TY - CONF A1 - Rhode, Michael T1 - Component-test for determination of welding residual stresses and their effect on stress relief cracking in thick-walled welds N2 - Controlling the residual stress level during welding of creep-resistant Cr-Mo-V steels is crucial to avoid so called stress relief cracking (SRC) during post weld heat treatment (PWHT) of large-scale components. In the present study, a laboratory scale test specimen (slotted sample with 400 mm width, 400 mm length and 25 mm thickness) was used to simulate thick-walled component welds made of 13CrMoV9-10. The aim was to identify the level and distribution of residual stresses to evaluate the suitability of the specimen for laboratory based SRC testing. High restraint was ensured by the specimen geometry with a narrow welding gap in the center. This gap was filled by multi-layer submerged arc welding. Two specimens were welded with identical parameters and compared in the as-welded state and after PWHT (705 °C for 10 h). Neutron diffraction was used to determine the residual stresses in the weld metal, the heat-affected zone (HAZ) and the base material at different depths longitudinal, transverse, and normal to the welding direction. The experiments were performed on the former instrument E3 of the research reactor BER II of Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin (HZB), Germany. Complementarily, laboratory X-ray diffraction was applied to characterize the surface residual stresses. In the welded condition, especially in the weld metal and the adjacent HAZ, the longitudinal residual stresses reached values of up to 1,000 MPa to 1,200 MPa due to the increasing strength and hardness of the CrMoV-material during welding. The conducted welding experiments revealed that way higher residual stresses in the welded joint have to anticipated before the PWHT is performed than it was expected in advance. This demonstrated the necessity of suitable component-like welding tests as they must ensure realistic mechanical stiffness (hindered shrinkage of welding joint by slotted self-restraint sample) and heat dissipation conditions (definition of minimum welding joint thickness vs. welding process-specific heat input). T2 - FEMS Euromat 2025 - 18th European Congress and Exhibition on Advanced Materials and Processes CY - Granada, Spain DA - 15.09.2025 KW - Component test KW - Submerged arc welding KW - Post weld heat treatment KW - Residual stresses KW - Neutron diffraction PY - 2025 AN - OPUS4-64161 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Rhode, Michael T1 - Component test for the assessment of hydrogen assisted cracking susceptibility of thick-walled submerged arc welded offshore steels N2 - Offshore wind turbines (OWT) are a key factor of the sustainable energy generation of tomorrow. The continuously increasing installation depths and weight of the OWTs require suitable foundation concepts like monopiles or tripods. Typically, mild steels like the S420ML are used with plate thicknesses up to several hundreds of mm causing high restraints in the weld joints. Due to the large plate thickness, submerged arc welding (SAW) with multiple wires is the state-of-the-art welding procedure. As a result of the very high stiffness of the construction, a certain susceptibility for time-delayed hydrogen-assisted cracking (HAC) may occur. The evaluation of crack susceptibility is very complex due to the component size and stiffness of real offshore structures. For this purpose, a near-component test geometry was developed to transfer the real stiffness conditions to laboratory (i.e., workshop) scale. The investigated mock-up, weighing 350 kg, comprised heavy plates (thickness 50 mm, seam length 1,000 m) joined by a 22-pass submerged arc weld. Additional stiffeners simulated the effect of high restraint or shrinkage restraint of the weld. Extreme scenarios of hydrogen absorption during welding were simulated via the use of welding fluxes in dry (HD < 5 ml/100g Fe) and moisture condition (HD > 15 ml/100g Fe). The residual stresses were determined by a robot X-ray diffractometer. Areas of critical tensile residual stress (at the level of the yield strength) were found in the weld metal and heat affected zone. To identify possible delayed cracking, the welds were tested by phased array ultrasonic testing (PAUT) after 48 h. Summarized, no significant occurrence of HAC was detected, indicating the high crack resistance of the welded joint, i.e., a suitable combination of base material, welding consumable and welding parameters. T2 - AJP 2023: 3rd International Conference on Advanced Joining Processes 2023 CY - Braga, Portugal DA - 19.10.2023 KW - Hydrogen assisted cracking KW - Submerged arc welding KW - Component test KW - NDT KW - Waiting time PY - 2023 AN - OPUS4-58672 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER -