TY - JOUR A1 - Wilhelm, Eugen A1 - Mente, Tobias A1 - Rhode, Michael T1 - Waiting time before NDT of welded offshore steel grades under consideration of delayed hydrogen-assisted cracking JF - Welding in the World N2 - Offshore wind turbines (OWT) are a major goal of the energy strategy of Germany encompassing the increase of the installed wind power. OWT components are manufactured from welded steel plates with thicknesses up to 200 mm. The underlying standards and technical recommendations for construction of OWTs encompass specifications of so-called minimum waiting time (MWT) before non-destructive testing of the weld joints is allowed. Reason is the increased risk of time-delayed hydrogen assisted cold cracking as hydrogen diffusion is very slow due to the very thick plates. The strict consideration of those long MWT up to 48 h during the construction of OWTs leads to significant financial burden (like disproportionately high costs for installer ships as well as storage problems (onshore)). In this study, weld joints made of S355 ML were examined in comparison with the offshore steel grade S460 G2+M. The aim was to optimize, i.e., reduce, the MWT before NDT considering varied heat input, hydrogen concentration and using self-restraint weld tests. This would significantly reduce the manufacturing time and costs of OWT construction. To quantify the necessary delay time until hydrogen-assisted cold cracks appear, acoustic emission analysis was applied directly after welding for at least 48 h. KW - Hydrogen KW - Welding KW - Cracking KW - Offshore KW - Steel PY - 2021 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-524959 DO - https://doi.org/10.1007/s40194-020-01060-5 SN - 0043-2288 VL - 65 SP - 947 EP - 959 PB - Springer Nature AN - OPUS4-52495 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER -