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With the presence of martensite microstructure in HAZ just below the fusion zone cracking
Introduction occurs. This phenomenon (LME) occurs due to contact of liquid metal (Cu) with a solid
Various steel pipes that are exposed to corrosion, are protected with the cathodic metal (steel). Fracture is facilitated by adsorption-induced weakening of interatomic bonds
protection where thermite welding of a copper conductor on a steel pipe is used. During the at crack tips, with transport of copper to crack tips occurring rapidly (crack growth rate is up
welding process and due to the nature of it, steel in the solid state comes in a contact with to 100 mm/s) by capillary flow. Diffusion of atoms along grain boundaries ahead of cracks
liquid copper. Contact of steel with liquid metal in some cases cause phenomenon known is not involved, although this can occur in some circumstances.
as the liquid-metal embrittlement or LME. Phenomenon was previously studied in cases
such as soldering, but for thermite welding no records were found in accessible literature.
The purpose of this investigation was to draw attention to some irregularities and
consequences arising from it, which in this type of welding can occur.
The welding setup shown in Fig. 1 was used for the laboratory tests. Copper conductor
NYY 1x16 mm was welded on 24’’, SCH 40 steel pipe made of ASTM A106 Gr. B
(P255G1TH). Cadweld exothermic system was used for welding. Tests were performed
with new and multiple-times used moulds. Preheating temperature of steel pipe was set to:
o o o o
room temperature (15 C), 40 C, 60 C and 80 C.
Results
Macroscopic examinations
In the macroscopic investigations the following characteristics of welded joints were
observed: shape of the weld, porosity of the weld (Fig. 2a), lack of joint with steel base (Fig.
2b) and size of the heat affected zone (HAZ) in the base metal (Fig. 2c).
Figure 5: Micro-hardness results in weld cross-section
a) b) c)
Figure 3: Measurements of thickness of Cu-Fe fusion zone (intermediate layer) Figure 6: Crack length growth versus cycle for cracks filled with Ni (EN5) and Cu (EC3)
Conclusions
In the case of thermite welding of cathodic protection some problems connected to presence of liquid-solid metal contact (copper-steel) were detected. In welding area larger
crystal grains, martensite microstructure and consequently, the microcracks appear, which are filled with liquid copper. To reduce this unfavourable microstructure, it is necessary
to reduce the rate of cooling, which can be achieved by preheating the steel. By preheating to temperature at least 40 °C, reduction of martensite microstructure can be achieved,
hardness at weld edge is lowered and initiation of microcracks is suppressed. This preheating also reduce moisture, which may appear on the surface of pipe and causes some
other welding defects.
In conclusion, some calculations were made for static strength showed that only minor reduction of strength can be expected. In the case of dynamic load, the crack propagation of
filled crack is slower that in the case of empty crack. However, filled crack can also lead to material collapse.