Porosity is a weld discontinuity that is not as detrimental to structural integrity as cracks, undercut, overlap and lack of fusion. However, it is unsightly and when painted it becomes an eye sore. Because it does not have sharp ends, porosity does not propagate like a crack. The reason for limits to the amount of […]
We receive several calls about welding stainless and the beautiful rainbow colors, or lack thereof, on the weld and heat affected zone. Is the tinting an indication of quality? Are these colors acceptable? Do they show that the weld had enough heat to penetrate? Why do they need to be cleaned? The questions are endless. […]
In our previous two articles we talked about categorizing cracks based on when they occur and in which direction they propagate. Today on our third and final article on understanding why your welds crack we look at the importance of location. If you want to review or if you missed our previous two articles simply […]
In our previous post we discussed categorizing cracks based on when they occur. If you missed this you can read it at Understanding Why Welds Crack: Timing. As discussed in this previous article, cracks can and should be categorized based on three criteria: Timing – did the crack occur immediately after welding (hot crack), did […]
Galvanizing is the application of a zinc coating to a ferrous material. It is done to prevent, or at the very least delay corrosion. The zinc coating can be applied in many different ways including but not limited to hot-dipping, metal spray and electrodeposition. Similar to galvanized steel is galvanneal steel. Galvanneal is the process […]
Cracks on welds are never good. Welding codes always have allowances for porosity, undercut, weld sizes, and even weld profiles. However, there is never an allowance for cracks. Being a linear discontinuity, a crack will tend to propagate through the weld and into the base metal with relative ease, especially in cyclically loaded structures. So […]
Hydrogen Induced Cracking (HIC), also called hydrogen assisted cracking (HAC) and cold cracking, is a common welding defect when welding heavy steel sections and steels with high carbon content. If you would like to learn more about the causes of HIC read Factors Influencing Hydrogen Induced Cracking. In the above mentioned article we explained that […]
If you have welded aluminum you know that it behaves considerably different than steel. Other than the strength difference and general appearance, there are four physical characteristics of aluminum that make it weld completely different than steel. These are: High thermal conductivity High solidification shrinkage High hydrogen solubility Oxide coating When welding aluminum it is […]
