Evidence from Inclusion Chemistry of Element Transfer During Submerged Arc Welding
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Evidence from Inclusion Chemistry of Element Transfer during Submerged Arc Welding Chemical factors controlling the transfer of elements into the weld pool are analyzed BY M. L. E. DAVIS AND N. BAILEY ABSTRACT. The complex changes in com Jackson (Ref. 1) has traced the history reached. position during the submerged arc weld and development of fluxes in arc welding This paper continues this study, using ing of C-Mn steels have been related to from the beginning of the century until additional analytical data, together with flux composition and weld metal inclu about 1972. Coe (Ref. 2) extended this information obtained from flux manufac sions, which form the final reaction prod base of knowledge and included informa turers. Other work (Refs. 6, 7) in which in ucts. High-temperature reactions in the tion on slag-metal reactions. Although a clusion types in various weld metals were arc plasma (particularly those involving good general understanding has been studied by use of the particle analyzing oxygen, fluorine, calcium and magnesium) reached of the physical and chemical scanning electron microscope (PASEM) are followed at lower temperatures by characteristics of submerged arc fluxes, has been considered since the inclusions reactions in the slag and the weld pool. some empiricism still attends flux formula represent the final reaction products. tion. In particular, because of the com However, because the welds had been plexity of the reactions occurring in the arc deposited predominantly using electrode- Introduction and weld pool, it is difficult to define un positive polarity, no attempt was made to Submerged arc welding fluxes are man ambiguously the chemical factors control examine the role of electrochemical trans ufactured in two main forms, fused and ling transfer of individual elements with port and reactions, which have been ex agglomerated, from mineral constituents. the pool and through them to predict the amined or discussed in some recent in The minerals used are also utilized in steel final weld metal composition. vestigations (Refs. 8, 9). making slags, and thus submerged arc Recent research programs involving welding fluxes bear a family resemblance submerged arc welding of carbon- and Description of Flux Composition to the slags used in steel production. carbon-manganese steels have generated However, submerged arc welding in data for both commercial and experimen Fluxes are analyzed using a combination volves very short time scales between tal fluxes from which the chemistry of the of techniques, x-ray fluorescence (XRF), melting and solidification of the weld pool, flux, wire and plate used can be compared various wet chemical methods for the while the arc temperatures achieved are with the resulting weld composition. Such lighter elements, supplemented by x-ray in excess of those in a molten steel bath. data have been used to examine the ex diffraction (XRD) for agglomerated fluxes. Fluxes for submerged arc welding must tent to which levels of elements such as In the past, the analytical convention has have special properties not required by oxygen, manganese and silicon can be been to convert the elements into their steel-making slags in order to maintain and predicted (Refs. 2-5). Although a number oxides. Thus, alkali elements have been protect the weld pool. The welding flux of trends were identified, there were no reported as their highly reactive oxides must contain minerals that will readily ion firm indications that a chemical balance and the transition elements and alkali earth ize and thus stabilize the arc current. It between slag and weld metal was, in fact, metals as their most stable oxides, al must generate, through ions and gases, an though they may be present as part of a arc plasma through which molten metal silicate lattice in which strict stoichiometry droplets may be propelled from the elec may not exist. trode to the weld pool, yet it must give In manufacturing a flux, it may be nec KEY WORDS slag fluidity to cover the solidifying weld essary to take into account the structural metal, and the slag must possess adequate Submerged Arc Welding form of constituent minerals. For example, difference in thermal contraction to de SAW C-Mn Steel Welds different flux behavior, in terms of result tach itself from the cooling metal. Submerged Arc Fluxes ant bead shape and arc stability, may be SAW Flux Types achieved by using mica rather than potas SAW Reaction Model sium, sodium and aluminosilicates. How M. L. E. DA VIS was a Senior Chemist and N. Slag-Metal Reactions ever, it would not necessarily be expected BAILEY is a Principal Metallurgist at The Welding Element Transfer that such differences would greatly influ Institute, Cambridge, England. Inclusion Chemistry ence resultant deposit composition. For Mn, Al, Si, S Reactions studying slag-metal reactions at high tem Paper presented at the 71st Annual AWS Oxygen Reactions peratures, the convention of reporting Meeting, held April 22-27, 1990, in Anaheim, Calif. oxide contents promotes a potentially WELDING RESEARCH SUPPLEMENT I 57-s misleading view of the melt. In this report, give the average change in weld metal droplet. High-temperature stirring in the elemental analyses are given for the fluxes composition for Mn, Si, S and P and the weld pool will then keep the molten metal employed, and differences in the form in average level of Al, O and N. Table 5 also and the slag in intimate contact after the which those elements may be present are gives the level of Ti for some experimen arc has passed. Indacochea and his col discussed later in terms of differing chem tal fluxes, which contained either FeTi or leagues have commented that the system ical content of the welds. rutile (Ti02) as deliberate additions. Full contains four principal phases (wire, mol details of wire, plate, weld compositions ten flux, arc plasma and weld pool) with five interfaces between them (Ref. 8). Analysis and welding details are given in Refs. 4-7. Tables 1 and 2 give the elemental anal Hence, the model for slag metal reac Fluxes yses of fluxes, it being assumed that the tions during submerged arc welding is of remaining weight is oxygen. For consider All fluxes were analyzed using an XRF initial reactions occurring rapidly at ex ation of the chemical reactions taking technique and wet chemical methods for tremely high temperatures, exposed to an place, these weight-percent figures were ionic plasma for a short time (possibly sodium and fluorine. The fluxes are converted into the ionic fraction of individ grouped according to their main chemical <0.1 s), followed by a period when mol ual elements given in Tables 4 and 5, the ten slag is in contact with molten metal composition as shown in Tables 1 and 2. method of this calculation being similar to with the temperature decreasing. This will The XRD was carried out on the agglom that employed by Herasymenko and last for several seconds, and will depend erated fluxes to determine mineral con Speight (Ref. 10) for steel-making slags. on the size of the weld pool. Certainly, the stituents used, and these are given in Ta results of Kuwana and Sato (Refs. 11, 12) ble 3. Inclusions can be understood using this model. Thus, it will be short if a single wire is used dur Wire Plate and Weld Metal Inclusions have been analyzed qualita ing a multipass weld, longer for a single Wire, plate and weld metal chemistries tively for the number of welds (Refs. 6, 7) wire, single-pass weld, while multi-arc of test welds were obtained from The by the PASEM system (Ref. 11). The results {i.e., tandem and triple arc) welding may Welding Institute data and flux manufac are given in Tables 6-8. allow the pool to last for ^15 s. It is pos turers. All elements were determined sible that the initial reactions will depend spectrographically, apart from oxygen and on the chemical reactivity of the ionized The Submerged Arc System nitrogen, which were determined by hot species present, while the weld pool vacuum fusion. For all welds, the average During submerged arc welding, a mol reactions will depend more on kinetic change in weld metal composition from ten drop of metal from the wire electrode considerations. the value expected, considering only the passes through or around a highly ionized consumable and base metal analyses and high-temperature plasma —the welding Development of Inclusions the dilution experienced, was estimated. arc. The arc plasma will contain ions from The number of welds made with each flux wire, plate and flux, and these will react As discussed earlier (Ref. 4), it is unlikely was never less than two. Tables 4 and 5 quickly with the surface of the molten that true thermodynamic equilibrium is at- Table 1—Elemental Analysis of Commercial Fluxes (wt-%) Flux Type Si Ti Zr Al Fe \\- Ca Mg Na Weld k F15 CSHS<a> F 27.5 0.1 - 2.6 0.7 0.6 20.5 6.2 - 0.2 0.2 0.8 M<»/S< > F1 CS FO) 16.7 0.3 — 6.4 0.5 4.0 24.2 7.6 0.1 0.2 4.9 1.2 M/S F21 CSF 21.3 0.3 — 6.9 0.7 ND<"> 22.5 6.6 - 0.5 0.3 0.8 S F23 CS F 17.7 0.4 - 7.8 0.4 6.6 20.1 6.6 <0.1 0.2 2.3 1.0 TO F2 CSLS F<c> 16.3 2.3 — 1.4 0.3 0.4 34.0 0.6 3.8 <0.1 6.8 1.5 M/S F20 CSLSF 15.2 1.2 — 5.3 1.3 4.8 19.0 7.7 <0.1 2.0 5.9 1.3 M/S F24 CSLSF 19.0 6.0 0.1 2.4 0.2 1.6 30.3 0.3 <0.1 0.4 4.5 1.0 T F9 BAM 5.6 0.3 0.2 7.3 1.3 ND 22.1 22.3 0.5 0.6 11.9 3.8 M/S F10 B A 6.7 0.3 - 8.7 0 4 ND 18.2 21.4 1.1 ND 9.0 2.8 M/S F12 B A 8.9 0.3 - 6.7 3.0 1.3 14.7 21.3 - <0.1 11.1 2.5 M/S F16 B A 5.1 0.4 - 9.0 1.6 0.6 16.1 24.4 - 0.3 13.4 3.7 M/S/T F17 B A 7.3 2.4 - 11.3 1.6 2.5 16.1 14.7 - <0.1 13.1 1.5 M/S/T F18 BF<e> 7.5 2.3 3.8 10.6 0.7 2.5 14.0 16.0 - 0.4 1.5 1.7 M/S/T F3 MS F<f> 18.4 0.1 — 5.3 1.4 32.7 6.5 1.1 0.4 0.4 1.6 0.8 M/S F4 MSF 20.8 <0.1 — 2.1 1.2 28.8 6.7 3.2 - 0.3 1.9 0.7 M/S F5 MSF 20.6 0.4 — 2.0 0.9 32.9 3.8 ND - 0.7 3.6 0.7 M/S F6 AR F<8> 6.5 6.3 4.9 22.5 2.3 11.0 7.0 0.5 <0.1 0.2 5.3 0.5 M/S F7 AR A<h> 5.9 8.0 0.2 22.0 0.9 9.5 8.6 1.0 0.1 1.1 6.0 0.6 M/S F8 AB A<" 8.9 0.7 1.1 15.1 1.5 8.3 10.0 13.0 0.8 0.1 7.4 1.4 M/S (a) CSHS Calcium silicate, high silica.