat energy involved during melting process. As the metal cools, atoms loose their energy and their mobility. When temperature is further reduced, the atoms are no longer able to move and attracted together into definite patterns. These patterns consist of three-dimensional lattices, which are made of imaginary lines connecting atoms in symmetrical arrangements.

Metals in a solid state possess this uniform arrangements, which is called crystals. All metals are crystalline solids made of atoms arranged in a specific uniform manner.
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Basic Metallurgy_Crystalline structures

(1) (2) (3)

There are three common types of lattices; The face-centered cubic The body-centered cubic The hexagonal close-packed

Iron has both FCC and BCC structures but at different temp. This is know as allotropic change. The crystal lattices are only for pure metals that are composed of one type of atom. However, most metals that are common use are alloys (more than one metal).
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In alloys, the crystals will change. According to the portion of the alloy, there are three types of formation occur: (1) substitutional solid solution. (2) interstitial solid solution and (3) intermetallic compounds.
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Basic Metallurgy_Crystalline structures

Substitutional solid solution: the atoms of the metal making up the minor portion of the alloy will at random replace some of the atoms of the metal making up the majority of the alloy. Interstitial solid solution: The atoms of the minor metal in the alloy are much smaller than those in the major lattice, they do not replace the atoms of the major metal in the lattice but rather locate in points between or intervening spaces known as interstices in the lattice.

Intermetallic compounds: the minor metal atoms in the alloy cannot completely dissolve either interstitially or substitutionally. They will form the type of chemical compound the composition of which corresponds roughly to the chemical formula. This results in the formation of mixed kinds of atomic groupings consisting of different and complicated crystalline structure. [Fe3C, Cementite,Iron-Carbide]

Each group with its own crystalline structure is referred to as a phase.

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Basic Metallurgy_Crystalline structures

Different alloys, solid solutions, intermetallic compounds, and phases occur as the molten metal solidifies. Solidification occurs in all direction which are normal to the nuclei crystal that is a small crystal form. For a cubic crystal, growth progress is in six direction simultaneously. Growth is simply the adding on of additional crystals as tempereture decreases. GRAIN When the resultant structure is cut in a flat plane, the individual dentritic crystals, which grew until they met adjacent dentritic crystals, form an irregularly shaped area, known as a grain. Grains have boundaries and are very small but much larger than the individual crystals
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Basic Metallurgy_Grains

The size of the crystals and grains depends on the rate of growth of the crystal. The rate of crystal growth depends on the rate of cooling of the molten solidifying metal. When the rate of cooling is high, the solidification process occurs more rapidly and the crystal size and graing size tend to be smaller and vice versa. (snow example) Metal structures can be characterized as having large grains (coarse grained) or small grains (fine grained) or a mixture of large and small grains (mixed grain). The arrangement of atoms is irregular in the grain boundaries, and there are vacancies or missing atoms. The atom spacing may be larger than normal, and individual atoms can move easily in the grain boundaries; because of this, the diffusion of elements, which is the movement of individual atoms through the solid structure, occurs more rapidly at grain boundaries.
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Welding Technology

Basic Metallurgy_Microstructures
Microstructure The overall arrangement of grains, grain boundaries, phases present in an alloy is called its microstructure. It is largely responsible for the properties of the metal. The microstructure is affected by the composition or alloy content and by other factors such as hot or cold working, straining, heat treating etc. The microstructure of weld metal and adjacent metal is greatly influenced by the welding process, which influence the properties of the weld.

Microstructure of a weld used in stainless steel

Microstructure of base metal of the same stainless steel

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Welding Technology

Basic Metallurgy_Phase transformation

Some metals change their crystallographic arrangement with changes in temp. Iron has a BCC lattice structure from room temp. up to 910C, and from this point to 1388 C it is FCC. Above this point to melting point, 1538 C it is again BCC. This change is called as phase transformation or allotropic transformation. Like, titanium, zirconium and cobalt. Transformation occurs when metal melts or solidifies; In melting, arrangement of atoms disappears and atoms move randomly. In solidifiying, crystalline arrangement reestablish itself. Pure metals melts or solidify at a single temperature, while alloys solidify or melt over a range of temperature with a few exceptions. Phase changes can be related to alloy compositions and temp when they are in equilibrium, and shown on a diagram (known as phase diagrams, alloy equilibrium diagrams or constitution diagrams).
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Basic Metallurgy_Phase transformation

Equilibrium diagrams are used to determine the phases that are present and the percentage of each, based on the alloy composition at a temp. And changes by increasing and decreasing temp. Most of them are designed for alloy system containing two elements. In welding because of rapid changes in temperatures, equilibrium conditions are rarely occur. In an equilibrium condition, the metal is stable at the particular point on the diagram based on relatively slow heating and cooling.

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Basic Metallurgy_Iron-Carbon diagram

Iron-carbon equilibrium diagram provides an insight of the behaviour of steels in connection with welding thermal cycles and heat treatment. This diagram represents the alloy of iron with carbon, ranging from 0% to 5% carbon.

0.25

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Basic Metallurgy_Iron-Carbon diagram

Pure iron is relatively weak but ductile metal. When carbon is added in small amounts, the iron acquires a wide range of properties and uses and becomes the most popular metal, steel. 0% carbon, pure iron, above 1540C, in liquid state, no crystalline structure < 1540 C, solidification starts, BCC structure, Delta iron < 1400 C, transformation occurs, FCC structure, Gamma iron < 910 C, iron back to BCC, alpha iron until room temp Iron and carbon form a compound known as iron carbide (Fe3C) or cementite. When iron carbide or cementite is heated above 1115 C, it decomposes into liquid iron saturated with graphite, which is a crystalline form of carbon.

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Basic Metallurgy_Iron-Carbon diagram

Ferrite This phase has a Body Centre Cubic structure (B.C.C) which can hold very little carbon; typically 0.0001% at room temperature. It can exist as either: alpha or delta ferrite. Austenite This phase is only possible in carbon steel at high temperature. It has a Face Centre Cubic (F.C.C) atomic structure which can contain up to 2% carbon in solution. Cementite Unlike ferrite and austenite, cementite is a very hard intermetallic compound consisting of 6.7% carbon and the remainder iron, its chemical symbol is Fe3C. Cementite is very hard, but when mixed with soft ferrite layers its average hardness is reduced considerably. Pearlite A mixture of alternate strips of ferrite and cementite in a single grain. The name for this structure is derived from its mother of pearl appearance under a microscope. A fully pearlitic structure occurs at 0.8% Carbon. It is a lamellar structure, which is relatively strong and ductile.

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Basic Metallurgy_Iron-Carbon diagram

Pearlite Ferrite

Austenite

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Basic Metallurgy_Iron-Carbon diagram

Consider a steel with a composition of 0.25% carbon. A vertical line is drawn up at this point;

Above 1520C, the steel is molten, as the temp decreases, delta iron start to form in the liquid. Just below 1500 C, transformation to austenite and molten metal. At about 1480 C, all the liquid metal solidifies and the form is austenite. Approx. 815 C, the austenite begins to breakdown and form a new phase, ferrite. Ferrite formation continues until a temp 727 C At 727 C, the remaining austenite structure would disappear completely and transforming to a structure known as pearlite+ferrite

In welding the rise and fall of temp or the rate of change of temp is so fast that equilibrium does not occur. Therefore, aforementioned structures will be different.

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Basic Metallurgy_Martensite formation

At fast cooling rates, the austenite might not have sufficient time to transform completely to ferrite and pearlite and will provide a different microstructure. In this case, some of the untransformed austenite will be retained and the carbon is held at supersaturated state. This new structure is called martensite. If the cooling rate is sufficiently fast, the austenite might transform completely martensite. It is harder than pearlite or ferrite-pearlite structure and it has lower ductility.

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Welding Technology

Basic Metallurgy_Hardenability

Hardness mainly depends on the carbon content but cooling rate also influences the microstructure and causes higher hardness. This is because the crystal lattice is changed or distorted and this hardens the material. By adding different alloys to the steel, the tendency of austenite to transform into martensite upon cooling increases, which is the basis of hardening steels. Carbon, manganese, chromium, molybdenum etc. The amount of alloys and their power to create this microstructure transformation are known as hardenbility. Grain size and microstructure relate directly to hardness and strength. Fine grain size promotes both increased in strength and hardness. This is an advantage for heat treatment but it can be detrimental to welding since high hardness is not desired in welds of softer materials.

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Welding Technology

Basic Metallurgy_Hardenability

The heat treatment of steels to increase hardness and the metallurgy of welding have much in common. Most steels possess the property of hardenability, which is defined as the property that determines the depth and distribution of hardness induced by quenching, and this property can be measured by the quench-test, that is used to plot hardness value from quenched end to unquenched end.
The

quench-test and the information obtained provides usefull data for welding since it indicates the effect of different alloying elements on the hardness of the quenched steel. The microstructure of the quenched steel can also be studied and related to the microstructure of welds.
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Welding Technology

Welding Metallurgy

When a weld is made, following factors occur:

The changes of temperature The growth of dimensions The phase transformation etc.

The rate of cooling or quench is of primary importance and this is controlled by the process, procedure, metal and mass.

Example: The electroslag has the lowest cooling rate among welding methods, while the gas metal arc has a much faster cooling rate.

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Welding Technology

Welding Metallurgy

The rate of change decreases as the distance from the center of the weld increases.
It is obvious that many different cooling rates occur and that different microstructures will result. Also different phases occur in the base metal adjacent to the weld.

(a) Mixture of ferrite and pearlite grains (b) Pearlite transformed to Austenite (c) Full Austenite transformation

(d) Completely liquid state

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Welding Technology

Welding Metallurgy

In addition to the complications created by the rapid cooling, there is also the complication of composition variations. As weld metal is deposited on a base metal, some of the base metal melts and mixes with the weld metal, producing a dilution of metal. If the compositions of the weld metal and the base metal are not identical, variation of composition at the interface can be observed and also it causes variation of cooling rates. This results variation of microstructures.

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Welding Technology

Welding Metallurgy

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Dr. Ouzhan Ylmaz

Welding Technology

Welding Metallurgy

Each microstructure has its particular characteristics and one of the important characteristics is the hardness of the microstructure throughout the weld area.

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Welding Technology

Welding Metallurgy_Heat affected zone

The area between the interface of the deposited weld metal, and extending into the base metal far enough that any phase change occurs, is know as the heat-affected-zone (HAZ). HAZ is a portion of the weld since it influences the sevice life of the weld. HAZ is the most critical in many welds. For instance, when welding a hardenable steel, HAZ can increase in hardness to an undesirable level. When welding a hardened steel, HAZ can become a softened zone since the heat of the weld has annealed the hardended metal.
weld

Heat-affected-zone (HAZ)
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Welding Technology

Metallurgical problems in welding_Burning

It may occur in two possible ways, (1) migration of oxides along the grain boundaries rendering them weak. (2) oxidation as in oxygen cutting. Protections are carefully supplied to exclude the atmosphere from the high-temperature welding regions. Protective agents are usually in the form of inert gases, fluxes, and electrode coatings.

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Metallurgical problems in welding_Segregation

Segregation is one of the important factor that should be considered. It relates the solubility of elements in metals, particularly alloys. For instance, the composition of the first crystals that form as an alloy freezes is different from the composition of the liquid that freezes last. In weld metal, because of the rapidity of freezing time, very little diffusion occurs and there is a lack of homogeneity in the total weld.

Carbon, phosphorus, sulfur and sometimes manganese are frequently in the segregated state in steel. This can be determined by high-magnification study of the microstructure.

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Metallurgical problems in welding_Gas pockets

Molten metal has a relatively high capacity of dissolving gases in contact with it. As the metal cools it has less capacity for dissolved gases, and when going from liquid to solid state the solubility of gas in metal is much lower. The gas is rejected as the crystals solidify, but it may be trapped because of almost instantaneous solidification. Entrapment of the gas causes gas pockets and porosity in the weld. Carbon monoxide, which is present in many arc and fuel gas atmospheres, is sometimes trapped. Hydrogen can also be trapped but it may gradually disperse and escape from the weld metal over a period of time. High temp increases the speed for hydrogen migration and removal. The inert gases are not soluble in molten metal and for this reason, they are used in many gas shielded applications. The solubility of metals within metals is also crucial. The greater the degree of solubility, the better the success of welding dissimilar metal combinations.
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