Weldability and defects in

weldments

Sarajevo 2022 Prepared by: DSc Dzevad Hadzihafizovic

Subjects of Interest
• Reviews of weld design and weldability
• Residual stresses and weld distortion
• Weld metal in homogeneities
• Weld cracking
• Solidification cracking
• Liquation cracking
• Hydrogen cracking
Objectives
This chapter aims to:
• Are required to understand the causes of residual stresses, distortion
and their remedies.
• Students are also required to differentiate weld defects that might
occur during metal welding for example, solidification cracking,
liquation cracking, distortion, weld embrittlement.
• Students can suggest possible remedies associated with individual
weld defects.
Weld design – joint type
Welds are made at the junction of all the pieces
that make up the weldment (assembled part).
Weld design – weld type
There are eight weld types:
Weld design – Fillet weld
Definitions of different parts in fillet weld

Fillet weld
 Weld design – Groove weld
Groove weld
There are seven basic groove welds:
square, V, bevel, U, J, flare V and flare bevel.

Types of groove welds

Weld approval
For quality control:
Welding procedure sheet is approved and distributed to
personnel concerned with its implementation.

• Approval of welding process

• Weld design
• Electrode used
• Consumable used: filler, shielding gas, flux
• Inspection technique used
Weldability
Definition:
• The capability of a material to be welded under the imposed
fabrication conditions into a specific, suitably designed structure and
to perform satisfactorily in the intended service.
• Weldability depends on various factors such as, nature of
metals, weld designs, welding techniques, skills, etc.
• It has been stated that all metals are weldable but some are
more difficult than another.
• Steel is readily weldable (in many ways) than aluminium
and copper.
• Copper is not easily welded due to its high thermal
conductivity which makes it difficult to raise the parent metal
to its melting point, require preheating ~300- 400 oC.
• Some aluminium based die casting alloys give weld pool
too large to control, and aluminium welds normally
have oxide inclusions and porosity.
Weldability - Steels
• Weldability of steels is inversely proportional to its hardenability, due
to martensite formation during heat treatment.

• There is a trade-off between materials strength and weldability.

• Austenitic stainless steels tend to be the most weldable but suffer from distortion due to high thermal
expansion. Cracking and reduced corrosion resistance.
• Ferritic and martensitic stainless steels are not easily welded, often to be preheated and use special
electrodes.
• Ferritic steels is susceptible to hot cracking if the ferrite amount is not controlled.
 Weldability - Aluminium and its alloys
• Weldability of aluminium depends on chemical composition of the alloy.
• Aluminium alloys are susceptible to hot cracking, oxide inclusions, dross, porosity
(hydrogen).
• Most of wrought series, 1xxx, 3xxx, 5xxx, 6xxx, and medium strength 7xxx can be
fusion welded by TIG, MIG while 2xxx and high strength 7xxx are not readily welded
due to liquation and solidification cracking.

Cracks in aluminium welds

Porosity observed in aluminium welded specimen after fractured.
Weldability - Copper and copper alloys
• Weldability of copper depends on chemical composition of the alloy.
• Copper: High thermal conductivity required preheating to counteract heat sink
effect. Can be TIG or MIG welded.
• Brasses: Volatilization (toxic) of zinc is the main problem, reducing weldability.
Low zinc content brass can be TIG or MIG welded.
• Bronzes: Most are weldable, except gun metal or phosphor bronzes.
Require careful cleaning and deoxidization to avoid porosity.
• Silicon improves weldability due to its deoxidizing and fluxing actions.
• Oxygen causes porosity and reduce strength of welds.
• Tin increases hot-cracked susceptibility during welding.
• Precipitation hardened alloys should be welded in the annealed condition, and
then precipitation hardening treatment.
Weldability - Titanium alloys
• Weldability of titanium depends on chemical composition of the alloy.
• Titanium alloys with low amounts of alloying elements are more readily welded.
• For example: CP titanium alloys, α, α+β titanium alloys.
• Highly stabilised beta titanium alloys are difficult to weld due to segregation.
• Welding at above 500-550 oC requires special precaution.
• Fluxes are not normally used since they combine with titanium to cause brittleness.
• Welding processes: TIG, MIG, PAW, LBW, EBW, FW, RW.
• Shielding gases: Ar, He or the mixture of the two (avoid contact with oxygen).
• Filler metal grades should match the alloys being welded, normally with lower yield
strength to retain ductility. (used unalloyed with lower β content to avoid martensite
transformation and with minimised O, N, H contents).
• Thoriated tungsten electrodes (EWTh-1 or EWTh-2) are used for TIG welding.
Weldability - Magnesium alloys
• Weldability of titanium depends on chemical composition of the alloy.
• Welding processes: Arc welding, RW as well as oxyacetylene welding,
brazing. TIG and MIG are recommended.
• Strength of the weld joint is lowered in the base metal, in the work
hardened condition, due to recrystallisation and grain growth in the HAZ.
• Similar to welding of aluminium, magnesium has low melting point, high
thermal conductivity, thermal expansion, oxide surface coating.
• In Mg-Al-Zn alloys (AZxx), Al >10% improves weldability by refining grain
structure, while Zn > 1% increases hot shortness.
• Filler metals are selected by the composition of the base metals.
Defects in weldments
• It is unusual for the weldments to be completely sound.
• They normally contain small defects such as porosity, slag, oxide inclusions, lack of fusion,
undercut, crack, distortion, etc.
• Furthermore, different metals have
different weldability so we need to understand the
nature of the metal to be welded.
• Cross sections of welds containing typical defects.
Defects in weldments
Incomplete fusion Root and joint penetrations

Groove welds and various defects

Residual stresses in weldment
• Residual stresses (internal stresses) are stresses that would exist in a
body after removing all external loads (normally due to non uniform
temperature change during welding in this case).
• Weld metal and adjacent base metal are
restrained by the areas further
away from the weld metal due
to expansion and contraction.

Thermally induced residual stresses in weld.

 Changes in temperature and stresses during welding

• Zero temperature and stress distribution at A-A.

• Small compressive in the weld zone and small tensile in
the base metal at B-B during melting of the weld metal.
• Developing of tensile stress in the weld centre and
compressive in the area further away at C-C during cooling.
• Further contraction of the weld metal producing higher
tensile stress in the weld centre and compressive in the
base metal at D-D.

Changes in temperature and stresses during welding

Typical residual stress distribution in weldment (longitudinal)
• Residual stress distribution across the weld shows tensile in the weld
metal and the adjacent base metal and then goes compressive in the
area further away from the weld metal.
• Residual tensile stresses are not desirable, which can cause problems
such as hydrogen induced cracking and stress corrosion cracking.
Remedies:
• Post weld heat treatment is
often used to reduce residual stresses.
• Other techniques : preheating, peening,
vibration have also been used for stress relief.

Typical residual stress (longitudinal) distribution in weldment

Effect of temperature and time on
stress relief of steel welds
Typical thermal treatments for stress
relieving weldments
Distortion
• Weld distortion is due to solidification shrinkage and thermal
contraction of the weld metal during welding.

Distortion in welded structure

 Angular distortion
• Upward angular distortion usually occurs when the weld is made from the top of the work piece alone.
• The weld tends to be wider at the top than the bottom, causing more
• solidification shrinkage and thermal contraction.
Single-pass-single-V groove butt joint

Thin plates

Multiple-pass-single-V groove butt joint

Thick plates

Distortion in fillet welding of T joint

Inside fillet
corner joint

Fabricated beam
Remedies for angular distortion
There are several techniques used to reduce angular distortion
• Reducing volume of weld metal
• Using double-V joint and alternate welding
• Placing welds around neutral axis Reducing volume of weld metal and
by using single-pass deep
• Controlling weld distortion penetration welding.

Placing weld around neutral axis

 Remedies for angular distortion
• Balancing the angular weld distortion on either side of the double V joint.
• Double V-joints balance the shrinkage almost same amount of contraction on each side (a).
• Asymetrical double V : The first weld always produces more angular distortion the second side is larger too pull back the distortion
when the first weld is made (b).
• A single U joint gives a uniform weld with through the section (c).

Using double-V joint and weld

alternately on either side of joint.
Remedies for angular distortion
Methods for controlling weld distortion:
• Presetting: by compensating the amount of distortion to occur in welding.
• Elastic prespringing can reduce angular changes after restraint is removed.
• Preheating and post weld treatment.
Longitudinal distortion
• Heating and cooling cycles along the joint during welding build up a cumulative effect of longitudinal
bowing.
Remedies
• Welding short lengths on a planned or random distribution are used to controlled this problem.
• Mechanical methods : straightening press, jacks, clamps
• Thermal methods : local heating to relieve stresses (using torches) but cannot be used for highly conductive
metal such as Al and Cu.
Stainless steels have very different physical
properties than carbon steels. With higher
thermal expansion and much lower thermal
conductivity than carbon steel, stainless
steels have a tendency to distort, warp and
create all sorts of fit up issues. If you are
welding stainless steel sheet metal for the
first time you will definitely struggle with this.

Sequences for
welding short
Longitudinal bowing of lengths of a joint to
distortion in a butt joint reduce longitudinal
bowing
 Longitudinal distortion
• Angular distortion and longitudinal bowing can also be observed in joints made with fillet welds such as
fillet-welded T joint.
Remedies
• Back-step technique is also used. Each small increment will have its own shrinkage pattern which then
becomes insignificant to the whole pattern of weldment. (But time consuming)
• Using the smallest possible weld size.
Back step technique

Stainless steel welding must be completely segregated from carbon

steel. Many problems can occur when both are welded in the same
stations. For instance, if you use a stainless steel brush on your
Longitudinal bowing in a fillet welded T joint carbon steel welds and then use it on your stainless welds you will be
introducing iron to your stainless weld. This will lead to premature
corrosion. It is best to have separate tools.
References
• Suranaree University of Technology - Tapany Udomphol
• Kou, S., Welding metallurgy, 2nd edition, 2003, John Willey and
• Sons, Inc., USA, ISBN 0-471-43491-4.
• Gourd, L.M., Principles of welding technology, 3rd edition, 1995,
Edward Arnold, ISBN 0 340 61399 8.
• Cary, H.B., Modern welding technology, 4th edition, 1998, Prentice
Hall, ISBN 0-13-241803-7.
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weldability
• www.staff.ncl.ac.uk
• http://www.key-to-metals.com