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Effect of cold wire addition in tandem submerged arc welding on weld geometry and micro-hardness of heavy gauge X70 steel

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Abstract

The pipeline industry has undertaken an essential upgrade of well-established X70 pipeline steel in heavy gauge pipes to fill the demand of increased operating pressures. A developed welding process, cold wire tandem submerged arc welding (CWTSAW), with improved deposition rate and travel speed can meet this upgrade. Currently, the effect of CWTSAW process parameters and bevel design on the change in weld geometry and properties of the weld and heat-affected zone (HAZ) in heavy gauge X70 pipe is not well understood. In this article, a series of weld trials were conducted on heavy gauge (19.1 mm) X70 steel plates to investigate the effect of cold wire feed speed, heat input, and bevel design on the reinforcement size, coarse-grained heat-affected zone (CGHAZ) area, ratio of weld shapes, and micro-hardness of the weld and HAZ. The results showed that the cold wire feed speed significantly influenced the micro-hardness profiles, and bevel design was the dominant factor influencing the reinforcement size and CGHAZ area. In addition, empirical equations of micro-hardness profiles of the CWTSAW samples were developed using nonlinear regression analysis. The phase fraction and morphology of martensite-austenite (MA) constituents were analyzed using optical microscopy and scanning electron microscopy. The microstructural results indicated lower MA fractions with fine and dispersed MA constituents obtained in the CGHAZ of the CWTSAW samples than for conventional tandem submerged arc welding samples. This can be interpreted as the reason for the lower hardness in the CGHAZ of the CWTSAW samples.

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All data generated or analyzed during this study are included in this published article.

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Abbreviations

ACSQ:

Square wave alternating current

ANOVA:

Analysis of variance

AR:

Aspect ratio

BA:

Bevel area

BD:

Bevel design

BM:

Base metal

BTA:

Bead toe angle

BW:

Bead width

BW1/2 :

Bead width at half of penetration

CGHAZ:

Coarse grained heat-affected zone

CWFS:

Cold wire feed speed

CWTSAW:

Cold wire tandem submerged arc welding

DCEP:

Direct current electrode positive

DIL:

Dilution

FGHAZ:

Fine grained heat-affected zone

ICHAZ:

Inter-critical heat-affected zone

LBZ:

Localized brittle zone

MA:

Martensite-austenite

OM:

Optical microscopy

PA:

Penetration area

PD:

Penetration depth

RA:

Reinforcement area

S/N:

Signal-to-noise

SAW:

Submerged arc welding

SE:

Secondary electron

SEM:

Scanning electrode microscopy

SPR:

Semi-penetration ratio

TMCP:

Thermo-mechanical controlled processing

TOMR:

Three-order multiple regression

TS:

Travel speed

TSAW:

Tandem submerged arc welding

V :

Voltage

VL:

Voltage of the lead electrode

VT:

Voltage of the trail electrode

WM:

Weld metal

DF:

Degrees of freedom

F :

Variance ratio

R 2 :

Coefficient of determination

SS:

Sum of squares

\(\eta\) :

Arc efficiency

\(\rho\) :

Effective contribution

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to acknowledge the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) of Canada, Evraz Inc. NA and TC Energy Corp. for providing financial support. Special thanks are also in order for the Research and Development Division of Evraz Inc. NA for providing welding equipment and technical assistance to conduct welding tests.

Funding

This research was financially supported by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) of Canada, Evraz Inc. NA and TC Energy Corp.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, T6G2V4, Canada

    Tailin Ren, J Barry Wiskel, Douglas G. Ivey & Hani Henein

  2. Formerly With R&D Division, EVRAZ Inc. NA, P.O. Box 1670, Regina, SK, S4P 3C7, Canada

    Mohsen Mohammadijoo

  3. TC Energy Corporation, Calgary, AB, T2P 5H1, Canada

    Robert Lazor & Eric Willett

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  1. Tailin Ren
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Appendix

Appendix

ANOVA tables (Table 9), average signal-to-noise (S/N) ratio (Table 10), and empirical equations from TOMR analysis.

Table 9 ANOVA results for eight weld characteristics and micro-hardness profile
Full size table
Table 10 Average signal-to-noise (S/N) ratio for seven welding parameters of CWTSAW
Full size table

Developed empirical equations from TOMR analysis:

$$\begin{aligned}\mathbf{W}\mathbf{M}\;\mathbf{m}\mathbf{i}\mathbf{c}\mathbf{r}\mathbf{o}-\mathbf{h}\mathbf{a}\mathbf{r}\mathbf{d}\mathbf{n}\mathbf{e}\mathbf{s}\mathbf{s} & = 18-0.398\cdot \mathrm{CWFS }+ 137\cdot \mathrm{HIT }+ 11.79\cdot \mathrm{VT}-4.02\cdot \mathrm{TS }\\&+ 0.00251\cdot{\mathrm{CWFS}}^{2}-8.02\cdot \mathrm{HIT}\cdot \mathrm{VT }+ 3.12\cdot \mathrm{HIT}\cdot \mathrm{TS}\end{aligned}$$
$$\begin{aligned}\mathbf{H}\mathbf{R}\mathbf{A} & = -284 + 9\cdot \mathrm{VL }+ 8\cdot\mathrm{ VT }+ 29\cdot\mathrm{ BD }- 0.3\cdot\mathrm{VL}\cdot\mathrm{VT }- 0.9\cdot\mathrm{ VL}\cdot \mathrm{BD }\\&- 0.8\cdot\mathrm{ VT}\cdot\mathrm{ BD }- 0.002\cdot\mathrm{ HIL}\cdot\mathrm{ VT}\cdot\mathrm{ BD }+ 0.02\cdot\mathrm{ VL}\cdot\mathrm{ VT}\cdot\mathrm{ BD }\\&+ 0.004\cdot\mathrm{ CWFS }\cdot{\mathrm{HIT}}^{2} + 0.00003\cdot\mathrm{ CWFS }\cdot{\mathrm{BD}}^{2} + 0.4 \cdot{\mathrm{HIL}}^{2}\cdot\mathrm{ HIT}\end{aligned}$$
$$\mathbf{R}\mathbf{A} = 61 - 0.014\cdot\mathrm{ HIL}\cdot\mathrm{ VL}\cdot\mathrm{ BD }+ 0.021\cdot\mathrm{ HIT}\cdot\mathrm{ TS}\cdot\mathrm{ BD }- 0.0013\cdot{\mathrm{VT}}^{2}\cdot\mathrm{ BD}$$
$$\begin{aligned}\mathbf{C}\mathbf{G}\mathbf{H}\mathbf{A}\mathbf{Z}\;\mathbf{a}\mathbf{r}\mathbf{e}\mathbf{a}&= 0.56 + 8.2\cdot\mathrm{ HIL}\cdot\mathrm{ HIT }+ 0.9\cdot\mathrm{ HIL}\cdot\mathrm{ BD }+ 0.9\cdot\mathrm{ HIT}\cdot\mathrm{ BD }\\&- 0.78\cdot\mathrm{ HIL}\cdot\mathrm{ HIT}\cdot\mathrm{ BD }- 0.0006\mathrm{ VL}\cdot\mathrm{ VT}\cdot\mathrm{ BD}\end{aligned}$$

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Ren, T., Mohammadijoo, M., Wiskel, J. et al. Effect of cold wire addition in tandem submerged arc welding on weld geometry and micro-hardness of heavy gauge X70 steel. Int J Adv Manuf Technol 121, 7607–7625 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00170-022-09698-9

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