Slide 4 of 81

COMMONLY OBSERVED
DISCONTINUITIES IN FUSION WELDING
TYPE

EXISTS

REMARKS

Lamination

Pm

Delamination

Pm

Seams &
laps

Pm

Base metal surface, often at all times longitudinal.

Lamellar
tears

Pm

Invariably near the HAZ in flange plate of T-butt joint.

Cracks

Pm, Wm
Wm/Pm

Base metal, genarally near mid thickness of section.

,,

Restraint, Hot, Brittle & Under bead cold cracks; which

may be either in longitudinal or transvers direction.

Crater cracks

Wm

Usually with multi axial cracks at the point of termination.

Fissures

Wm

Micro cracks generally in fully austenitic stainless steel &

less ductile metal.

Stray flash

Pm

Appears away from the weld seam as a trail of arc spots

with micro fissures, excesively brittle & hard character.

Spatters

Pm

Globular weld particles ejected out of an arc zone &

scattered shabbily around over the base metal.

Pm = Parent metal; Wm = Weld metal; Pm/Wm = Junction of weld &

base metal
Continued...

Pm = Parent metal; Wm = Weld metal; Pm/Wm = Junction of weld &

base metal
Weld decay &
Pm
Precipitation of chromium carbide in austenitic stainless
stress corrossteels & severely degrading the corrosion resistance
ion cracks
property in HAZ; which may also be associated with the
stress corrosion cracks.
Oxidation

Wm

Inadequacy in gas shield or gas purge from the root side

causes a heavy black scale or an extremely rough crinkled
appearance.

Craters

Wm

An unfilled concave crater causes a point of stress raiser.

Underfill

Wm

Inadequate weld metal filling and causing weakness.

Undercut

Wm/Pm Groove made by the arc force & left unfilled, causes severe
stress concentration.

Overlap

Wm/Pm Accumulation of weld, without fusion, causes an extremely

voilent point of sstress raiser.

Lack of
fusion

Wm,
Lack of union between the two weld beads or weld & base
Wm/Pm metal causes stress concentration.

Lack of
penetration

Pm

Inadequacy of through thickness fusion depth.

Solid particle
inclusion

Wm

Trapped slag particle, tungsten or oxide (Al2O3) in weld.

Gas inclusion

Wm

Gas voids contained within the weld causes: Blow hole, Gas
pore, Piping, Worm holes, Linear, Clustered or Scattered

- due to segregation

Lamellar Tearing:

 Dilution
Heat input

The dilution:
Dilution% = Pm / Wm X 100
Wm

Fm

Wm = Fm + Pm
Pm = Melted Parent metal
Fm = Melted Filler metal

Pm

The heat input:

Kj /

mm = I.V./ S.1000

I = Current across the arc.

V = Voltage across the arc.
S = The rate of arc motion mm/Sec.

Too low or high heat input both may

equally be proved detrimental.

Solidification cracks due to the bead factor:

That is

W/P

W = Bead Width
P = Bead Depth

W/P>1

W/P<1

Cracks is detected in a radiograph, only when it produces a

change in thickness that is parallel to the x-ray beam. It appears
often zig-jagged with faint irregular line. Cracks can also appear
sometime as "tail" to an inclusion or porosity.

Undercut is an erosion of the base metal next to the toe of the weld
face. It appears in radiograph as a dark irregular line on outer edge
of the weld.

Root undercut is an erosion of the base metal next to the root of the
weld. It appears in radiographic images as a dark irregular line offset
from the centerline of the weldment. Undercutting is not as straight
edged as LOP because it does not follow the straight edge

Root concavity or suck back is a condition where the weld metal

has contracted as it cools down & has been drawn up into the root of
the weld. On a film it appears similar to the lack of root penetration
but the line has irregular wide edges and placed in the middle.

Cold lap is a condition where the weld metal does not fuse with the
base metal or the previous weld bead (interpass cold lap). The arc
does not melt the base metal and causes the molten puddle to flow
into the base metl without the proper bonding.

Incomplete fusion is a condition where the weld metal does not

fuse with the base metal. Appearance on radiograph is usually a
darker line or lines oriented in the direction of the weld seam along
the weld joining area.

Whiskers are the short lengths of electrode wire, visible on

the top or bottom surfaces of the weld or contained within the
weld. On radiograph they appear as light, "wire like" indications.

Burn through (icicles) results when too much heat causes weld to
pierce through. Lumps of weld metal sag through the seam creating
a thick globular condition on the root face. On a radiograph, burn
through appears as dark spots surrounded by light globular areas.

Lack of penetration occurs when the weld metal fails to penetrate

through the joint. Allows a linear stress riser like discontinuity from
which a crack may initiate. The appearance on a radiograph is a dark
well-defined straight edges that follows the land or root face down the
center of a joint.

Gas inclusion
Gas pore _ singular.
Blowhole _ singular.
Scattered Porasity.
Cluster Porasity.
Linear Porasity.
Piping.
Worm holes.

Fine

Severe

Porosity appears often as dark round irregular spots in clusters or

rows. Sometimes it is elongated and may have an appearance of a
tail. This is the result of gas attempting to escape while the metal is
still in a liquid state & is called wormhole porosity. All porosity is
indeed a void will have a darker density than the surrounding.

Cluster porosity is caused when electrodes are contaminated with

moisture or hydrocarbon. It appears like regular porosity in a film
but the indications will be grouped close together.

 Oxide inclusion/ Puckering

Slag inclusions are the nonmetallic solid materials trapped in weld

or between the weld and base metal. In a radiograph, dark, jagged
asymmetrical shapes within the weld or along the weld joint areas
are indicative of slag inclusions.

Tungsten inclusions. Tungsten is a brittle and dense material used

as an electrode in tungsten inert gas welding. If an incorrect welding
procedures & skill is performed, then only the tungsten gets trapped.
Radiographically, tungsten is more dense than aluminum or steel;
therefore, it shows as a lighter area with a distinct outline on the
radiograph

Oxide inclusions are usually visible on the surface of a weld mtal

(especially aluminum). Oxide inclusions are less dense than the surr
-ounding metals and, thus it appears as dark irregular shaped discon
-tinuity in radiograph. This is also referred as puckering in ISO.

The radiographic image is a noticeable difference in density between

the two mismatched pieces. The difference in density is caused by the
difference in material thickness. The dark, straight line is caused by
failure of the weld metal to fuse with the land area.

Excessive reinforcement is an area of a weld added in excess of

that specified by the drawings and codes. The appearance on a radiograph is a localized & less darker area. A visual examination will
easily determine if the weld reinforcement is in excess.

Underfilling is an area where the deposited weld metal is less than

the required thickness. It is easy to determine by RT films, because
the image density in the area of inadequacy will be darker than the
surrounding image density.

Distortion:
Distortion is an unavoidable phenom
-enon of fusion welding.
Type:
Angular distortion;

Longitudinal distortion; &

Transvers distortion.

Distortion:

Remedy:

only to minimise.

Reduce the cause of shrinkage forces;

Make use of the shrinkage forces;
Balance the shrinkage forces.

&

Reduce the cause of shrinkage forces:

1. Do not weld __ if possible.
2. Reduce the number of joints.
3. Improve the joint design & fit-up.
4. Avoid excessive root gap & mismatch.
5. Avoid over welding.
6. Reduce the number of runs.
7. Use larger size electrodes.
8. Use iron powder type electrode.
9. Use semi or fully mechanized welding.

 Obviously the poor fit-up demands more metal to be

filled in and thus the more shrinkage / distortion.

GA

RF
RO

GA=Groove / Included angle

Fusion faces
RF = Root face
Shoulder
RO = Root opening

Effective throat area gets reduced in proportion

to the root gap and an over welding by 1.6mm to
a 6 mm given fillet size, the cross section area
of weld increases by a margin of 56%.

W
W

Make use of shrinkage forces:

Balance the shrinkage forces:

Use an appropriate welding scequence.
i.e. Back step & intermittent welding techniques.

Use external force:

i.e. Tack weld, Jigs, Fixtures & Clamps.