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Introduction
Armour grade quenched and tempered (Q&T) steels are
susceptible to hydrogen induced cracking (HIC) in the
heat affected1 The tendency for the HAZ to crack by
HIC is related to a number of factors including:
hardness and microstructure of the steel, magnitude of
tensile residual stresses, welding process, welding consumables, shielding gas and the level of diffusible
hydrogen in the form of atomic hydrogen that is
absorbed into the weld pool during welding.2
Moreover, armour grade Q&T steels form hard HAZ
microstructures even at the slowest cooling rates
achieved in welding. Hydrogen induced cracking is a
very serious problem for armour grade Q&T steel welds
since it hinders the ballistic properties of the welds. As a
consequence careful selection of the appropriate welding
process, consumable or any other preventive method is
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Experimental
Base metal and welding consumables
No notation C
Base metal
BM
closely confirming to AISI 4340 grade)
Austenitic stainless steel (closely confirming to AWS E307 ) SA
Low hydrogen ferritic steel
SF
(AWS E11018-M)
High nickel electrode steel
SN
(AWS ENiCrFe3)
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Si
Mn P
Cr
Mo
Ni
Fe
Bal.
Magudeeswaran et al.
Implant testing
The implant tests were conducted using implant testing
machine (ISHA, India, Model 27105) as per the
International Institute of Welding (IIW) guidelines.10,15,16 and with modifications in base plate
dimensions as detailed in the literature.17 An implant
test system (Fig. 3) was employed to evaluate the
susceptibility of the material to hydrogen assisted
cracking. In this test system, a helical threaded specimen
(fabricated from the BM) was inserted into a hole drilled
in a 14 mm thick base plate. A single pass weld
was deposited so that a portion of the notch section
was located in the coarse grained HAZ. The sample was
subjected to the desired stress under constant load and
when the weld cools to 150uC (within 5 min postwelding). This arrangement enables the coarse HAZ of
the specimen to experience the load. The time required
for the implant specimen to fail under each stress was
noted and a plot of loadtime was obtained from this
test (Fig. 4). Three trials of the implant tests were
carried out at each stress and the average time to failure
was used for plotting loadtime curve. From this plot
critical stress below which no failure occurs was
obtained and is presented in Table 5.
DH ~Vg (B{H)=760
|273=(273zTR )100=(M2 {M1 )
(1)
Unit
SA
SF
SN
Preheat temperature
Electrode baking temperature
Filler diameter
Welding current
Arc voltage
Heat input
uC
uC for 3 h
mm
A
V
kJ mm21
100
300
4
170
26
0.88
100
300
4
160
23
0.85
100
300
4
190
28
1.2
Elongation,%
BM
SA
SN
SF
1200
660
550
720
1290
735
680
800
12.5
35
40
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Results
Diffusible hydrogen level
In this study, the diffusible hydrogen levels of all the
three consumables were determined by the mercury
method and the results are presented in Table 4. The SN
weld metal imparts diffusible hydrogen level 2?69 mL/
Trial 1
Trial 2
Trial 3
Trial 4
Trial 5
mL/100 g
ppm*
SA
SF
SN
2.79
2.89
2.72
2.85
3.05
2.64
2.86
3.09
2.76
2.82
2.99
2.68
2.78
2.98
2.65
2.82
3.00
2.69
3.13
3.33
2.98
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4 Implant test results: horizontal arrows indicate specimen did not fail
Hardness
Optical micrographs
The hardness across the weld cross-section was measured using a Vickers microhardness testing machine
and the values are presented in Table 6. The hardness of
the unwelded BM is 455 HV. The hardness in the weld
metal region of SA, SF and SN welds are 261 HV,
311 HV, 194 HV respectively. Similarly the hardness in
the region adjacent to the fusion boundary in the weld
metal side (cracked region) are 355 HV, 394 HV and
247 HV for SA, SF, and SN welds respectively. The
hardness of the fusion boundary of SA weld is 420 HV
while the SF welds exhibit a hardness value of 434 HV.
However, the hardness in the fusion boundary of the SN
weld is 350 HV. The hardness in the HAZ region of the
SA, SF and SN welds are found to be 435 HV, 439 HV
and 410 HV respectively. Thus the welds made using
HNS consumables have a lower hardness in the weld
region, region close to the fusion boundary (where
cracks are found) region, fusion boundary and the HAZ
region than their LHF steel counterparts.
Fractured surface
LCS,MPa
SA
SF
SN
420
350
590
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Discussion
It is inferred from the experimental results that the
welding consumables have a significant effect on HIC of
armour grade Q&T steel welds. The high nickel steel
consumables offered greater resistance than the austenitic stainless steel and low hydrogen ferritic steel
consumables. The reasons for the above results are
discussed in detail in the following sections.
Weld region
Region close
to the weld/HAZ
interface in the
weld region side
261
355*
420
435
456
311
394{
434
439
454
194
247{
350
410
454
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Weld/HAZ
interface boundary
(fusion boundary)
HAZ region
Base metal
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a weld/HAZ interface, SA weld; b, weld/HAZ interface, SF weld; c weld/HAZ interface, SN weld; d HAZ region close to
interface, SA weld; e HAZ region close to interface, SF weld; f HAZ region close to interface, SN weld
5 Microstructures of weld/HAZ interface of unfailed implant specimen revealing non-existence of microcracks (GPB
grain boundary phase, UTM untempered martensite)
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Conclusions
In this paper, the effect of welding consumables on
hydrogen induced cracking of armour grade Q&T welds
made by the shielded metal arc welding process has been
analysed in detail. From this investigation, the following
conclusions are derived.
1. Hydrogen induced cracking in armour grade Q&T
steel welds is influenced by level of diffusible hydrogen
present in welds, weld metal strength, and susceptible
HAZ microstructure (untempered martensite). These
factors are influenced by welding consumables and weld
thermal cycle used during fabrication. Cold cracking
occurs if the above three factors intervene by their
combined effects.
2. The amount of diffusible hydrogen is very low for
all the welds made and is well within the permissible
limit. However, the SN welds impart a very low level of
diffusible hydrogen compared to SA and SF welds. This
is essentially due to the larger proportion of austenitic
phase in their weld metal region promoted by very high
nickel content. However, SF welds impart relatively
higher diffusible hydrogen level due to the presence of
larger proportion of acicular ferrite microstructure in
their weld metal region.
3. The solubility of hydrogen in austenitic phase is
high, whereas the diffusivity is low. Thus, a greater
proportion of austenitic phase in SN weld restricts the
flow of diffusible hydrogen (contained in the weld metal)
Magudeeswaran et al.
Acknowledgements
The authors are thankful to Armament Research Board
(ARMREB), New Delhi for funding this project work
(Project No. MAA/03/41), M/s Combat Vehicle Research
Development Establishment (CVRDE), Avadi, Chennai
for providing base material and Department of
Manufacturing Engineering, Annamalai University for
providing testing facility for this investigation.
References
a SA joint; b SF joint; c SN joint
9 Macrostructure of single V butt joints revealing no
evidence of delayed cracks due to HIC
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