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Distortion - Types and Causes

Thermal stresses induced during welding can cause plastic deformation and distortion of the welded component if they exceed the material's yield strength. The main types of distortion are longitudinal and transverse shrinkage, angular distortion, bowing, dishing, buckling, and twisting. Distortion occurs due to uneven heating and cooling during welding, which causes expansion and contraction of the material. The factors that influence distortion include the material properties, level of restraint, joint design, fit-up quality, and welding procedure. Distortion can be minimized by using a joint design that balances thermal stresses, such as a double-sided weld configuration.

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106 views

Distortion - Types and Causes

Thermal stresses induced during welding can cause plastic deformation and distortion of the welded component if they exceed the material's yield strength. The main types of distortion are longitudinal and transverse shrinkage, angular distortion, bowing, dishing, buckling, and twisting. Distortion occurs due to uneven heating and cooling during welding, which causes expansion and contraction of the material. The factors that influence distortion include the material properties, level of restraint, joint design, fit-up quality, and welding procedure. Distortion can be minimized by using a joint design that balances thermal stresses, such as a double-sided weld configuration.

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Distortion - Types and causes

What causes distortion?


Because welding involves highly localised heating of joint edges to fuse the material, non-uniform
stresses are set up in the component because of expansion and contraction of the heated material.
Initially, compressive stresses are created in the surrounding cold parent metal when the weld pool
is formed due to the thermal expansion of the hot metal (heat affected zone) adjacent to the weld
pool. However, tensile stresses occur on cooling when the contraction of the weld metal and the
immediate heat affected zone is resisted by the bulk of the cold parent metal.
The magnitude of thermal stresses induced into the material can be seen by the volume change in
the weld area on solidification and subsequent cooling to room temperature. For example, when
welding CMn steel, the molten weld metal volume will be reduced by approximately 3% on
solidification and the volume of the solidified weld metal/heat affected zone (HAZ) will be reduced
by a further 7% as its temperature falls from the melting point of steel to room temperature.
If the stresses generated from thermal expansion/contraction exceed the yield strength of the
parent metal, localised plastic deformation of the metal occurs. Plastic deformation causes a
permanent reduction in the component dimensions and distorts the structure.

What are the main types of distortion?


Distortion occurs in six main forms:

Longitudinal shrinkage
Transverse shrinkage
Angular distortion
Bowing and dishing
Buckling
Twisting

The principal features of the more common forms of distortion for butt and fillet welds are shown
below:
Contraction of the weld area on cooling results in both transverse and longitudinal shrinkage.
Non-uniform contraction (through thickness) produces angular distortion in addition to longitudinal
and transverse shrinkage.
For example, in a single V butt weld, the first weld run produces longitudinal and transverse
shrinkage and rotation. The second run causes the plates to rotate using the first weld deposit as a
fulcrum. Hence, balanced welding in a double side V butt joint can be used to produce uniform
contraction and prevent angular distortion.
Similarly, in a single side fillet weld, non-uniform contraction produces angular distortion of the
upstanding leg. Double side fillet welds can therefore be used to control distortion in the
upstanding fillet but because the weld is only deposited on one side of the base plate, angular
distortion will now be produced in the plate.
Longitudinal bowing in welded plates happens when the weld centre is not coincident with the
neutral axis of the section so that longitudinal shrinkage in the welds bends the section into a
curved shape. Clad plate tends to bow in two directions due to longitudinal and transverse
shrinkage of the cladding; this produces a dished shape. Dishing is also produced in stiffened

plating. Plates usually dish inwards between the stiffeners, because of angular distortion at the
stiffener attachment welds (see main photograph).
In plating, long range compressive stresses can cause elastic buckling in thin plates, resulting in
dishing, bowing or rippling.
Distortion due to elastic buckling is unstable: if you attempt to flatten a buckled plate, it will
probably 'snap' through and dish out in the opposite direction.
Twisting in a box section is caused by shear deformation at the corner joints. This is caused by
unequal longitudinal thermal expansion of the abutting edges. Increasing the number of tack welds
to prevent shear deformation often reduces the amount of twisting.

How much shall I allow for weld shrinkage?


It is almost impossible to predict accurately the amount of shrinking. Nevertheless, a 'rule of
thumb' has been composed based on the size of the weld deposit. When welding steel, the
following allowances should be made to cover shrinkage at the assembly stage.

Transverse Shrinkage
Fillet Welds 0.8mm per weld where the leg length does not exceed 3/4 plate thickness
Butt weld 1.5 to 3mm per weld for 60 V joint, depending on number of runs

Longitudinal Shrinkage
Fillet Welds 0.8mm per 3m of weld
Butt Welds 3mm per 3m of weld
Increasing the leg length of fillet welds, in particular, increases shrinkage.

What are the factors affecting distortion?


If a metal is uniformly heated and cooled there would be almost no distortion. However, because
the material is locally heated and restrained by the surrounding cold metal, stresses are generated
higher than the material yield stress causing permanent distortion. The principal factors affecting
the type and degree of distortion, are:

Parent material properties


Amount of restraint
Joint design
Part fit-up
Welding procedure

Parent material properties


Parent material properties which influence distortion are coefficient of thermal expansion and
specific heat per unit volume. As distortion is determined by expansion and contraction of the
material, the coefficient of thermal expansion of the material plays a significant role in determining
the stresses generated during welding and, hence, the degree of distortion. For example, as

stainless steel has a higher coefficient of expansion than plain carbon steel, it is more likely to
suffer from distortion.

Restraint
If a component is welded without any external restraint, it distorts to relieve the welding stresses.
So, methods of restraint, such as 'strong-backs' in butt welds, can prevent movement and reduce
distortion. As restraint produces higher levels of residual stress in the material, there is a greater
risk of cracking in weld metal and HAZ especially in crack-sensitive materials.

Joint design
Both butt and fillet joints are prone to distortion. It can be minimised in butt joints by adopting a
joint type which balances the thermal stresses through the plate thickness. For example, a doublesided in preference to a single-sided weld. Double-sided fillet welds should eliminate angular
distortion of the upstanding member, especially if the two welds are deposited at the same time.

Part fit-up
Fit-up should be uniform to produce predictable and consistent shrinkage. Excessive joint gap can
also increase the degree of distortion by increasing the amount of weld metal needed to fill the
joint. The joints should be adequately tacked to prevent relative movement between the parts
during welding.

Welding procedure
This influences the degree of distortion mainly through its effect on the heat input. As welding
procedure is usually selected for reasons of quality and productivity, the welder has limited scope
for reducing distortion. As a general rule, weld volume should be kept to a minimum. Also, the
welding sequence and technique should aim to balance the thermally induced stresses around the
neutral axis of the component.

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