Welding Metallurgy

Solidification of Weld Metal

Prof. Dr. Tamer Samir Mahmoud

Epitaxial solidification
❑ The transformation of the molten weld
metal from liquid to solid state is called
solidification of weld metal and occurs
due to loss of heat from weld puddle.
❑ Generally, solidification takes place by
nucleation and growth mechanism.
❑ However, solidification of weld metal
can occur either by nucleation and
growth mechanism or directly
through growth mechanism
depending upon the composition of the
filler/electrode metal with respect to
base metal composition.
Epitaxial solidification
❑ In case, when composition of the filler/electrode
is completely different from the base metal,
solidification occurs by nucleation and growth
mechanism e.g. use of nickel electrode for
joining steel.
❑ When filler/electrode composition is similar to the
base metal, solidification is accompanied by
growth only mechanism on partially melted grain
of the base metal which is commonly known as
epitaxial solidification.
❑ The growth of grain on either newly developed
nuclei or partially melted grain of the base metal,
occurs by consuming liquid metal i.e.
transforming the liquid into solid to complete the
solidification sequence.
MODES OF SOLIDIFICATION
❑ The shape of grain means structure of grain in
growth stage is governed by mode of solidification.
❑ The mode of solidification in weld depends on
composition and cooling conditions experience
d by weld metal at a particular location during the
solidification.
❑ Thermal conditions during solidification as
determined by heat transfer in weld pool affect the
actual temperature gradient at solid-liquid metal
interface (G) and growth rate (R).
❑ A combination of high actual temperature gradient
(G) and low growth rate (R) results in planar
solidification i.e. where liquid-solid interface is
plane.
MODES OF SOLIDIFICATION
❑ A combination of low actual temperature
gradient (G) and high growth rate (R) results in
equiaxed solidification as shown in Fig. 1.
❑ While combinations of intermediate G and R
values result in cellular and dendritic mode
of solidification. Fig. 1 schematic of temperatures distribution during
❑ Product of G and R indicates the cooling solidification near solid-liquid metal interface.

rate.
❑ A high value of G.R produces finer grain
structure than low G.R value.
MODES OF SOLIDIFICATION
❑ During welding, weld pool near the
fusion boundary experiences
high value of G and low value
of R which in turn results in
planar solidification
❑ At the weld center reverse
conditions of G and R exist that us
ually cause equiaxed grains.

Effect of temperature gradient G and growth rate

R on the formation of various solidification
microstructures
MODES OF SOLIDIFICATION
❑ In addition to microstructural variations in the weld, macroscopic changes also
occur in weld, which are largely governed by welding parameters such as heat
input (as determined by welding current and arc voltage) and welding speed.
❑ Macroscopic observation of the weld reveals of the two types of grains based on
their orientation a) columnar grain and b) axial grain (Fig. 2).

Fig. 2 Different mode of solidification

in weld joints a) schematic diagram
showing planar, cellular, dendritic and
cellular structure and b) micrographs
of weld joints
MODES OF SOLIDIFICATION
❑ As reflecting from their names, columnar grains generally grow largely
perpendicular to the fusion boundary in direction opposite the heat flow while
axial grains grow axially in the direction of welding (Fig. 3).
❑ The axial grains weaken the weld and increase the solidification cracking tendency
therefore effort should made to modify the orientation of axial grains.

Fig. 3. Schematic of axial grain in weld

joints.
SOLIDIFICATION OF WELD METALS
Effect of welding speed on grain structure of the weld
❑ Welding speed appreciably affects the
orientation of columnar grains due to difference
in the shape of weld puddle.
❑ Low welding speed produces elliptical shape
weld pool and produce curved columnar grain
with better uniformly of chemical composition
which in turn results in higher solidification
cracking resistance of the weld than weld produc
ed using high welding speed (Fig. 4).
❑ At high welding speed, the shape of the trailing
end of weld pool becomes tear drop shape and
grains are mostly perpendicular to the fusion
boundary of the weld.
Fig. 4. Effect of wending speed on shape of weld pool
and grain structure a) low speed and b) high speed.
CONTROL OF SOLIDIFICATION STRUCTURE

Inoculation
❑ This method is based on increasing the heterogeneous nucleation at nucleation
stage of the solidification by adding alloying elements in weld pool which either
them self or their compounds act as nucleant.
❑ Increased number of nucleants in the weld metal eventually on solidification results
in refinement of the grains in the weld.
❑ It is understood that elements having a) melting point higher than the liquidus
temperature of the weld metal and b) lattice parameter similar that of base metal
can perform as nucleants.
❑ For aluminium, titanium and boron based compound as such TiB2, TiC, AlTi-B, Al-Zr
are commonly used as grin refiner.
❑ It is believed that increase in undercooling temperature during the solidification with
the addition of grain refiner is responsible for grain refinement as it increases the nu
cleation rate and decreases the growth rate.
❑ For steel, Ti, V and Al are commonly used grain refiners.
CONTROL OF SOLIDIFICATION STRUCTURE

Inoculation
CONTROL OF SOLIDIFICATION STRUCTURE

Arc pulsation
❑ The gas metal arc and gas tungsten arc
welding process generally use constant voltag
e and constant current power source.
Moreover, these processes sometime use a
DC power source which can supply varying
current called base current and peak current.
❑ Base current is the minimum current primarily
used to have stable arc and supplies least
amount of the heat to the weld; and
solidification of the weld is expected to take
place during the base current period.

Schematics of a) pulse current vs time

welding and b) effect of heat input on
dendrite arm spacing
CONTROL OF SOLIDIFICATION STRUCTURE

Arc pulsation
❑ While peak current is maximum current
supplied by the power source to the weld arc
to generate the heat required for melting of the
faying surfaces.
❑ The cycle of alternate heating and cooling
results in smaller weld puddle and so rapid
cooling of the weld metal which in turn results
in finer grain structure than the conventional
welding i.e. without arc pulsation.

Microstructure of aluminium weld

developed a) without arc pulsation
using 160 A current and b) arc
pulsation between 120 and 160 A.
CONTROL OF SOLIDIFICATION STRUCTURE

Arc pulsation
❑ It is believed that abrupt cooling of the weld pool surface during base current period
can also lead to development of few nucleants at the surface which will tend to settle
down gradually and make their distribution uniform in the molten weld pool in the
settling process.
❑ Increased availability of nucleants due to surface nucleation will also be assisting to get
finer grain structure in weld.
CONTROL OF SOLIDIFICATION STRUCTURE

Mechanical vibrations and Electro-magnetic force

❑ Both these methods are based on use of external
excitation force to disturb solidifying weld metal to create m
ore number of the nucleants in weld metal through different
mechanisms.
❑ The external disturbance causes forced flow and turbulence
in the viscous semi-solid weld metal carrying dendrites and
nucleants which in turn can result in a) fracture of partially
melted grains of the base metal, b) fragmentation of
solidifying dendrites and c) improved distribution of
chemical composition and the nucleants (see Fig.).
❑ The fractured dendrites and pulled out of partially melted
grains present in the weld act as nucleants for solidifying
Refinement using external excitation
weld metal as they are of the same composition in solid force.
state.
CONTROL OF SOLIDIFICATION STRUCTURE

Magnetic Arc Oscillation

Refinement using external excitation
force.
❑ Arc composed of charged particles can be
deflected using magnetic field.
❑ Arc oscillation affects the weld pool in two
ways: a) reduce the size of weld pool and
b) alternate heating and cooling of weld
(similar to that of arc pulsation) as shown in
Fig.
❑ A combination of above two factors leads to
rapid cooling so reduced grain size owing to
increased nucleation rate and reduced
growth rate as increase in cooling rate of
the solidifying weld metal decreases the Grain structure of gas–tungsten arc welds of 5052 aluminum: (a) no arc
effective liquid to solid state transformation oscillation; (b) 20Hz transverse arc oscillation.

temperature.
CONTROL OF SOLIDIFICATION STRUCTURE

Welding Parameter
❑ Heat generated (kJ) in arc is obtained from the product of welding current and arc volt
age (V.I) for given welding conditions such as type, and size of electrode, arc gap,
base metal and shielding gas (if any).
❑ While the exact amount of heat supplied to base metal for melting the faying surfaces
is significantly determined by the welding speed.
❑ Increase in welding speed for a given welding current and voltage results in reduced
heat input per unit length of welding (kJ/mm) which is also termed as net heat input for
sake of clarity.
CONTROL OF SOLIDIFICATION STRUCTURE

Welding Parameter

❑ Cooling rate experienced by the weld metal and heat affected zone is found inversely
proportional to net heat input (see Fig)

Macro-photographs of weld joints produced using a) 3.0 kJ/mm and b) 6.0

kJ/mm heat input with help of submerged arc welding..
METALLURGICAL DISCONTINUITY OF THE WELD

Due to typical nature of welding process, common metallurgical discontinuities

observed in the weld are banding and micro-segregation of the elements.
Micro-segregation
❑ Micro-segregation refers to non-uniform
distribution of elements in the weld which
primarily occurs due to inherent nature of
solidification mechanism i.e. transformation of
high temperature alpha phases first into solid by
rejection of alloying elements into the liquid
metal thereby lowering solidification
temperature.
METALLURGICAL DISCONTINUITY OF THE WELD

Micro-segregation
❑ Except planar mode, other modes of solidification namely cellular, dendrite and
equiaxed involve segregation. Therefore, inter-cellular, inter-dendritic and
inter-equiaxed region is generally enriched of alloying elements compared to cells (see
Fig.).

Segregation of alloying elements at grain boundary

METALLURGICAL DISCONTINUITY OF THE WELD

Banding
❑ Welding arc is never in steady state as very transient conditions
exit during arc welding which in turn lead to severe thermal
fluctuations in the weld pool therefore cooling conditions varying
continuously during the solidification.
❑ Variation in cooling rate of weld pool causes changing growth rate
of the grain in weld or fluctuating velocity of solid-liquid metal
interface.
Typical micrograph of steel showing
❑ Abrupt increase in growth rate decreases the rate of rejection of banded structure
alloying elements in liquid metal near the solid-liquid metal
interface due to limited diffusion of alloying elements while low
cooling rate increases the rejection of elements near the solid
liquid metal interface as long time available for diffusion to occur.
❑ This alternate enrichment and depletion of alloying elements
produces band like structure as shown in Fig. This structure is
known to adversely affect the mechanical properties of weld joints.
Review Questions
Review Questions
1. Discuss the effect of temperature gradient G and growth rate R on the formation of various solidificati
on microstructures?
2. How to control of solidification grain structure of the weld?
3. Describe the effect of welding speed on grain structure of the weld.
4. What is epitaxial solidification?
5. Describe (a) micro-segregation and (b) banding metallurgical discontinuities.