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Hydrogen determination in weld seams is standardized in ISO 3690. In accordance to this standard, a defined time for hydrogen collection has to be anticipated for different extraction temperatures. In other words, the temperature is the most important value that has to be monitored in addition to the aimed hydrogen determination.
The specimen geometry has influence on the real sample temperature during CGHE vs. the adjusted furnace temperature. This presentation gives a short summary on possible influences on the "correct" hydrogen determination temperature during carrier gas hot extraction (CGHE) using infrared radiation driven furnace. The main findings are: (1) specimen surface is important in terms of polished or oxidized condition, (2) specimen geometry is important for fast heating, (3) PID-values of control software are a considerable influence to accelerate the heating process depite thick specimens and (4) independent sample temperature determination before CGHE is strongly recommended.
High-strength low-alloyed (HSLA) steels with yield strength ≥ 690 MPa are gaining popularity in civil engineering and construction of heavy vehicles. With increasing yield strength, the susceptibility for degradation of the mechanical properties in presence of diffusible hydrogen, i.e. hydrogen-assisted cracking (HAC) generally increases. HAC is a result of the critical interaction of local microstructure, mechanical load and hydrogen concentration. In existing standards for welding of HSLA steels, recommendations like working temperatures and dehydrogenation heat treatment (DHT) are given to limit the amount of introduced hydrogen during welding. The recommendations are based on investigations with conventional arc welding processes. In the past decade, modern weld technologies were developed to enable welding of narrower weld seams with V-grooves of 30°, e.g. the modified spray arc process. In that connection, a reduced number of weld runs and weld volume are important technical and, hence, economic benefits. In the present study, the hydrogen distribution in S960QL multi-layer welds with thickness of 20 mm was analyzed. The influence of different weld seam opening angles, heat input, working temperature and DHT was investigated. The results show that weldments with narrow groove contained increased diffusible hydrogen amount. Hydrogen concentration has been reduced by decreasing both the heat input and working temperature. Hydrogen free weldments were only achieved via subsequent DHT after welding. Furthermore, hydrogen distribution was experimentally determined across the weld seam thickness in HSLA GMA welded multi-layer welds for the first time.
Carrier gas hot extraction (CGHE) is a commonly applied technique for determination of hydrogen in welded joints using a thermal conductivity device (TCD) for quantitative measurement. The CGHE is based on the accelerated hydrogen effusion due to thermal activation at elevated temperatures. The ISO 3690 standard suggests different specimen geometries as well as necessary minimum extraction time vs. temperature. They have the biggest influence on precise hydrogen determination. The present study summarizes the results and experience of numerous test runs with different specimen temperatures, geometries and factors that additionally influence hydrogen determination. They are namely: specimen surface (polished/as-welded), limited TCD sensitivity vs. specimen volume, temperature measurement vs. effects of PID-furnace controller as well as errors due to insufficient data assessment. Summarized, the temperature is the driving force of the CGHE. Two different methods are suggested to increase the heating rate up the reach the desired extraction temperature without changing the experimental equipment. Suggestions are made to improve the reliability of hydrogen determination depended on the hydrogen signal stability during extraction accompanied by evaluation of the recorded data. Generally, independent temperature measurement with calibration specimens is useful for further data analysis, especially if this data is used for calculation of trapping kinetics by thermal desorption analysis (TDA).
Neutron cameras allow visualizing hydrogen distributions with radiographic or tomographic imaging methods in iron and steel.
The necessary contrast between hydrogen and iron stems from the high difference in the total neutron cross section of both elements. This allows e.g. the in situ measurement of hydrogen mass flow inside cm thick steel samples with a temporal resolution of 20 s using neutron radiography as well as the quantitative measurement of hydrogen accumulations at the crack’s inner surfaces in hydrogen embrittled iron samples with neutron tomography. We could detect directly gaseous hydrogen in the crack cavities and we measured the gas pressure. This new quality of the information on a micrometer scale allows new insights for the analysis of hydrogen-induced damage mechanisms. Further, this method is non-destructive and provides local information in situ and in three dimensions with a spatial resolution of 20-30 μm.
In this contribution, we show examples that demonstrate the spatial and temporal resolution of the neutron radiography and tomography methods in order to visualize and quantify hydrogen accumulations at cracks. The measurements were performed
at the research reactor BER II of the HZB in Berlin and at the FRM II reactor of the neutron source Heinz Maier-Leibnitz in
Garching.
Effect of weld penetration depth on hydrogen-assisted cracking of high-strength structural steels
(2019)
The need for steels with highest mechanical properties is a result of the increasing demands for energy and resource efficiency. In this context, high-strength structural (HSS) steels are used in machine, steel and crane construction with yield strength up to 960 MPa. However, welding of HSS steels requires profound knowledge of three factors in terms of avoidance of hydrogen-assisted cracking (HAC): the interaction of (1) microstructure, (2) local stress/strain and (3) local hydrogen concentration. In addition to the three main factors, the used weld-arc process is also important for the performance of the welded joint, especially when using modern arc variants. In the past, the conventional transitional arc process (Conv. A) was mainly used for welding of HSS grades. In the past decade, the so-called modified spray arc process (Mod. SA) has been used increasingly for welding production. This modified process enables reduced seam opening angles with increased deposition rates compared to the conventional process. Economic benefits of using this arc type are: a reduced number of necessary weld beads and a lower weld seam volume, which result in decreased total welding time and costs. Nonetheless, investigations on a high-strength S960QL showed significantly higher hydrogen concentrations in the weld metal at a reduced seam opening angle with Mod. SA. This indicates an increased susceptibility of the welded component to HAC. Hence, existing recommendations on HAC-avoidance cannot be transferred directly to the Mod. SA-process. In the present study, the susceptibility to HAC of the HSS steel S960QL with same type of filler material was investigated. For that purpose, both Conv. A and Mod. SA were used with same heat input at different deposition rates. For assessment of the HAC susceptibility, the externally loaded implant test was used. Both conducted test series with Conv. A and Mod. SA showed similar crack critical stress of about 280 MPa. Below this value, no delayed fracture appeared. The welds with Mod. SA showed higher hydrogen concentrations. The fracture occurred in the heat-affected zone (HAZ) or in the weld metal (WM). However, the test series with Mod. SA showed a significant extension of the time to failure of several hours compared to tests carried out with Conv. A.
Hydrogen was once called “the versatile embrittler” [1], which summarizes very well the effect on reduction of ductility and/or toughness in technical alloys like steel. In that connection, welding is one of the most important component fabrication technologies. During welding, hydrogen can be transferred to the weld pool from manifold sources (like contaminations, residuals at the surface, etc.). As hydrogen embrittles a material, the safety of welded components with hydrogen is always a critical issue. Weld heat input causes additional changes in the microstructure like grain growth or partial dissolution of precipitates and many more. All these things influence the mechanical properties and also represent hydrogen traps. These traps decrease the hydrogen diffusion compared to the ideal lattice. The result can be so-called delayed hydrogen assisted cracking (HAC) of the weld joint due to the significantly decreased diffusivity by trapped hydrogen. This is often an underestimated risk as those cracks can appear in the weld joint even after some days!
It is essential to know about hydrogen ingress during welding and the microstructure specific hydrogen diffusion. Both are depended on weld parameter influence and the chemical composition of the base material and weld metal. For that purpose, gas analytic methods like solid-state carrier gas hot extraction (CGHE) are useful tools to: (1) identify detrimental hydrogen concentrations from weld joints, (2) binding energies from hydrogen traps by thermal desorption analysis or (3) high-temperature diffusion coefficients. Those values are extremely important for welding practice in terms of recommendations on realistic hydrogen removal heat treatment (HRHT) after welding. Considering the increasing use of “digital” experiments, the data is also needed for reliable numerical simulations of HAC process or HRHT-effectiveness.
The present contribution gives an overview on the influence of hydrogen on weld joints, the necessity, methods and standards for hydrogen determination (CGHE) with the aim of fabrication of safe welded and crack-free components.
[1] R. A. Oriani (1987), Corrosion 43(7):390-397. doi: 10.5006/1.3583875
This study gives an overview on the important field of joining processes for component fabrication in hydrogen technologies. For that reason, the current need and future research and developement activites are highlighted for the different technological field of hydrogen generation, storage, transport and use. In addition, the emerging field of additive manufacturing is included. Finally, some remarks are given for necessary changes in the standardization and its challenges.
Characterization of Hydrogen Diffusion in a Thick-walled Submerged Arc Multi-Layer Weld Joint
(2021)
The energy production of the future will be dominated by CO2-emission free techniques like wind turbines and become essential in scope of the planned hydrogen economy. As onshore installation capacity is limited, the in-crease of the number of offshore wind turbines (OWT) is a major goal. In that connection, the OWTs continuously increase in size and weight and demand adequate foundations concepts like monopiles or tripods. These compo-nents are typically manufactured from welded mild steel plates with thickness up to 200 mm. The predominant welding technique is submerged arc welding (SAW) with up to five wires. In accordance with the standards, the occurrence of delayed hydrogen assisted cracking is anticipated by either a hydrogen removal heat treatment (HRHT) or a so-called minimum waiting time (MWT) before non-destructive testing (NDT) of the respective weld joint is allowed. The reason for the MWT is the necessary time for the hydrogen diffusion at ambient temperature due the high plate thickness. Both the effectiveness of a HRHT at elevated temperatures or the MWT at ambient temperature can be estimated by calculation of the diffusion time. This time depends on reliable hydrogen diffu-sion coefficients and these are rare in literature. For that reason, this study presents the hydrogen diffusion coef-ficients obtained from a multi-layer SAW joint of an offshore steel grade. Two different experimental techniques were used to identify the respective diffusion behavior: (1) hydrogen desorption experiments with a carrier gas hot extraction analyzer at elevated temperatures for the characterization of a HRHT and (2) the electrochemical permeation technique at ambient temperature for the characterization of an MWT. From both experiments, the respective diffusion coefficients were calculated. The obtained DCs are different from those reported in literature, i.e., the duration or applicability of a HRHT or MWT must be critically discussed.
Offshore wind turbines continuously increase in size and weight and demand adequate offshore foundations concepts like monopiles, tripods or jackets. These components are typically submerged arc welded (SAW) high-strength thick steel plates like the S420ML. During welding, the occurrence of delayed hydrogen assisted cracking (HAC) must be anticipated. HAC is a critical combination of the local hydrogen concentration within a susceptible microstructure under certain mechanical load, i.e., the occurring (welding) residual stresses. The welding sequence of the thick-walled plates complicate the residual stress distribution due to the necessary repeated thermal cycling, i.e., welding seam / layer deposition to fill the joint. For that purpose, SAW with two-wire-technique was used to weld a specially designed and prototype-like mock-up of a real component with a thickness of 50 mm, filled with 22 passes and a seam length of 1,000 mm. Additional welded stiffeners simulated the effect of a high restraint, to stimulate critical HAC conditions. The residual stresses were determined by a robot XRD goniometer. A least square regression analysis of the sin²ψ-law by using multiple ψ- and φ-tilts was applied. Tensile residual stresses up to the yield limit are found both in the weld metal and in the heat-affected zone. Numerical modelling allowed the qualitative estimation of the hydrogen diffusion in the weld, enabling the determination of critical conditions for the formation of HAC. In a future step, a structural simulation will allow the assessment of the welding residual stresses and the comparison to the XRD-values.
Joining processes for components in hydrogen technologies: Current need and future importance
(2022)
This presentation gives an overview on the importance of joining processes for component fabrication in hydrogen technologies. For that reason, the current need and future research and developement activites are highlighted for the three technological fields: hydrogen storage, transport and use (in terms of the emerging field of additive manufacturing). Finally, some remarks are given for necessary changes in the standardization.