FAILURE

*** Nice Weld Shame About The Fusion ***

Today welding is the most common method used for joining steel fabrications
largely because of the speed at which joints can be made and the reliability of these
joints in service. However because most welding operations are now relatively
simple to perform it is all too easy to forget the complexity of the chemical and
metallurgical actions that are taking place when the weld is being deposited.
Therefore not surprisingly welds occasionally fail.
The most common causes of weld failure can be attributed to one of the following
causes:Overload.
Before applying the various design formulas, the problem itself must be analysed and
clearly stated. This is not always obvious, and trying to solve the wrong problem can
quickly lead to insufficient design stresses. When a load is placed on a member, stress
and strain result. Stress is the internal resistance to the applied force. Strain is the
amount of "give or deformation caused by the stress, such as deflection in bending,
elongation in tension, contraction in compression, and angular twist in torsion.

For example of this is a lifting lug on a pressure vessel. If the vessel is lifted by a
spreader beam the loading condition on the lug consists of a simple vertical force
putting the attachment welds either in tension or shear. However if the vessel is
lifted with a rope sling the loading condition becomes more complex because there
is now a horizontal component of the force to consider as well a the vertical one,
which effectively increases the loading on the welds.

Joint Design.
A welded joint should be designed such that the welder
can easily manipulate the electrode to ensure good
fusion, particularly in the root of the joint. The profile of
each run should be roughly as wide as it is deep; wide
shallow weld beads and particularly deep narrow beads
are both ideal candidates for hot cracking.
This type of cracking occurs when the weld is starting to solidify, in the pasty state,
as it posses very little strength and therefore any residual loading is likely to cause
it to break before it has fully solidified. The problem can be compounded by
impurities that are forced out of the solidifying weld, becoming trapped in the
centre of the weld during final solidification. Hot cracking can occur where their is
a high degree of restraint in the structure of the fabrication or where the structure
moves slightly as the weld solidifies.
A good example of this type of failure is on the weld
used to secure the small plug in the mandrill hole of a
spun dished head on a pressure vessel, a weld that
many people do not take seriously because of its size.
As the weld cools it contracts causing the plug to
move , if the weld at the other side of the plug is still
solidifying it could easily fail. This is because of the
very high contraction stresses generated by the plug
as the weld starts to solidify.
Bad Welding Method.
It is very important when carrying out any welding to
ensure that it is done correctly. Consideration has to be
given to all aspects of the process and also the
environment. Often welding has to be carried out under
site conditions, the welding is often carried out in
situation so that small general purpose electrodes are
used resulting in low
weld heat input
which when combined with no preheat gives
very rapid heat dissipation Which can create
a hard micro structure particularly in the
location of the heat affected zone. This along
with high levels of residual stress will create
the ideal condition for hydrogen induced
cracking, which although normally
associated with high strength steels can occur

Metallurgical failure.
Materials that are to be welded have to tolerate severe thermal transients created by
the welding process without suffering deterioration of their mechanical properties
or adverse phase changes. The metallurgical composition or temper conditions of
certain types of metal may make them unsuitable to weld or may require special
controls to be imposed during the welding operation. For example some steels that
are easy to machine may contain high levels of sulphur that may result in cracking
of any attaching weld. Therefore this type of material should not be used on load
bearing fabricated items such as the eye bolts that are often found holding down
manway covers on pressure vessels.

Weld Defects.
They can usually be attributed to the welders inability
to set up and manipulate the welding equipment;
although bad joint design and faulty welding
equipment can also be responsible. The most
significant defects are cracks and those that resemble
cracks such as lack of fusion, cold overlap etc. This is
because of the risk that the crack may become unstable
and propagate when loaded causing a dramatic failure
often by brittle fracture.
Porosity seldom causes weld failure in multi-run welds however it is a sign that
something has gone wrong with welding operation and can often be caused by
other defects that may not have been detected such as lack of side wall fusion. Weld
profile can also cause failure, if the weld size is too small because the joint is
underfilled with weld then its load carrying capability will be reduced, if the joint
contains excessive weld metal this can create a notch effect which can lead to
failure by fatigue if the loading condition fluctuates. Bad fit up excessive root
penetration on single sided welds can create defects in the root of the weld such as
wormholes and even cracking. Distortion of welded joints can cause failure by
buckling if the welded member is subjected to compressive loads.
Guidance on imperfection levels of welded joints is given in EN 25817 {ISO 5817}
To minimise these problems the following points should be considered:1. Design of the weld based on the loading condition(s) the joint will carry

2. Accessibility to enable ease of welding

3. Control of distortion
4. Careful consideration of the welding environment
5. Matching welding process with materials
6. A factor of safty applied to the design stress of the weld which should be
based on the consequance of weld failure and the level of non destructive
testing that is to be carried out.

For example a pressure vessel made to PD5500 category 3, (no radiographic

inspection), can be up to twice a thick as an equivalent vessel made to category 2,
(10% Radiography). Fillet welds and Partial Penetration welds should be used with
care as they contain lack of fusion, they are only suitable for relatively low stressed
joints that are not subject to any form of fatigue loading and should be used with a
suitable factor of safety, which for fillet welds is at least two.
Once the weld has been designed it is then necessary to decide upon the welding
method, this is then documented in the form of a welding procedure specification.
The European Welding Standard for welding procedures, EN288 part 2, gives
guidance on the content and format of such a specification.
However this document on its own is not sufficient because we need to prove that
this welding method will produce a weld of acceptable quality possessing the right
mechanical properties. Therefore it is necessary to simulate the joint in all essential
features and weld it under normal production conditions. The completed joint can
then be subject to both non destructive and destructive examinations to determine if
the joint is going to be suitable for the application.
For most stringent applications the European Standard EN 288 Part 3 is preferred
for welding procedure tests in steel materials and part 4 for Aluminium and its
alloys. There are other parts of EN 288 that deal with alternative routes for
qualifying procedures, other than a procedure test, for less onerous applications.
See Welding Procedure Section for details.
Once we have established that the proposed welding method is satisfactory we then

have to ensure that the production welds will also be of the same quality. This
involves making sure the welders posses the required skill and knowledge to
deposit sound welds in accordance with the approved procedure. Whilst we can be
confident that the welder who did the procedure will be able, any other welder used
must also demonstrate his ability by successfully completing a welder approval
test. The preferred standard for this is EN 287 Part 1 for steel and part 2 for
aluminium and its alloys. This standard not only tests the performance of the
welder but also requires it to be monitored and revalidated every 2 years to ensure
that the welders skill can be relied upon.
Finally make sure that when the welding operation is being carried out it is
supervised and coordinated by properly qualified personnel.