Understanding Why Your Welds Crack – Part 3

Location of Cracks

Cracks can be categorized by their location: weld metal, heat affected zone and unaffected (by heat) base metal.

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 […]

Understanding Why Your Welds Crack – Part 2

Direction of Cracks

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 […]

How to Weld Galvanized Steel

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 […]

6 Mistakes That Can Lead to Cracked Welds

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 […]

Common Mistakes That Lead to Hydrogen Induced Cracking

Even when a qualified welding procedure is in place

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 […]

Characteristics of Aluminum That Affect Weldability

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 […]

7 Causes of Spatter and How to Eliminate It

Mig welding is characterized by sparks and spatter flying all over the place. It looks great on movies, but when we are doing the welding we realize spatter is a bad thing. It creates more work by increasing clean up time, it wastes material, and it can burn you if you are not wearing the […]