The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, South Australia 5005 Relationship Between the Formation of Hollow Bead Defects and Cold Cracking I.H.Brown, G.L.F.Powell, V.M.Linton University of Adelaide A.Kufner University of Applied Science, Konstanz, Germany

The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, South Australia 5005 Introduction What is Cold Cracking? Effect of Segregation on Cold Cracking What is a Hollow Bead Defect? Experimental investigation of the formation of Hollow Bead Defects Model of the formation of Hollow Bead Defect Relationship between Hollow Bead Defect and Cold Cracking

The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, South Australia 5005 Appearance of a Cold Crack in Weld Metal

The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, South Australia 5005 Hydrogen Assisted Cold Cracking Contributing factors - Hydrogen - Stress: applied or residual - Susceptible microstructure - Susceptibility expressed in terms of carbon equivalent calculated from nominal weld metal composition

The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, South Australia 5005 Segregation during Solidification of Weld Metal LIQUID SOLID Micro segregation of Ni, Mn, Mo, Cr START FINISH Macro segregation

The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, South Australia 5005 Summary of Work Presented Previously (Trends 2002) Micro-segregation occurs in the cellular dendritic regions. Micro-segregation of all elements appears to be in the same ratio of 1.4:1 The micro-segregated region is harder than the matrix by the order of 100Hv The crack path is through the intercellular dendritic micro-segregated harder regions

The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, South Australia 5005 Effect of Segregation Cold Crack

The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, South Australia 5005 What is Hollow Bead Defect? A tubular void running in the direction of the weld bead When present it is usually found in the root run of a multi-pass weld Serious problem particularly during the laying of line-pipe

The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, South Australia 5005 Appearance of Hollow Bead Defect Hollow Bead Welded Plate X-ray of Welded Plate showing Hollow Bead Defect (white)

The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, South Australia 5005 Scanning Electron Micrograph of a section through a Hollow Bead Defect (After Cantin 1998)

The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, South Australia 5005 Experimental Investigation Consumable – Lincoln Fleetweld 5P+ cellulosic electrode (AWS E6010/AS E4110) CPMnSiSNiCrMoCuAl Parent Plate API 5L X80 CMnSiPSAlNbMoTiCa

The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, South Australia 5005 Joint Geometry Root Gap 1.3 – 1.6mm Root Face1.6 – 2.1mm 30 o

The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, South Australia 5005 Automated Welding Machine Set-up – Electrode at 15 o

The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, South Australia 5005 Welding Conditions Welding Current: 190 amps Voltage: 30 volts Travel Speed: 500mm/minute

The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, South Australia 5005 Welded Sample Welded Plate Metallographically prepared sample showing hollow bead defect (arrowed)

The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, South Australia 5005 Collage of micrographs showing the crack path through the weld metal crack

The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, South Australia 5005 Crack along the weld centreline following the intercellular dendritic segregation (Etchant LePera’s)

The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, South Australia 5005 SEM Results Collage of scanning electron micrographs of the crack. Note that the path of the crack runs between the inclusions.

The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, South Australia 5005 Cold Crack from Hollow Bead Defect 100  m

The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, South Australia 5005 Microprobe x-ray maps 100  m Fe 100  m Mn 100  m Si

The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, South Australia 5005 X-ray line scans across the crack Distance in  m

The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, South Australia 5005 Result The cold crack followed the intercellular dendritic segregation from the hollow bead pore near the bottom surface of the weld to the top surface of the weld.

The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, South Australia 5005 Development of Hollow Bead Defect Longitudinal section of the pore Transverse section of the pore

The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, South Australia 5005 Transverse Section Hollow Bead Pore Dark lines are intercellular dendrite regions of segregation Red arrows indicate cellular dendrite growth directions

The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, South Australia 5005 Triangular region indicates change in growth direction to normal to the page

The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, South Australia 5005 Longitudinal Section Hollow Bead Pore Growth direction of pore Red arrow indicates cellular growth direction

The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, South Australia 5005 Scanning electron micrograph of the inside of a pore. The arrow indicates the welding direction.

The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, South Australia 5005 Hollow Bead Defect parent metal bottom top weld centre-line Schematic diagram of transverse section through the Hollow Bead Defect

The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, South Australia 5005 liquid Hollow Bead Defect thin layer of solidified metal on surface rejected hydrogen last region to solidify segregation solid-liquid interface welding direction top bottom Schematic diagram of longitudinal section of Hollow Bead Defect

The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, South Australia 5005 Summary The weld metal solidified as delta ferrite and the segregation was revealed using LePera’s reagent Existance of segregation confirmed with microprobe X-ray analysis Solidification was from the parent material to the weld centreline except in the region around the Hollow Bead Defect The cellular dendrites grew in the direction of welding in a triangular region adjacent to the Defect but at approximately 90o to the welding direction further away from the Defect Samples produced with a slow welding travel speed had no growth parallel to the welding direction

The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, South Australia 5005 The location of the Hollow Bead Defect corresponded with the centreline segregation in the weld metal Ahead of the solid/liquid interface hydrogen is rejected from the liquid and forms bubbles (Cantin) The gas pore is encapsulated by a solidified thin layer before it can escape from the surface and so it forms more frequently under conditions of high welding travel speed The cellular dendrites around the pore are larger than in the other areas of the weld due to heterogeneous nucleation on the pore surface and because it is the last metal to solidify, a slow rate of solidification

The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, South Australia 5005 High current and fast welding speed produced centreline cracking due to: –Centreline segregation –The presence of hydrogen both diffusible and molecular –Residual stresses resulting from solidification

The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, South Australia 5005 Conclusion It appears likely that cold cracking occurs in welds containing Hollow Bead Defect, and it is therefore likely that failures of line-pipe welds can be related to cold cracking if a Hollow Bead Defect is present.