Effects of welding wire composition and welding process on the weld metal toughness of submerged arc welded pipeline steel

The effects of alloying elements in welding wires and submerged arc welding process on the microstructures and low-temperature impact toughness of weld metals have been investigated. The results indicate that the optimal contents of alloying elements in welding wires can improve the low-temperature impact toughness of weld metals because the proeutectoid ferrite and bainite formations can be suppressed, and the fraction of acicular ferrite increases. However, the contents of alloying elements need to vary along with the welding heat input. With the increase in welding heat input, the contents of alloying elements in welding wires need to be increased accordingly. The microstructures mainly consisting of acicular ferrite can be obtained in weld metals after four-wire submerged arc welding using the wires with a low carbon content and appropriate contents of Mn, Mo, Ti-B, Cu, Ni, and RE, resulting in the high low-temperature impact toughness of weld metals.

Experimental investigation and optimization of weld bead characteristics during submerged arc welding of AISI 1023 steel

Submerged arc welding(SAW), owing to its high deposition rate and high welding quality, is widely used in the fabrication of pressure vessel, marine vessel, pipelines and offshore structures. However, selection of an optimum combination of welding parameters is critical in achieving high weld quality and productivity. In this work, initially, the SAW experiments were performed using fractional factorial design to analyze the effect of direct and indirect input parameters, namely, welding voltage, wire feed rate,welding speed, nozzle to plate distance, flux condition, and plate thickness on weld bead geometrical responses viz. bead width, reinforcement, and penetration. The bead on plate technique was used to deposit weld metal on AISI 1023 steel plates. The effect of SAW input parameters on response variables were analyzed using main and interaction effects. The linear regression was used to develop the mathematical models for the response variable. Then, the multi-objective optimization of input parameters was carried out using desirability approach, genetic algorithm and Jaya algorithm. The Jaya algorithm offered better optimization results as compared to desirability approach, genetic algorithm.

Electromagnetic Characteristic of Twin-wire Indirect Arc Welding

Traditional welding methods are limited in low heat input to workpiece and high welding wire melting rate. Twin-wire indirect arc（TWIA） welding is a new welding method characterized by high melting rate and low heat input. This method uses two wires one connected to the negative electrode and another to the positive electrode of a direct-current（DC） power source. The workpiece is an independent, non-connected unit. A three dimensional finite element model of TWIA is devised. Electric and magnetic fields are calculated and their influence upon TWIA behavior and the welding process is discussed. The results show that with a 100 A welding current, the maximum temperature reached is 17 758 K, arc voltage is 14.646 V while maximum current density was 61 A/mm2 with a maximum Lorene force of 84.5 ~tN. The above mentioned arc parameters near the cathode and anode regions are far higher than those in the arc column region. The Lorene force is the key reason for plasma velocity direction deviated and charged particles flowed in the channel formed by the cathode, anode and upper part of arc column regions. This led to most of the energy being supplied to the polar and upper part of arc column regions. The interaction between electric and magnetic fields is a major determinant in shaping TWIA as well as heat input on the workpiece. This is a first study of electromagnetic characteristics and their influences in the TWIA welding process, and it is significant in both a theoretical and practical sense.

Arc characteristics of submerged arc welding with stainless steel wire

The arc characteristics of submerged arc welding （SAW） with stainless steel wire were studied by using Analysator Hannover （AH）. The tests were carded out under the same preset arc voltage combined with different welding currents. By comparing the probability density distribution （PDD） curves of arc voltage and welding current, the changes were analyzed, the metal transfer mode in SAW was deduced, and the characteristics of a stable arc were summarized. The analysis results show that, with an increase of welding parameters, the short-circuiting peak in the PDD curves of arc voltage decreases gradually until it disappears, and the dominant metal transfer mode changes from flux-wall guided transfer to projected transfer and then to streaming transfer. Moreover, when the PDD curves of arc voltage are both unimodal and generally symmetrical, the greater the peak probability and the smaller the peak span, the more stable the arc becomes.

Three-roller continuous setting round process for longitudinally submerged arc welding pipes

In order to solve the problems of excess ovality and cross-section distortion of longitudinally submerged arc welding pipes after forming,a new three-roller continuous setting round process was proposed.This process can be divided into three stages:loading stage,roll bending stage and unloading stage.Based on the discretization idea,the mechanical model of the primary statically indeterminate problem of the longitudinally submerged arc welding pipes at the roll bending stage was established,and the deformation response was obtained.The simulation and theoretical results show that there are three positive bending regions and three reverse bending regions along the circumference of the pipe.The loading force of each roller shows growth,stability and downward trend with time.The error between the theoretical fitting curve and the simulated data point is very small,and the simulation results verify the reliability of the theoretical calculation.The experimental results show that the residual ovality decreases with the increase of the reduction,and the reduction of the turning point is the optimum reduction.In addition,the residual ovality of the pipe is less than 0.7%without cross-section distortion,which verifies the feasibility of this process.

Fuzzy logic control strategy for submerged arc automatic welding of digital controlling

A microcomputer control system based on 80C320 and a switching regulation of wire feeder were designed. A correction factor based double model fuzzy logic controller （FLC） was introduced to achieve welding digital and intellectualized control by means of wire feeding speed feedback. The controller has many functions such as keyboard input, light emitting diode （LED） display and real-time intellectualized control of welding process etc. The controlling performance influenced by the coefficient of correction function was discussed. It was concluded by the experiments the relation between the coefficient of correction function and welding quality, when the coefficient of correction function is great, the dynamic character of controller is better, when the coefficient of correction function is small, the sensitivity character of controller is better. Experimental results also show that digital and fuzzy logic control method enable the improvement of appearance of weld and stability of welding process to be achieved in submerged arc automatic welding.

Research on submerged arc welding wire for X100 pipeline steel

According to the study of the microstructure and properties of X100 pipeline steel, the welding consumable-wire based on Mn-Ni-Mo-B-Ti alloy system was successfully designed and developed. The yield strength of the deposited metal of the developed welding wire was 695 MPa, the tensile strength was 810 MPa, and Charpy impact energy was 92 J at negative 20 ℃ when matching with BSG-SJ101H1 sintered flux. The results of the weldability test for X100 pipeline steel which adopting this developed wire showed that the tensile strength of the weld was 827 MPa, 185 J of Charpy impact energy（ -10 ℃ ） , 97% of section of shear and the weld had good strength and toughness matching when the welding speed got to 1.7 m/min. The microstructure and fracture appearance of the weld were analyzed by using metallographic microscope, scanning electron microscope （SEM） and laser confocal microscope, the results indicated that the microstructure was mainly granular bainite in the weld metal, and the fracture was dimple with 200 - 300 μm depth presenting a typical ductile fracture characteristics. The test of welding wire with different content of Ni and Cr element indicated that Ni was better than Cr in improving the strength and toughness of weld metal.

Effect of Submerged Arc Welding Flux Component on Softening Temperature

Based on simplex algorithm of optimal design, the multicomponent mixture regression model was used to investigate physical properties of submerged arc welding flux. The effect of complex interaction of seven components in agglomerated flux on softening temperature was analyzed. The results indicate that the interaction of MgO-TiO2-CaCOa-AI20a increases the softening temperature of flux, but the additions of CaF2 and ZrO2 can decrease the softening temperature.

Microstructures and Plane Energy Spectra of X80 Pipeline Steel Welded Joints by Submerged Arc Automatic Welding

X80 pipeline steel was welded with submerged arc automatic welding, the microstructures, cavity sizes, fusion depths and plane scanning of chemical elements in the welded zone, fusion zone, heat affected zone and base steel were observed with OM（optical microscope） and SEM（scanning electron microscope）, respectively. The experimental results show that there is main acicular ferrite in the base steel and welded zone, the microscopic structure of fusion zone is a blocked bainite, and the heat affected zone is composed of multilateral ferrite and pearlite. M-A unit of the welded zone is the main factor to strengthen the welded zone, composed of acicular ferrites. The percentage of cavities in the welded joint is less than that in the base steel, which is beneficial to increasing its mechanical performance and corrosion resistance. The fusion depth in the fusion zone and welded zone is 101.13 μm and 115.85 μm, respectively, and the distribution of chemical elements in the welded zone is uniform, no enrichment phenomena.

Inclusion behavior and microstructure of weld metal with Ce in twin wire high heat input submerged-arc welding

In this study,the welding thermal cycle curve exhibited two temperature peaks in high heat-input twin-wire separate-pool submerged-arc welding and coarse-grained heat affected zone existed in the welded joint. The inclusions of primary weld metal and coarse-grained heat affected zone of Ce-added SAW should be Al_2O_3,MnO,SiO_2,TiO,Ce_2S_3,CeS,Ce_2O_2S and Ce_2O_3. Under the effect of welding thermal cycle,oxy-sulfides inclusions of Ce,the diameter of which was less than 2. 0 μm,slightly grew larger,but the composition and type of the inclusions didn't change. The microstructure of the large heat input weld metal had acicular ferrite that Ce oxide sulphide particles induced nucleation and proeutectoid ferrite. In the coarse-grained heat affected zone of weld metal,home-position precipitation of acicular ferrite and sympathetic acicular ferrite were both observed. It was supposed that previous crystal cells of acicular ferrite in austenite grain promoted home-position precipitation of acicular ferrite. Meanwhile,sympathetic acicular ferrite tended to nucleate at the primary acicular ferrite grain boundaries,where high dislocation density was located,and grew inside the neighboring carbon-depleted austenitic regions. The granular bainite nucleated in the austenitic zone with high carbon content close to acicular ferrite and sympathetic acicular ferrite.

RECALLABLE TRACKING TECHNIQUE FOR TOP WELD BEADS OF NARROW GAP SUBMERGED ARC WELDING

According to the wire and nozzle movement track in groove, the movement parameters of wire were memorized and recalled for the following top welds by using a single chip computer. In this paper, it was also discussed that the design problems of correcting deviation of wire movement track in narrow gap submerged arc welding process must be noticed in order to obtain the sound welding result.

Effect of electrochemical reactions droplet metal in direct current on oxygen contamination of submerged arc welding

Agglomerated fluxes with different basicity index designed in laboratory were used to study electrochemical reactions between slag and metal in submerged arc welding under both power polarities. The droplet metal oxygen and nitrogen contents were measured using oxygen-nitrogen instrument in order to analyze indirectly metallurgy electrochemical reactions taking place in cathode and anode of welding arc. The results show that just in the period of droplet growth at the tip of consumable electrode the electrochemical oxygen contamination is produced in the case of direct current electrode positive polarity whereas electrochemical oxygen lost in electrode negative polarity. Furthermore, the results indicate that the basicity index of molten slag has great influence upon electrochemical reaction. With basicity index increasing, the effect of oxygen transferring resulted from electrochemistry becomes more evident for reacting dynamics depended on ion characteristics of molten slag. The effect of basicity index on metal-slag electrochemical reaction is contrary to traditional thermo-chemical reaction and therefore it is necessary to be considered as a metallurgy factor.

Prediction of cooling time t8/5 in twin wire submerged arc welding of intermediate thickness plate

Twin wire submerged arc welding （SAW） is widely used in oil or gas line pipe fabrication because of its high productivity. To investigate the strength and toughness of the heat-affected zone （HAZ） in twin wire SAW, the cooling time t8/5 of the coarse grained zone must be studied. The authors presented a method of predicting the cooling time in twin wire SAW of intermediate thickness plate. Based on Rosenthal analytical solutions, an energy factor was introduced to describe the energy contribution of the two wires, equations of thermal cycle and cooling time in twin wire SAW of both thick, and thin, plates were developed. Weighting factors determined by actual thickness and critical thickness were adopted to represent the thermal cycle and cooling time of intermediate thickness plate through linear interpolation with thick, and thin, plate solutions. The predicted cooling time for an intermediate thickness plate was verified experimentally, and the predicted results agreed therewith.

Arc characteristics of twin-wire indirect arc gas shielded welding

Twin-wire indirect arc gas shielded welding is a novel welding method. By recording the arc shape and welding parameters, the effects of welding parameters and included angle on arc characteristics are discussed in this paper. The experimental results show increasing welding current can prompt centralized and straight of arc due to increasing plasma force and electric magnetic pinch effect. Increasing arc voltage can increase the size and brightness of the arc, as a result of increasing arc energy. The reducing of included angle increases the electric magnetic pinch effect, the arc becomes slender and supplies higher energy. It is thought the smaller included angle is beneficial to obtain perfect weld bead.

Numerical Simulation for Shaping Feature of Molten Pool in Twin-Arc Submerged Arc Welding

The notion of ratio of width to length is proposed to describe the shaping feature of molten pool of twin-Arc submerged arc welding accurately, and analyze the law of molten pool variation and weld formation. The temperature field finite element numerical simulation model of twin arc movement is established. The loading form of twin-arc with double ellipsoid heat source is discussed. The molten pool temperature field of twin-arc submerged arc welding is calculated and analyzed under different process parameters. The law of molten pool characteristics influenced by the welding speed, current and voltage of twin-arc submerged arc welding parameters is analyzed. The relation between shaping feature of molten pool and weld formation is discussed according to the ratio of width to length. The results manifested that the width to length ratio of weld pool decreases with the improvement of welding speed, which result in gene- ration of weld defects. The width to length ratio of weld pool is increased by adjusting the proportion of the current, voltage and the distance of the two arcs, which avoids the generation of weld defects.

Time-Frequency Entropy Analysis of Arc Signal in Non-Stationary Submerged Arc Welding

The use of time-frequency entropy to quantitatively assess the stability of submerged arc welding process considering the distribution features of arc energy is reported in this paper. Time-frequency entropy is employed to calculate and analyze the stationary current signals, non-stationary current and voltage signals in the submerged arc welding process. It is obtained that time-frequency entropy of arc signal can be used as arc stability judgment criteria of submerged arc welding. Experimental results are provided to confirm the effectiveness of this approach.

Effect of the heat input on microstructure and properties of submerged arc welded joint of 08Cr19MnNi3Cu2N stainless steel

SAW308L submerged arc welding wire and SJ601A submerged arc welding flux were selected to weld the 12 mm 08Cr19MnNi3Cu2N low nickel and high nitrogen austenitic stainless steel plates with three different welding heat input,and microstructure,tensile properties,microhardness and corrosion properties of the welded joints were studied.The results show that no defects are found in the three groups of welded joints,and the welded joints have better performance.The tensile strength of 08Cr19MnNi3Cu2N stainless steel welded joints with different heat input is slightly lower than that of the base metal,and fracture occurs in the weld zone,and the hardness of the weld zone is lower than that of the base metal.The weld microstructure of stainless steel welded joints with different heat input is composed of austenite+δferrite,and ferrite is uniformly distributed in austenite.With the increase of the welding heat input,the ferrite content in the weld zone decrease gradually,the grain size in the thermal affected zone increase gradually,and the impact toughness reduce.

Influence of Tacking Sequence on Residual Stress and Distortion of Single Sided Fillet Submerged Arc Welded Joint

Submerged arc welding （SAW） is advantageous for joining high thickness materials in large structure due to high material deposition rate. The non-uniform heating and cooling generates the thermal stresses and subsequently the residual stresses and distortion. The longitudinal and transverse residual stresses and angular distortion are generally measured in large panel structure of submerged arc welded fillet joints. Hence, the objective of this present work is to quantify the amount of residual stress and distortion in and around the weld joint due to positioning of stiffeners tack. The tacking sequence influences the level of residual stress and proper controlling of tacking sequences is required to minimize the stress. In present study, an elasto-plastic material behavior is considered to develop the thermo mechanical model which predicts the residual stress and angular distortion with varying tacking sequences. The simulated result reveals that the tacking sequence heavily influences the residual stress and deformation pattern of the single sided fillet joint. The finite element based numerical model is calibrated by comparing the experimental data from published literature. Henceforth, the angular distortions are measured from an in-house developed experimental set-up. A fair agreement between the predicted and experimental results indicates the robustness of the developed numerical model. However, the most significant conclusion from present study states that tack weld position should be placed opposite to the fillet weld side to minimize the residual stress.

Development of the High Toughness Spirally Submerged Arc Welded Pipe Line

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Research and engineering application of the arc welding pulsed controller technology

The tenacity of heat-affected zone （HAZ） will decline and the size of grains will increase, because of the overheating on HAZ when submerged are welding （SAW） is ased to thick plate with high heat input. The shaping will worsen when SAW is used to thin plate with high current at high speed. A new SAW technology, the pulsed direct current （DC） automatic SAW, will be put forward in this paper in order to overcome the above shortcomings. And a pulsed controller with micro-controller unit （MCU） as the core, nixie tube （NT） and keyboard as the man-machine conversation interface is developed. The main functions of the pulsed controller include the output of pulsed welding current and the working with twinwire. The research has widely prospects in application with significant meanings in theory and practical engineering.