11.

Surfacing

and Shape Welding

11. Surfacing and Shape Welding 151

DIN 1910 (“Welding”) clas-

sifies the welding process
according to its applica-
base metal/ surfacing metal
tions: welding of joints
and surfacing. According
similar dissimilar

for repair welding
hardfacing (wear protection)

to DIN 1910 surfacing is

cladding (corrosion prevention) the coating of a workpiece

buffering (production of an by means of welding.
appropriate-to-the-type-of-duty
joint of dissimilar materials) Dependent on the applied

br-er11-01e.cdr
filler material a further
classification may be
made: deposition repair
Figure 11.1 welding and surfacing for
the production of a composite material with certain functions. Surfacing carried out with wear-
resistant materials in preference to the base metal material is called hardfacing; but when
mainly chemically stable filler materials are
used, the method is called cladding. In the
case of buffering, surfacing layers are pro-
 wear caused by very high impact and
duced which allow the appropriate-to-the- compressive stress

type-of-duty joining of dissimilar materials  wear by friction (metal against metal)

during high impact and compression stress
and/or of materials with differing properties,
 strong sanding or grinding wear
Figure 11.1.  very strong wear caused by grinding during
low impact stress

 cold forming tools

A buffering, for instance, is an intermediate
 hot forming tools
layer made from a relatively tough material  cavitation

between two layers with strongly differing  wear parts (plastics industry)

thermal expansion coefficients.  corrosion

Figure 11.2 shows different kinds of stresses  temperature stresses

which demand the surfacing of components.

Furthermore surfacing may be used for pri-
br-er11-02e.cdr

Components -
mary forming as well as for joining by primary Kinds of Stress
forming.
Figure 11.2

2005
11. Surfacing and Shape Welding 152

In case of surfacing - as for all fabrication processes - certain limiting conditions have to be
observed. For example, hard and wear-resistant weld filler metals cannot be drawn into solid
wires. Here, another form has to be selected (filler wire, continuously cast rods, powder).
Process materials, as for example SA welding flux demand a certain welding position which
in terms limits the method of welding.

The coating material must be selected with view to the type of duty and, moreover, must be
compatible with the base metal, Figure 11.3.

For all surfacing tasks a large product line of welding filler metals is available. In depend-
ence on the welding method as well as on the selected materials, filler metals in the form of
wires, filler wires, strips, cored strips, rods or powder are applied, Figure 11.4.
The filler/base metal dilution is rather important, as the desired high-quality properties of the
surfacing layer deteriorate with the increasing degree of dilution.

component
(material) wearing protection (armouring)

hard facing on

 cobalt base

 nickel base

coating  iron base

manufacturing
stress
conditions
compatibility
availability

corrosion prevention

 ferritic to martensitic chromium steel alloys

 soft martensitic chromium-nickel steel alloys

coating  austenitic-ferritic chromium-nickel steel alloys
material consumable
surfacing
(filler) method
 austenitic chromium-nickel steel alloys

br-er11-03e.cdr br-er11-04e.cdr

Boundary Conditions in Surfacing Materials for Surfacing

Figure 11.3 Figure 11.4

2005
11. Surfacing and Shape Welding 153

A weld parameter optimisation has the objective to optimise the degree of dilution in order to
guarantee a sufficient adherence of the layer with the minimum metal dissimilation. A
planimetric determination
of the surfacing and pene-
surface built up by welding FB
tration areas will roughly
assess the proportion of
penetration area FP
filler to base metal. When
base metal the analysis of base and

AD=
FP
x 100%
filler metal is known, a
FP + FB
more precise calculation is
(X-contentsurfacing layer - X-contentFM) [% in weight]
AD = x 100%
(X-contentbase metal - X-contentFM) [% in weight] possible by the determina-
FM: weld filler metal AD: dilution tion of the content of a cer-
br-er11-05e.cdr © ISF 2002

tain element in the surfac-

Definition of Dilution
ing layer as well as in the
Figure 11.5 base metal, Figure 11.5.

Figure 11.6 shows record charts of an electron

30
beam microprobe analysis for the elements
Cr percentages by mass

nickel and chromium. It is evident that - after 20

passing a narrow transition zone between

base metal and layer — the analysis inside 10

the layer is quasi constant.

0
0 100 200 300 µm 500
distance
As depicted in Figure 11.7 almost all arc weld-
30
ing methods are not only suitable for joining
Ni percentages by mass

but also for surfacing. 20

10

0
0 100 200 300 µm 500
br-er11-06e.cdr distance

Microprobe Analyses

Figure 11.6

2005
11. Surfacing and Shape Welding 154

In the case of the strip-electrode submerged-arc surfacing process normally strips

(widths: 20 - 120mm) are used. These strips allow high cladding rates. Solid wire electrodes
as well as flux-cored strip electrodes are used. The flux-cored strip electrodes contain certain
alloying elements. The strip is continuously fed into the process via feed rollers. Current con-
tact is normally carried out
metal-arc welding inert gas-shielded arc welding submerged arc welding via copper contact jaws
- MIG / MAG
- stick electrode
- MIG cold wire
- wire electrode which in some cases are
- filler wire - strip electrode
- filler wire
protected against wear by
arc welding with self-shielded
cored wire electrode TIG welding electroslag welding
hard metal inserts. The
- filler wire - TIG cold wire - wire electrode
slag-forming flux is sup-
plied onto the workpiece in
arc spraying plasma welding
front of the strip electrode
- powder - plasma powder
- wire - plasma hot wire by means of a flux support.
plasma spraying The non-molten flux can be
br-er11-07e.cdr

extracted and returned to

the flux circuit.
Figure 11.7
Should the slag developed
on top of the welding bead
power source
drive rolls
+ - not detach itself, it will
have to be removed me-
filler metal
chanically in order to avoid
slag inclusions during
flux support
overwelding. The arc wan-
flux application
slag ders along the lower edge
surfacing bead
base metal of the strip. Thus the strip
is melted consistently, Fig-
br-er11-08e.cdr

ure 11.8.

Figure 11.8

2005
11. Surfacing and Shape Welding 155

Figure 11.9 shows the

cladding of a roll barrel.
The coating is deposited
helically while the work-
piece is rotating. The weld
head is moved axially over
the workpiece.

The macro-section and

possible weld defects of a
br-er11-09e.cdr

strip-electrode submerged-
arc surfacing process are
Figure 11.9 depicted in Figure 11.10.

Electroslag surfacing us-

ing a strip electrode is coarse grain zone lack of fusion mirco slag inclusions sagged weld

similar to strip-electrode SA
surfacing, Figure 11.11.
base metal

The difference is that the

crack formation
weld filler metal is not in these areas of gusset undercuts
the coarse grain zone
melted in the arc but in liq-
uefied welding flux — the
liquid slag – as a result of
Joule resistance heating.
br-er11-10e.cdr

The slag is held by a slight

inclination of the plate and
the flux mound to prevent it Figure 11.10
from running off.

2005
11. Surfacing and Shape Welding 156

TIG weld surfacing is a suitable surfacing method for small and complicated contours and/or
low quantities (e.g. repair work) with normally relatively low deposition rates. The process
principle has already been shown when the TIG joint welding process was explained, Figure
11.12. The arc is burning
between a gas-backed non-
consumable tungsten elec-
trode and the workpiece.
The arc melts the base
metal and the wire or rod-
molten pool
shaped weld filler metal
which is fed either continu-
ously or intermittently. Thus
a fusion welded joint devel- br-er11-11e.cdr

ops between base metal

and surfacing bead.
Figure 11.11
In the case of MIG/MAG surfacing proc-
esses the arc burns between a consumable
wire electrode and the workpiece. This
rod/ wire-shaped shielding gas nozzle
filler metal
method allows higher deposition rates. Filler
arc as well as solid wires are used. The wire elec-
trode has a positive, while the workpiece to be
surfaced has a negative polarity, Figure
11.13.

tungsten electrode
base metal (- / ~)
(+ / ~) surfacing bead

br-er11-12e.cdr © ISF 2002

Process Principle of
TIG Weld Surfacing

Figure 11.12

2005
11. Surfacing and Shape Welding 157

A further development of
the TIG welding process is
contact tube plasma welding. While the
wire feed device
shielding gas
shielding gas nozzle
TIG arc develops freely, the
plasma welding arc is me-
weld filler metal + power source
- chanically and thermally
arc
shielding gas constricted by a water-
surfacing bead
cooled copper nozzle. Thus

workpiece
the arc obtains a higher
oscillation
feed direction energy density.
br-er11-13e.cdr

In the case of plasma arc

Figure 11.13
powder surfacing this
constricting nozzle has a
positive, the tungsten electrode has a negative polarity, Figure 11.14. Through a pilot arc
power supply a non-transferred arc (pilot arc) develops inside the torch. A second, separate
power source feeds the transferred arc between electrode and workpiece. The non-
transferred arc ionises the centrally fed plasma gas (inert gases, as, e.g., Ar or He) thus
causing a plasma jet of high energy to emerge from the nozzle. This plasma jet serves to
produce and to stabilise the arc striking ability of the transferred arc gap. The surfacing filler
metal powder added by a feeding gas flow is melted in the plasma jet. The partly liquefied
weld filler metal meets the
by transferred arc molten tungsten electrode
filler metal

base metal and forms the

plasma gas
HIG UNTA
surfacing bead. A third gas
conveying gas
flow, the shielding gas, pro- power sources

shielding gas
tects the surfacing bead pilot arc
welding arc UTA

and the adjacent high- surfacing bead

temperature zone from the

surrounding influence. The
workpiece oscillation
applied gases are mainly br-er11-14e.cdr

inert gases, as, for exam-

ple, Ar and He and/or Ar-
Figure 11.14
/He mixtures.

2005
11. Surfacing and Shape Welding 158

The method is applied for surfacing small and medium-sized parts (car exhaust valves, ex-
truder spirals). Figure 11.15 shows a cross-section of armour plating of a car exhaust valve
seat. The fusion line, i.e.,
the region between surfac-
ing and base metal, is
section A shown enlarged on the
ZW
right side of Figure 11.15
(blow-up). It shows
hardfacing with cobalt

GW
which is high-temperature
and hot gas corrosion

br-er11-15e.cdr
resistant.
In plasma arc hot wire
surfacing the base metal
Figure 11.15 is melted by an oscillating
plasma torch, Figure 11.16.
The weld filler metal in the form of two parallel wires is added to the base metal quite inde-
pendently. The arc between the tips of the two parallel wires is generated through the appli-
cation of a separate power

plasma power
source. The plasma arc
shielding plasma gas
source
gas with a length of approx. 20
mm is oscillating (oscilla-
tungsten
electrode
= tion width between 20 to 50
arc
wires from spool mm). The two wires are fed
surfacing
bead in a V-formation at an an-
gle of approx. 30° and melt
~ in the high-temperature
workpiece
weld pool hot wire power
source region in the trailing zone
br-er11-16e.cdr

of the plasma torch.

Figure 11.16

2005
11. Surfacing and Shape Welding 159

For surfacing purposes,

besides the arc-welding
methods, the beam weld-
ing methods laser beam
and electron beam welding
may also be applied. Fig-
ure 11.17 shows the proc-
ess principle of laser sur-
facing. The powder filler
metal is added to the laser
beam via a powder nozzle
and the powder gas flow
is, in addition, constricted
by shielding gas flow. Figure 11.17

Friction surfacing is, in principle, similar to friction welding for the production of joints which
due to the different materials are difficult to produce with fusion welding, Figure 11.18.
The filler metal is “advanced” over the workpiece with high pressure and rotation. By the
pressure and the relative movement frictional heat develops and puts the weld filler end into
a pasty condition. The advance motion causes an adherent, “spreaded” layer on the base
metal. This method is not applied frequently and is mainly used for materials which show
strong differences in their melting and oxidation behaviours.

A comparison of the differ-

force
ent surfacing methods filler metal

shows that the application rotation

advance
fields are limited - de-
pendent on the welding
method. A specific
method, for example, is surfacing layer

the low filler/base metal bulge

base metal
dilution. These methods
br-er11-18e.cdr

are applied where high-

quality filler metals are
Figure 11.18
2005
11. Surfacing and Shape Welding 160

welded. Another criterion for the selection of a surfacing method is the deposition rate. In the
case of cladding large sur-
faces a method with a high
compressed spraying material workpiece
deposition rate is chosen, air

this with regard to profit-

ability.

In thermal spraying the

filler metal is melted inside
the torch and then, with a fuel gas-oxygen flame cone spray deposit
mixture
high kinetic energy, dis-
br-er11-19e.cdr

charged onto the unfused

but preheated workpiece
surface. Figure 11.19

There is no fusion of base and filler metal but rather adhesive binding and mechanical inter-
locking of the spray deposit with the base material. These mechanisms are effective only
when the workpiece surface is coarse (pre-treatment by sandblasting) and free of oxides.
The filler and base materials are metallic and non-metallic. Plastics may be sprayed as well.
The utilisation of filler metals in thermal spraying is relatively low.
The most important methods of thermal spraying are: plasma arc spraying, flame spraying
and arc spraying.

compressed air spraying jet non-binding

In powder flame spraying sprayed particles
(loss in spraying)
an oxyacetylene flame pro- gas mixture

vides the heating source

where the centrally fed filler
metal is melted, Figure
11.19. The kinetic energy for adjustable wire
feed device
the acceleration and atomi- fusing
spraying wire wire tip spray deposit
sation of the filler metal is
br-er11-20e.cdr

produced by compressed
gas (air).

Figure 11.20

2005
11. Surfacing and Shape Welding 161

In contrast to powder flame

spraying, is for flame
powder injector
back isolation gas middle anode spraying a wire filler metal
frame ring distributor frame carrier
fed mechanically into the
copper anode
centre cone, melted, atom-
ised and accelerated in
direction of the substrate,
Figure 11.20.
jet of particles

cooling plasma
water gas cooling water tungsten cathode arc
In plasma arc spraying an
br-er11-21e.cdr © ISF 2002

internal, high-energy arc is

Plasma Powder Spraying Unit
ignited between the tung-
Figure 11.21 sten cathode and the an-
ode, Figure 11.21. This arc
ionises the plasma gas (argon, 50 - 100 l/min). The plasma emerges from the torch with a
high kinetic and thermal energy and carries the side-fed powder along with it which then
meets the workpiece surface in a semi-fluid state with the necessary kinetic energy. In the
case of shape welding, steel shapes with larger dimensions and higher weights are pro-
duced from molten weld metal only. In comparison to cast parts this method brings about es-
sentially more favourable mechano-technological material properties, especially a better
toughness characteristic. The reason for this lies mainly in the high purity and the homogene-
ity of the steel which is helped by the repeated melting process and the resulting slag reac-
tions. These properties are
also put down to the fa-
primary forming vourable fine-grained struc-
(casting)
ture formation which is
achieved by the repeated
shape welding subsequent thermal treat-
ment with the multi-pass
forming joining technique. Also in contrast
(forging) (welding)
with the shapes produced
by forging, the workpieces
br-er11-22e.cdr © ISF 2002

produced by shape welding

Shape Welding - Integration
show quality advantages,
Figure 11.22
2005
11. Surfacing and Shape Welding 162

especially in the isotropy and the regularity of their toughness and strength properties as far
as larger workpiece thicknesses are concerned. In Europe, due to the lack of expensive forg-
ing equipment, very high individual weights
may not be produced as forged parts.
Therefore, shape welding is, for certain appli-
cations, a sensible technological and eco-
nomical alternative to the methods of primary
forming, forming or joining, Figure 11.22.

Figure 11.23 shows an early application which

is related to the field of arts.

The higher tooling costs in forging make the

shape welding method less expensive; this
applies to parts with certain increasing com-
plexity. This comparison is, however, related
br-er11-23e.cdr
to relatively low numbers of pieces, where the
Shape Welded Goblet (1936) tooling costs per part are accordingly higher,
Figure 11.24.
Figure 11.23

€/kg forged products

shape-welded
products
spherical caps

pipe bends
boiler shell rings

braces
shafts

complexity of the parts

br-er11-24e.cdr

Figure 11.24

2005
11. Surfacing and Shape Welding 163

Figure 11.25 shows the principal procedure for

Baumkuchenmethode + several weld heads possible
the production of typical shape-welded parts. + no interruption during weld
head failure

Cylindrical containers are produced with the - core made of foreign material
necessary
“Baumkuchenmethode” method: the filler metal applications:
shafts, large boiler shell rings, flanges
is welded by submerged-arc with helical mo-
Töpfermethode + free rotationally-symmetrical shapes
vement in multiple passes into a tube which + several weld heads possible
+ weld head manipulation not
necessary
has the function of a traction mechanism (for + each head capable to weld a
specific layer
the most part mechanically removed later). + small diameters possible

- component movement must

This brings about the possibility to produce correspond with the contour
- number of weld heads limited when
smaller diameters are welded
seamless containers with bottom and flange in
applications:
one working cycle. spherical caps, pipe bends, braces

Klammeraffe + transportable unit

- limited welding efficiency

Elbows are mainly manufactured with the
applications:
Töpfer method. On the traction mechanism a welding-on of connection pieces
br-er11-25e.cdr © ISF 2002

rotationally symmetrical part with a semicircle

Shape Welding Procedures
cross-section is produced which is later sepa-
rated and welded to an elbow, Figures 11.26
Figure 11.25
and 11.27. The Klammeraffe method serves
the purpose to weld exter-
nal connection pieces onto
pipes. A portable unit
which is connected with the
phase 7
phase 5
pipe welds the connection
phase 6
phase 3
phase 4 traction
pipe in a similar manner to
mechanism phase 1
phase 2
the Töpfer method.
joist turntable

br-er11-26e.cdr

Figure 11.26

2005
11. Surfacing and Shape Welding 164

In the case of electron beam surfacing the

filler metal is added to the process in the form
1. welding of the
half-torus of a film, Figure 11.28.
2. stress relief
annealing
3. mechanical
treatment
4. seperating/
halving
5. folding
6. welding togehter
7. stress relief
annealing
tes

8. testing
ti
ng

br-er11-27e.cdr

Production of a Pipe Bend

by Shape Welding

Figure 11.27

electron beam

surface layer

base material

metal foil

metal foil feeding

workpiece

feed direction

ka11-18.cdr © ISF 1998

Process Principle
Electron Beam Surface Welding

Figure 11.28

2005