Weld Inspection and Testing

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 What is Weld Testing?
Methods of weld testing and analysis are used
to assure the quality and correctness of the
weld after it is completed.
This term generally refers to testing and
analysis focused on the quality and strength of
the weld

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 Why to test the weld?
To ensure development of quality weld by
collecting qualitative and quantitative data.
Qualitative - Non destructive tests
Quantitative - Hardness, tensile strength, ductility,
toughness, fracture toughness
To asses suitability of welding for specific
application.

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 How to test the weld?
Stages of Inspection
Before Welding
During Welding
After Welding
Testing Techniques
Destructive
Non Destructive

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 Before Welding
Surface Oxides,
grease, oils
removal
[Link]:

Dimensions
and Quality of 2. Edge
Edge Preparation

Baking of
Removal of electrodes etc.
Moisture from
electrode coating
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 During Welding
Selection of input parameters like Current & Voltage, welding speed, shielding
gases, heat source temperature etc.

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 After Welding
Removal of the slag

Peening
Stress removal
Slag create problem in
multi - pass technique

Post Welding Treatment

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 Weld Testing
Types
Destructive
Physical damage to w/p and welded join.
Quantitative data obtained
Non Destructive
Without Physically damaging the workpiece and joint
Qualitative data is obtained

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 Destructive Weld Testing
Destructive test, some sort of the damage takes
place in the component which is being tested,
the extent of damage may be more or less, but
most of the time it is observed that component,
which has been tested by the destructive test is
damaged to such as extent that it cannot be
used for further, for the targeted application.

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 Con d.
These can be divided into two parts,
Tests capable of being performed in the
Workshop.
& Laboratory tests.
microscopic-macroscopic , chemical and
corrosive.

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 REASONS
Defects occur during welding which affect the
quality and hardness of the plate
Other defects occur through lack of knowledge
of and skill of the welder
For the training of welders

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Types of Destructive Weld Testing
Tensile Test Workshop

Bend Test
Hardness Test
Toughness Testing Laboratory

Fatigue Behavior

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 Tensile Testing
Tensile test is used to check how the weld joint
will perform under tensile loading and under
different environment.
Modulus of elasticity, Yield strength Ultimate
strength, kind of the deformation at the
different stages and the total elongation of the
weld joint, till the fracture.
Most simple and common method.

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 Procedure
Tensile Properties are
obtained in two ways
1. Taking specimen from
transverse direction of
weld joint consisting
base metal heat
affected zone

ASTM A370 Mechanical testing of steel products.

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Tensile test results must be supported by stress
strain diagram.
Indicating modulus of elasticity, yield strength,
ultimate tensile strength etc.

Bad Good

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 [Link] weld metal specimen
This test is used to determine the tensile
properties of a specimen that consists entirely of
weld metal.
The test specimen is oriented parallel to the weld
axis, and is machined entirely from the weld
metal.
There are two reasons for performing an all weld
metal test:
-to qualify a filler metal or
- determine the properties of the weld metal in
a particular weldment.

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The following are typically properties that are
measured and reported in an all weld metal
tension test.
- tensile strength
- yield strength
- elongation

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 Bend Test
Bend test is one of the most important and
commonly used destructive test to determine,
Ductility &,
Soundness of the welded joints in terms of
porosity, inclusion, penetration & other macro size
weld discontinuities.
The outside of the bend is extensively
plastically deformed so that any defects in, or
embrittlement of, the material will be revealed
by the premature failure of the coupon.

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 How to Bend?
Bending of the weld
joint can be done from
face or root side
depending upon the
purpose
i.e. whether face or root
side is assessed.
ASTM - E190-92
Guided bend test for
ductility of welds

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 Types of Bend Test
Free bend
In free bend test between
the two supports, the
weld joint is placed and
then the compressive
load is applied for the
bending to take place.
Cheaper

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 Guided bend test
In the guided bend
test guided bending
is performed by,
placing the weld
joint over the die.
It offers, the better
controlled
conditions of the
specimen and of the
loading.
Costlier than free
bend test

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Guided Bend

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 Loading in Bend Test
Load keep on increasing until crack starts
appearing on face or root.
Angle of bend is considered as measure of
ductility.

Good Bad
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 Hardness Test
It is resistance to indentation or penetration.
Usually referred as a measure of resistance to
abrasion or scratch.
Due to application of heat in welding,
materials like hard enable steels, castiorns are
subjected to hardening where as materials like
aluminum alloys (precipitation enabled)
become softer.

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Hardening and softening phenomenon usually
occurs at HAZ.
The hardness test, is very simple test and it
gives the lot of information about, that if any
micro structural transformation has taken place
or any embrittlement has taken place due to the
application of the weld thermal cycle.

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 Toughness Test
Toughness is the ability of a material to resist
both fracture and deformation.
The toughness test simulates service
conditions often encountered by components
of the system used in transportation,
agricultural, and construction equipment.
Can be determined by calculating energy
absorbed by material before fracture.

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Methods of toughness testing
Charpy Impact test
Izod impact test

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 Charpy Impact Test
The Charpy vee-notch impact test is the most
common fracture toughness test used by industry.
A notched specimen is broken by a swinging
pendulum and the amount of energy required to
break the specimen is recorded in foot-pounds or
joules.
This is determined by measuring how far the
pendulum swings upwards after it fractures the
specimen.
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It can be seen that at low temperatures the
material is more brittle and impact toughness is
low. At high temperatures the material is more
ductile and impact toughness is higher.
The transition temperature is the boundary
between brittle and ductile behavior and this
temperature is often an extremely important
consideration in the selection of a material.

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 Izod Impact Test
Testing is generally carried out with the
specimens at room temperature since the time
required to accurately place it in the machine
allows its temperature to increase.
This can introduce a significant error when
conducting tests at various temperatures.

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 Fatigue Test
ASTM E466 standard for preparing specimen.
Fatigue performance of a component can be
determined by
Endurance limit
Number of load cycles that joint can withstand.

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 A fatigue test must include
Type of Loading Axial pulsating, reverse
bending or tension compression.
Stress ratio ratio of minimum stress to
maximum stress.
Temperature and environment (ambient /
vacuum / corrosive) 1

Type of sample.
Typical Dimensions of standard specimen
R = 100mm, Width (W) = 10.3mm, T = 2
11mm, Gripping Length = 50mm
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First step is to conduct tensile test for
assessing the yield strength of specimen.
For plotting stress to number of cycles curve
(S-N Curve) fatigue test is conducted, with
maximum applied tensile load
corresponding to 0.9 times of yield strength
to determine number of load cycle required for
fracture.
And in the same way the test is repeated for at
0.85, 0.8, 0.75, 0.7 etc.

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S-N curve

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