Tag Archives: cooling rate

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Steps to determine if welding preheat can be eliminated?

Testing the effects of preheat in small parts and assuming it will be the same on large sections is a mistake.

As discussed in our previous article, and many times in the last 50 or so, preheat is necessary in steel welding to control the cooling rate.  More specifically, preheat is used to slow the cooling rate down in order to prevent excessive hardness in the heat affected zone (HAZ) which  can lead to cracking.   Before […]

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Factors Affecting Cooling Rates of Welds and Heat Affected Zones

Different ways to manage the rate of cooling

Our next article will discuss a question we are asked quite often: Can we eliminate preheating before welding?   Preheating is necessary to slow the cooling rate down after welding which in turn avoids excessive hardening of the weld and heat affected zone.  Eliminating preheat can lead to hydrogen induced cracking and catastrophic failure.  A […]