WELDING RESEARCH

SUPPLEMENT TO THE WELDING JOURNAL, JUNE, 1983

Sponsor ed by t he Amer i can Wel di ng Soci et y and t he Wel di ng Research Counci l
(!
Determination of Necessary Preheating
Temperature in Steel Welding
Findings include a new carbon equivalent to assess the
susceptibility of steel to cold cracking more satisfactorily
BY N. YURIOKA, H. SUZUKI, S. OHSHITA AND S. SAITO
ABSTRACT. Various tests used when
determining critical preheating tempera-
tures to avoid cold cracking were exam-
ined. These included the Stout slot wel d,
H-slit type, V-groove restraint, and y-
groove restraint tests. Both conventional
and newly developed types of steel hav-
ing carbon contents ranging between
0.02 and 0.26% were used.
Examination of the cracking tests
resulted in the proposing of a new car-
bon equivalent that more satisfactorily
assesses the susceptibility of steel to cold
cracking than do CE(IIW) and P
cm
. It is
expressed as:
CE:
{
Si Mn Cu Ni
+ + +
24 6 15 20
' C + A(C)
Cr + Mo + Nb + V
+ + 5B
}
{20 where A(C) = 0.75 + 0.25 tanh
(C - 0.12)}.
As a parameter describing the proba-
bility of the occurrence of cold cracking
in steel welding, a cracking index (Cl) was
proposed. It is expressed as:
Cl = CE + 0.15 JJog H]is + 0.30
og(0.017 KtOw)
According to the procedure proposed
in this study, the necessary preheating
temperatures to avoid cold cracking are
determined by satisfying the following
criterion:
N. YURIOKA, S. OHSHITA and S. SAITO are
with the Products R&D Laboratories, and H.
SUZUKI is with the Head Office, Nippon Steel
Corporation, Japan.
Paper presented at the 63rd AWS Annual
Meeting, held In Kansas City, Missouri, during
April 25-30, 1982.
tlOO 2 : (t-ioo)cr
where tioo is the cooling time to 100C
(212F); this is influenced, not only by the
preheating temperature employed, but
also by welding heat input, plate thick-
ness and preheating method. Critical time
(tioo)cr is given as:
(t .oo)cr = exp (67.6 Cl
3
-
182.0 Cl
2
+ 163.8 Cl - 41.0)
Introduction
Methods to determine the necessary
preheating temperature for the preven-
tion of cold cracking in steel welding
include the 1974 British Standard 5135
(Ref. 1) and a procedure described in
Japan Steel Structure Construction
(JSSC - Ref. 2). However, there is a con-
siderable difference between the neces-
sary preheating temperatures deter-
mined by the t wo procedures.
British Standard 5135 uses the IIW
carbon equivalent as a parameter for
determining the preheating temperature,
while the JSSC procedure uses Ito's car-
bon equivalent, P
cm
(Ref. 3). The IIW
carbon equivalent satisfactorily evaluates
the cold cracking susceptibility of ordi-
nary carbon or carbon-manganese steels;
however, the low-carbon low-alloy
steels, such as the recently developed
pipeline steels, are more accurately
assessed by P
cm
. This has been a prob-
lem, especially in deciding the allowable
value for the chemical composition of
pearlite-reduced pipeline steels or low-
carbon low-alloy structural steels.
Experimental Procedure
Weld Cracking Tests
Stout, et al. (Ref. 4) proposed a slot-
wel d cracking test in which the weldabil-
ity of pipeline steel, in the case of welding
wi th high-hydrogen types of cellulose
electrodes, can easily be evaluated. Fig-
ure 1 shows the dimensions of the stan-
dard test piece used.
It was noticed that fluctuations in wi dth
of the root opening of this test piece
greatly influenced experimental results
(Ref. 5). Therefore, slots wi th a 2.4 mm
(0.09 in.) opening were machined on the
flat plates. The accuracy of the machined
openings was within 0.1 mm (0.004 in.).
The weld metal was deposited on the slot
using flat position welding wi th a 4 mm
(0.16 in.) diameter electrode cellulosic-
type AWS E7010 in a cold chamber
where the ambient temperature was held
at 10C (50F). The welding voltage,
current and torch speed were approxi-
mately 28V, 160A, and 5 mm/ s (11.8
ipm), respectively.
In order to investigate cold cracking in
the case of low-hydrogen welding, the
present study used the results of H-slit
tests (Ref. 6, 7), V-groove tests and y-
groove tests (Ref. 8). Figure 2 shows the
shape of the H-slit test piece in which the
restraint intensity is varied wi th a change
in the slit length B
s
. The restraint intensity
R
F
(kgf/mm mm) is a force per unit
weld length necessary to reduce a root
opening by unit length. Table 1 shows R
F
for each test piece used in the present
study. The meaning of rf and Rp is
explained in the Appendix under the
heading, "Restraint Stress Acting on
Wel d. "
In each type of cracking test, test
pieces were preheated to the various
temperatures up to 200C (392F) until
crack initiation was completely stopped.
The Stout test pieces were preheated in
the furnace, while other test pieces were
locally preheated by electrical strip heat-
ers in the manner shown in Fig. 2. In the
case of multipass welding, the interpass
temperatures were kept almost the same
WELDI NG RESEARCH SUPPLEMENT 1147-s
E
E
o
in
2.4mm through-
thickness slit
weld
~25~
mm
90-
mm
2 5 -
mm
E
E
a-
CN
T
w
J_
200mm-
H t h
thickness
Fig. 1 - Shape of Stout slot-weld test piece
Fig. 2 (right) Shape of H-slit restraint cracking test piece
2b : width of preheating zone
Dimension
Bs
w
R
Ls
Lc
C
Type I
0
400
400
100
200
0
(mm)
Type I I
5 0 -
1600
400
400
75
150
50
-45'.
y
1
f
h/ 2
*~
/ i
/
f 1
2mm
AA' Section
as the preheating temperatures.
Each test piece was transversely cut
into five sections after more than 72
hours (h) had passed since completion of
the welding. Macrographic observation
of nital-etched wel d sections led to the
determination of the critical preheating
temperatures T
0
* at which the occur-
rence of cold cracks was prevented.
Figure 3 shows an example of a wel d
wi th a root crack in the Stout test.
Materials
The Stout slot weld tests were carried
out with various types of steels employed
for ordinary structures, pressure vessels,
boilers, and pipelines. Their tensile
strengths ranged between 40 and 85
kgf / mm
2
(57 and 121 ksi), and their
chemical compositions are shown in
Table 2. In the Stout test, one type of
electrode, i.e., AWS E7010, was used
irrespective of the strength level of the
tested steel. The hydrogen content in the
deposited weld metal using this electrode
was 35 ml/100g by JIS glycerin displace-
ment method. This value, Hj
IS
, can be
converted to Hiw by the mercury dis-
placement method as (Ref. 9):
H|,w= 1.30 H,|
S
+ 0.61 (1)
Table 3 shows the chemical composi-
tions of steels used in the H-slit cracking
tests, the V-groove tests and the y-
groove restraint tests. These steels were
for structural or pressure vessel usage
with greater thicknesses up to 100 mm
(3.9 in.). Tests, other than the Stout test,
employed electrodes whose strength
corresponded to those of the steels
tested. Table 4 shows nominal yield
strengths and hydrogen contents of the
welding materials used; welding condi-
tions for the cracking tests are also
described in Table 4.
Results and Discussion
Critical Preheating Temperature
Measured in Tests
Critical preheating temperature T
0
* in
the Stout tests is shown in Table 2. The
results of the H-slit, V-groove and y-
groove restraint tests are summarized in
Table 5. K
t
in Table 5 is the stress concen-
tration factor at the notch where a crack
is initiated, and its value is given in the
Appendix under the heading, "Restraint
Stress Acting on Wel d. " The mean stress
acting on the wel d metal is given as a
function of <r
y
and Rp as (Ref. 10):
Table 1Restraint
Slit length
B
s
, mm
0
0
0
0
300
1600
Intensity of H-Slit Test Piece<
a
>
2-D restraint
coefficient, rf Plate thickness
kgf / mm
2
mm
69.0
69.0
69.0
69.0
20.0
5.9
h, mm
38
50
75
100
50
50
Restraint intensity RF.
kgf / mm mm
2765
3374
4265
4784
998
290
Fig. 3-Root crack in Stout's slot test
<T
W
= 0.050 R
F
, (R
F
< 20 cr
Y
) ~,
CT
W
= oy + 0.0025 (R
F
- 20 (r
y
), /
(R
F
> 20 (Ty)
(2)
(a) Conversi on factors: pound f or ce/ i n.
3
= 375.7 X k gf / mm
2
- mm; in. = 25.4 X mm; ksi = 1.422 X kgf / mm mm.
The critical preheating temperatures
were obtained separately for single-pass
root cracking (Fig. 4), multipass root
cracking (Fig. 5) and multipass toe crack-
ing (Fig. 6) for each steel tested. Toe
cracks were not observed in the speci-
mens of SM41B, SM53B, HW45, and
HW70 steel. T
Q
* for multi-pass root
cracking was found to be less than that
for single-pass root cracking by over
50C (122F). Table 5 also lists t
100
, which
is the duration of the cooling time to
100C (212F) after welding and corre-
sponds to T
0
* measured in the tests.
The weldment eventually cools to the
ambient temperature whether it is pre-
heated or not. Some hydrogen escapes
from the wel d metal surface during the
cooling period after welding. However,
hydrogen escape becomes more and
more inactive with a decrease in the
temperature of the wel d metal and it
becomes negligibly small at temperatures
less than 100C (212F).
The residual hydrogen in welds con-
tributes to the initiation of cold cracking
when it cools bel ow 100C (212F) in an
148-s I JUNE 1983
Fig. 4 Single-pass root crack in H-slit test
ordinary structural steel wel d, lt follows
that the tioo is significant in selecting
preheating temperatures.
Preheating increases the cooling time
to 100C (212F) and thus is effective in
preventing the initiation of cold cracking.
However, the duration of the cooling
time to 100C (212F) is determined, not
only by the preheating temperature, but
also by the plate thickness, the particular
preheating method used and other fac-
tors. These relations are shown in Figs. 11
and 12 in the Appendix. Consequently, it
is advisable to consider the critical cooling
time to 100C (212F) rather than rely
solely on the preheating temperature
when desiring to avoid cold cracking in
steel welding (Ref. 2).
= Carbon Equivalent to Assess Cold Cracking
Many carbon equivalents have been
proposed as parameters indicating a
steel's susceptibility to cold cracking at
the heat-affected zone. They can be
divided into t wo groups wherein CE(IIW)
is of the first group, and Ito's carbon
equivalent, P
cm
(Ref. 3), belongs to the
second. They are expressed as:
Mn Cu + Ni
CE(IIW) = C + +
v
' 6 15
Cr + Mo + V
+ : (3)
Si Mn Cu Ni
P
cm
= C-F + + +
30 20 20 60
Cr Mo V
+ + + + 5B 4
20 15 10
P
cm
has been shown to be reliable for
evaluating the cold cracking tendency in
low-carbon low-alloy steel (Ref. 11). On
the other hand, CE(IIW) is reported to be
a more appropriate parameter than P
cm
for evaluating the cold cracking suscepti-
bility of steels whose carbon content is
more than 0.16% (Ref. 7). Therefore, it is
not possible for one simple carbon equiv-
alent formula to describe, overall, the
cold cracking tendency of steels if their
Table 2-
Symbol
A
B
C
D
E
F
C
H
I
I
K
L
M
N
O
P
Q
R
S
T
-Chemical Compositions (%)
Steel
JIS SM53
JIS SM53B
JIS SM50C
BS4360 50D
ASTM A516 Cr. 70
ASTM A537 C1.2
ASTM A633C
ASTM A299
JIS SB49
WES HW45
WES HW45
WES HW70
WES HW70
JIS STK41
API X60
API X65
API X65
API X70
API X70
API X80
Thick-
ness,
mm
20
20
20
20
20
20
20
20
20
20
20
20
20
12.7
20
14
20
16
20
20
and Critical
C
.160
.159
.149
.173
.231
.142
.099
.254
.240
.141
.065
.130
.112
.230
.091
.240
.049
.021
.020
.018
Si
.40
.37
.25
.45
.27
.41
.35
.27
.29
.30
.28
.29
.24
.04
.29
.35
.29
.14
.13
.16
Preheating Temperatures of Steels
Mn
1.41
1.40
1.33
1.48
1.19
1.44
1.46
1.37
.87
1.33
1.38
.88
.87
.68
1.32
1.39
1.56
1.59
1.89
2.01
P
.020
.018
.019
.021
0.19
.025
.013
.016
.019
.020
.013
.010
.019
.014
.017
.015
.017
.018
.020
.019
S
.008
.012
.005
.006
.007
.003
.004
.005
.005
.006
.003
.005
.006
.012
.003
.012
.005
.003
.002
.003
Cu
.01
.01
.01
-
.02
-
.15
. 14
-
.01
.03
.22
.23
.01
.01
.01


Ni
.01
.02
.01
.01
.03
.20
.17
If,
.13

-
.81
.02
.01
.01
.0 1
.27
.32
Cr
.01
.01
.01
.01
.03
.02
.02
.15
.12
.01
.2 1
.54
.85
.02
.01
.02
.01

in Stout Slot Weld Tests'*'
Mo
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
.14
-

.21
.47
.33

.09
-
.25
.30
V
.059
.026
-
.056
.036
.016
.040
-
-
.055
.038
.044
.046
-
-

.068
-
Nb
.038
-
.026
.046
-

.039
-

-




.040
-
.049
.041
.048
.052
Ti








-
-


-
-

-
.007
.017
.016
.018
B
-
-
-
-
.0005
.0002
.0006
.0002
.0003
.0002
.0015
.0018
.0005
-
-
-
.0002
.0010
.0010
.0010
CE
(IIW)
.410
.401
.374
.434
.446
.403
.376
.560
.418
.376
.389
.556
.519
.349
.331
.477
.393
.286
.335
.434
cm
.251
.245
.225
.268
.309
.236
.202
.358
.301
.224
.181
.280
.247
.267
.176
.323
.166
.110
.124
.154
CE
eq
(5)
.411
.395
.361
.446
.458
.377
.294
.569
.428
.352
.254
.477
.410
.350
.253
.491
.240
.166
.191
.239
To,*
C
75
75
50
100
150
125
75
200
100
75
<1 0
150
100
<50
50
<125
<1 0
<10
<10
<1 0
(a) Conversions: in. = 25.4 X mm; f = (1.8 X C) + 32.
Table 3Chemical Compositions of Steels Used in Restraint Cracking Tests, %
Steel
JIS SM41B
JIS SM41B
JIS SM53B
WES HW45
WES HW45
WES HW45
WES HW70
WES PMS25
WES PMS35
ASTM A516 Gr.70
JIS SB49M
JIS SB56M
Thickness,
mm
<a)
38
100
50
32
38
50
50
75
75
100
100
100
c
.17
.13
.17
.13
.14
.14
.11
.17
.18
.22
.24
.16
Si
.24
.26
.36
.25
.32
.43
.24
.48
.46
.25
.28
.25
Mn
.73
.97
1.50
1.36
1.18
1.08
.82
1.56
1.54
1.14
.85
1.27
P
.025
.017
.017
.023
.011
.020
.006
.013
.015
.018
.026
.012
S
.008
.010
.011
.006
.005
.004
.001
.004
.003
.007
.005
.008
Cu

-


-
-
.22
.09
.09
-

.14
Ni

-

-
-
-
1.04
-
.30
-
.24
.35
Cr

-

.01
.19
.13
.47
-

-
.18
.49
Mo
-


-
-
.11
.40
.15
.23

.10
.46
V

-
.06
.05
.05
.05
.04
-
.04
.03
-

Nb
.001
.001
CE
(IIW)
.0292
0.292
0.432
0.369
0.385
0.378
0.513
0.466
0.517
0.416
0.454
0.594
CE
eq
(5
0.294
0.268
0.430
0.329
0.358
0.356
0.390
0.467
0.516
0.425
0.465
0.562
(a) in. = 25.4 X mm.
WELDI NG RESEARCH SUPPLEMENT 1149-s
Table 4Welding
Electrode
AWS E7010
AWS E7010
JIS D4301
JIS D4316
JIS D5016
JIS D5816
JIS D5816
JIS D8016
Materials and Conditions f or Restraint Cracking Tests
( a)
Diameter,
mm
3.2
4.0
5.0
5.0
5.0
4.0
5.0
5.0
Nominal
yield strength,
kgf / mm
2
50
50
40
40
50
60
60
80
Hjis
ml /100g
31.8
35.0
32.8
3.7
3.4
0.4 ~ 5.0
0.4 ~ 5.7
2.0
Current,
A
130
160
220
230
230
170
230
230
Voltage,
V
25
30
28
25
25
25
25
25
Speed,
mm/ mi n
290
300
123
115
115
150
115
115
Heat input,
J/mm
672
960
3000
3000
3000
1700
3000
3000
Cracking
test
V-groove test
Stout test
H-slit test
H-slit test
H-slit test
y-groove test
H-slit test
H-slit test
(a) Conversions: in. = 25.4 X mm; ksi = 1.422 X kgf / mm
2
carbon contents range widely.
It is with this point of view in mind that
the authors propose the following car-
bon equivalent, which has an accommo-
dation factor A(C) as a function of the
carbon content:
CE = C + A(C)
124
Mn Cu
4- +
6 15
Ni Cr 4- Mo + Nb -I- V
+ + + 5B
20 5
}
(5)
where A(C) = 0.75 4- 0.25 tanh
{20(C - 0.12)}. (6)
A(C) increases wi th an increase in
carbon content. It approaches 0.5 as the
carbon content decreases below 0.08%
and 1.0 as it increases above 0.18%. The
relationship between this carbon equiva-
lent and CE(IIW) is shown in the Appendix
under " New Carbon Equivalent."
Experimental results from the Stout
cracking tests were used to compare the
three types of carbon equivalents for
validity in assessing the cold cracking
tendency of steels. The relation of T
0
* to
the three carbon equivalents was plotted
in Fig. 7. It is seen that the carbon
equivalent expressed in equation (5) had
the highest linear correlation coefficient
(r = 91.1%); therefore, it is the most reli-
able of the three carbon equivalents,
provided that the carbon content of the
steels to be compared ranges widely.
Index to Describe Cracking Probability
Ito, ef al. proposed P
w
(Ref. 3) and
Suzuki recently proposed PH (Ref. 11) as
parameters to describe the likelihood of
cold cracking. The parameters involve
chemical composition, hydrogen content
and acting stress, which are three major
causes of cold cracking in welds.
Table 5Results of Restraint Cracking
Steel
SM41B
SM41B
SM53B
SM53B
SM53B
SM53B
HW45
HW45
HW45
HW45
HW45
HW45
HW45
HW45
HW70
HW70
HW70
HW70
PMS25
PMS25
PMS25
PMS35
PMS35
PMS35
SM41B
SM41B
SM41B
A516 Gr.70
A516 Gr.70
A516 Gr.70
SB49M
SB49M
SB49M
SB56M
SB56M
SB56M
h,
mm
38
38
50
50
50
50
50
50
50
38
38
38
32
32
50
50
50
50
75
75
75
75
75
75
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
CE
eq
(5)
.294
.294
430
.430
.430
.430
.356
.356
.356
.358
.358
.358
329
329
.390
.390
.390
.390
.467
.467
467
.516
.516
.516
.268
.268
.268
.425
.425
.425
.465
.465
.465
.562
.562
.562
HJIS,
ml /
100g
3.7
32.8
3.4
3.4
3.4
3.4
0.4
1.3
5.7
.04
2.2
5.0
3.2
31.8
2.0
2.0
2.0
2.0
3.4
3.4
3.4
2.0
2.0
2.0
3.4
3.4
3.4
3.4
3.4
3.4
3.4
3.4
3.4
1.9
1.9
1.9
Tests and Estimated Critical
Oy,
kgf/
mrri2
40
40
50
50
50
50
60
60
60
60
60
60
60
50
80
80
80
80
50
50
50
60
60
60
40
40
40
50
50
50
50
50
50
60
60
60
Kt,
(groove)
8 ( f )
8( )
8 ( f )
8 ( f )
8 ( f )
8 ( f )
8 ( f )
8 ( f )
8 ( f )
4(y)
4(y)
4(y)
1.5(V)
1.5(V)
8 ( f )
8 ( f )
8 ( f )
8 ( f )
8 ( f )
8 ( f )
1.5(toe)
8 ( f )
8 ( f )
1.5(toe)
8 ( f )
8 ( f )
1.5(toe)
8 ( f )
8 ( f )
1.5(toe)
8 ( f )
8 ( f )
1.5(toe)
8 ( f )
8 ( f )
1.5(toe)
RF,
kgf/
mm
2
2765
2765
290
3374
3374
3374
3374
3374
3374
2765
2765
2765
1500
1500
3374
3374
998
290
4265
4265
4265
4265
4265
4265
4784
4784
4784
4784
4784
4784
4784
4784
4784
4784
4784
4784
Preheating Temperat
kgf/
mm
2
44.9
44.9
14.5
55.9
55.9
55.9
65.4
65.4
65.4
63.9
63.9
63.9
60.8
58.2
84.4
84.4
49.9
14.5
58.1
58.1
58.1
67.7
67.7
67.7
50.0
50.0
50.0
59.5
59.5
59.5
59.5
59.5
59.5
69.0
69.0
69.0
Cl
.615
.757
.598
.774
-
.774
.581
.658
.754
.490
.601
.654
.462
.611
.753
-
.685
.523
.816

.598
.850
-
.632
.597
-
.379
.777
-
.559
.817
-
.599
.895

.677
2b
(mm)
100
100
100
100
100
200
100
100
100
100
100
100
200
200
100
100
100
100
200
200
200
200
200
200
200
200
200
200
200
200
200
200
200
200
200
200
jres
Ej,
( kj /
mm)
3.0
3.0
3.0
3.0
3.0
3.0
3.0
3.0
3.0
1.7
1.7
1.7
1.0
1.0
3.0
3.0
3.0
3.0
3.0
3.0
3.0
3.0
3.0
3.0
3.0
3.0
3.0
3.0
3.0
3.0
3.0
3.0
3.0
3.0
3.0
3.0
Crack<
a
>
S.R.
S.R.
S.R.
S.R.
M.R.
S.R.
S.R.
S.R.
S.R.
S.R.
S.R.
S.R.
S.R.
S.R.
S.R.
M.R.
S.R.
S.R.
S.R.
M.R.
M.T.
S.R.
M.R.
M.T.
S.R.
M.R.
M.T.
S.R.
M.R.
M.T.
S.R.
M.R.
M.T.
S.R.
M.R.
M.T.
Observed
To*
(C)
50
125
75
>200
100
175
50
125
200
<25
100
150
<2 5
50
>2 0 0
100
175
50
200
125
100
225
150
125
50
<25
<25
175
125
<5 0
200
150
<75
225
150
150
(tlOokr
S
200
1200
390
>2100
-
2300
200
1200
2100
<6 0
550
1600
<3 0
90
>2100

1900
200
3000

700
3600

1300
150
-
<9 0
2900
-
<150
3400
-
<300
4000
-
2000
Estimated
To*, (tioo)o
(C)
90
250
80
250

200
70
130
240
< 0
100
130
< 0
125
240
-
175
< 0
220
-
90
225
-
110
90
-
< 0
175
-
80
200
-
90
200
-
140
s
736
2930
546
3127
-
3127
391
1354
2892
33
577
1290
12
688
2880
-
1807
94
3464
-
546
3599
-
960
536
-
1
3160
-
240
3470

556
3664
-
1671
Ref.
6
6
6
6
6
6
6
6
6
8
8
8
8
8
6
6
6
6
7
7
7
7
7
7
7
7
7
7
7
7
7
7
7
7
7
7
(a) Type of crack: S.R. single pass root crack; M. R. -mul t i pass root crack; M.T, multipass toe crack
150-s|JUNE 1983
Fig. 5 Multipass root crack in H-slit test
In this study, a cracking index, based
on the same concept as P
w
or P
H
, was
introduced using the new carbon equiva-
lent (CE) from equation (5) as:
CI = CE4-0.15 xog HJIS + 0.30
xog(0.017 K, <x
w
) (7)
A Cl was computed for each of the
wel d cracking tests and is also listed in
Table 5. The Cl thus obtained were
plotted against (tioo)cr corresponding to
the T
0
* in Fig. 8 by making use of
tioo

To relations shown in Figs. 11 and
12 in the Appendix. Then, a curve repre-
senting the relationship between (t
10
o)cr
and Cl was obtained by best fitting it to
the plotted experimental results in Fig. 8.
It was expressed as:
(tioo)cr = exp (67.6 Cl
3
- 182.0
Cl
2
4- 163.8 C l - 41.0) (8)
The (tioo)cr is the critical value, in that
cracking can be prevented under the
welding condition described by the
cracking index, Cl, if the duration of the
cooling to 100C (212F) in actual wel d-
ing exceeds the (t
10
o)cr-
Determination of Necessary
Preheating Temperature
The following procedure may be used
to determine the necessary preheating
temperature in steel welding. It is the
same in its basic concept as the proce-
dure proposed by JSSC (Ref. 2).
1. Obtain the carbon equivalent of the
steel to be wel ded using equation (5).
2. Obtain the hydrogen content of the
welding material.
3. Determine K, using the chart in Fig.
9, and <r
w
using Fig. 10 and equation (2).
4. Calculate Cl using the values of CE
from equation (5), HJIS, K
t
and <T
W
using
equation (7).
5. Calculate (tioo)
CT
from Cl using equa-
tion (8).
6. Finally, select the preheating tem-
perature, taking into account h, 2b, and Ej
in Figs. 11 and 12 so that the following
condition is satisfied:
tioo > (tioo)c (9)
The necessary preheating tempera-
tures were estimated according to the
procedure for H-slit tests and others.
They are shown as the estimated T
0
* in
Table 5. Since the procedure above was
entirely based on the wel d cracking tests
Fig. 6Multipass toe crack in H-slit test
conducted by the authors, it may have
some [imitations. Moreover, the fol l ow-
ing precautions are required:
1. Unnecessary high preheating tem-
peratures are given for the welding of
mild steels and for the welding with
high-hydrogen welding materials. Both
cases did not fit equation (8) as seen in
Fig. 8.
2. Wel d metal cracking is more likely
t o occur than heat-affected zone crack-
ing when welding steels wi th a lower CE
or when using high-hydrogen materials.
3. The critical preheating temperature
for multipass root cracking is less than
that for single-pass root cracking by
approximately 50C (90F), provided
that interpass temperatures are kept
0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6
CE(IIW) Pcm CE(Eq.5)
Fig. 7-Linear correlation between Stout slow-weld test results and
carbon equivalents
Fig. 8 (right) Relationship between critical cooling time to 100C and
cracking index (Cl)
10000
CO
__s 5000
o
o
O
b 1000
o
o 500
CD
E
r -
E 100
o
50
o
o
5
(tioo)o
:
-
.
-
-
TJ
?/
1 [
= exp(67.6CI
3
-182.0CI
2
+163.8CI-41.0)
0
<v
X
/

/
rt
m / a
r x
r
.. _ _

-
'
I
Single pass root crack
o Multi pass toe crack
i Mild Steel
High Hydrogen
/
1
0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8
Cracking Index, CI
0.9 1.0
WELDING RESEARCH SUPPLEMENT 1151-s
Groove type
y ( r oot )
Double-Vee ( r oot )
Y ( r oot )
Si ngl e-bevel ( r oot )
V ( r oot )
y . x . Y. V. U ( t oe)
T
~ r
w
~ ^
K,
4
3.5
4 - 5
6 - 8
1.5
1.5
Fig. 9 Stress concentration factors at root
and toe weld positions
higher than the preheating tempera-
tures.
4. If root cracks are to be removed by
backgouging, the preheating tempera-
ture for toe cracking (K
t
= 1.5) may be
employed.
Conclusions
1. The CE from equation (5) is a more
appropriate parameter than CE(IIW) or
P
cm
for assessing the susceptibility of steel
to cold cracking.
6000
E
| 5000
4000
3000
2000
1000
FU=71-r.(arctan(0.017h)-(h 400?\
FEM Analysis for r. 69
^^^r^^~
Very severe restraint .s^^ ^____-
/ S^
-
^---' " Ordinary restraint
r
- = 70kgf mm
2
-mm
r, = 60
r . =50
r
f
=40
/ s s ^ ^ ^ "^ r.=30
/ / / / ^ ^ """
r
=
2 0
/JFJ/\S'^ r
f
=io
50 100
Plate Thickness. h(mm)
150 200
Fig. 10 Relation of restraint intensity to plate thickness
2. The cracking index, Cl, given by
equation (7) satisfactorily describes the
likelihood of cold cracking of steel under
varying chemical compositions, welding
material hydrogen content, and joint
restraint intensity.
3. The necessary preheating tempera-
ture can be determined by satisfying the
condition that t
10
o > (tioo)cr- The critical
cooling time (tioo)cr is given as a function
of Cl by equation (8).
Appendix
Restraint Stress Acting on Weld
The occurrence of cracking is greatly
influenced by the severity of the notch
where a crack is initiated. Figure 9 shows
the stress concentration factors at weld
roots and toes with various types of wel d
grooves (Ref. 11).
Watanabe, ef al. (Ref. 12) calculated
the two-dimensional restraint coefficient,
rf, for an H-slit test specimen as:
r
f
= E/{B
s
+ (L
c
/2L
s
)B
s
+ B
s
'} (A1)
where E is Young's modulus; B
5
, L
c
and L
s
10000
5000
2 1000 -
o
50 100 150 200
* Preheating Temperature, T
0
(C)
250
Fig. II Relation between cooling time to 100C and preheating
temperature (Ej = 7,700 //mm)
10000
5000
Q
c
D
C
O
1000
500
100
50
-
-
-
:
/
-
3,000J/mm
h = 100mm
h=75mm '
h = 50mm
h = 38mm r L " - ^ - -
h = 25mm ^-^y-^A^rA
h = 20 m rn / < ^ 5 $ S 2 - 7 - ^
| - t ^ 2K- h=?nmm
/ \JC / / /
/ / / / h = 20mm
/ / / / h = 25mm
/ / * / h = 38mm
/ A. h = 50mm
/ h=75mm
h = 100mm
= 100mm
2b = 200mm
2b = 100mm| "
50 100 150 200
* Preheating Temperature, ToCCJ
250
Fig. 12 Relation between cooling time to 100C and preheating
temperature (Ej = 3,000 J/mm)
152-s|JUNE 1983
1.0
.0.9
Oi
0 7
0.5
^
V
\ \ \ N
\ \ \ v
\ \ \ ^
> \ \ \ . / % * ,
\ \ \ A
\ A
Y \
A
v
-
*"^
A ( C l - ^ / \ V
CF
,
C
/ \ Ay^.b)
/ \
^ y ^ ~~~.
~~ f v s.
c
e.fp.5.i
=0. 50-
^0.45
= 0.40-
^0.35 -
=0.3 "
0.6
UJ
LLl
o
0.5
Q.
CD
O
O
5
cz
UJ
o
3S
+
5 <o
+
w'S
o
+
0.3
0 0.05 0.10 0.15 0.20
Carbon Content (%)
Fig. 13 Carbon content dependence of accommodation fac-
tor, A(C), and CE(IIW) value equal to CEeq/5)
are shown in Fig. 2; and B
5
' is an i magi nal
i ncr ement of t he slit l engt h due t o t he
elastic react i on of a steel speci men. B
s
' is
304 mm (12 in.) f or t ype I speci mens and
446 mm (17.6 in.) f or t ype II.
General l y speaki ng, rf is 70 k g f / mm
2

mm (26, 300 I bf / i n.
3
) f or t he severest
restrai nt and about 40 k g f / mm
2
mm
(15, 000 I bf / i n.
3
) f or or di nar y restrai nt
(Ref. 10). The restrai nt i nt ensi t y, Rp, is
gi ven by t he pr oduct of rf and t he pl at e
thi ckness, h, in t he case of t hi n pl at e and
pi pe. However , an FEM analysis of t hr ee-
di mensi onal elastic test pi eces r eveal ed
that Rp di d not i ncrease in pr opor t i on t o h
in a great er thi ckness r egi on (Ref. 13). The
appr oxi mat e rel at i onshi p bet ween Rr, rf,
and h is gi ven as:
R
F
= 71 r
f
{arct an (0.017 h) -
( h/ 400)
2
} (A2)
This rel at i on is graphi cal l y shown in
Fig. 10.
Cool i ng Time t o 100C
The cool i ng t i me t o 100C (212F)
af t er t he compl et i on of wel di ng under
vari ous condi t i ons is avai l abl e in t he liter-
at ure (Ref. 14). For t he l i mi t ed case of
local pr eheat i ng by el ect ri c heat ers, t i mes
are gi ven in Fig. 11 f or 1,700 J/ mm
(43, 180 J/in.) of heat i nput and i n Fig. 12
f or 3, 000 J/ mm (76, 200 J/i n.).
New Carbon Equivalent
The car bon equi val ent pr oposed CE
as cal cul at ed f r om equat i on (5) has an
accommodat i on f act or , A(C), whi ch is a
f unct i on of t he car bon cont ent of t he
steel as:
Fig. 14 - Relationship between CE(IIW) and CE
eql5)
A(C) = 0.75 + 0.25 t anh
{20(C-0.12)} (6)
The graphi c rel at i on of A(C) t o car bon
cont ent , C, is gi ven in Fig. 13.
The CE as cal cul at ed f r om equat i on (5)
can be r ewr i t t en as:
CTeq.,5) at C + A(C)
{CE (IIW) 4- 0. 012 - C} (A3)
The rel at i onshi p bet ween CE
eq
.(5) and
CE(IIW) was exami ned f or vari ous t ypes
of steel , i ncl udi ng t hose listed in Tabl es 2
and 3 and ot her s. It is seen in Fig. 14 t hat
equat i on (A3) hol ds f or steels havi ng Nb
less t han 0. 02% and Si rangi ng f r om 0.24
t o 0. 48%.
Equati on (A3) i mpl i es t hat CE(IIW) val -
ues equal t o CE
eq
^ si gni fi cantl y i ncrease
in t he r egi on of l ower car bon cont ent as
shown in t he dot t ed lines in Fig. 13. The
present st udy s howed t hat CE
eq
.(5) is
mor e appr opr i at e in assessing steel' s sus-
cept i bi l i t y t o col d cracki ng t han CE(IIW). It
f ol l ows t hat steel wi t h a l ow car bon
cont ent is consi der ed less suscept i bl e t o
col d cracki ng, even when t he CE(IIW) of
t he steel is hi gh.
References
1. British Standard Institute. Dec. 1974
Specification for metal-arc we/ding of carbon
and carbon manganese steels. BS5135.
2. JSSC Study Croup for Wel d Cracking.
1972. Prediction of suitable preheating condi-
tion to prevent wel d cracking in steel struc-
tures. Japan Steel Structure Construction
8(80):22-50.
3. Ito, Y., and Bessyo, K. 1968. Cracking
parameter of high strength steels related to
heat-affected-zone cracking Rep. 1. /. of
lapan Welding Society 37(9):683-991.
4. Stout, R. D., Vasudevan, R., and Pense,
A. W. 1976. A field weldability test for pipeline
steels. Welding lournal 55(4):89-s to 94-s.
5. Yurioka, N., Ohshita, S., and Tamehiro,
H. 1981. Study on carbon equivalents to assess
cold cracking tendency and hardness in steel
welding. Symposium on Pipeline Welding in
the 80's by Australian Welding Research Asso-
ciation.
6. Yurioka, N., Yatake, T., Kataoka, R., and
Ohshita. S. 1979. Prevention of root cracking
in root-pass wel d. /. of Japan Welding Society
48(12):1028-1033.
7. Yatake, T., Yurioka, N., Kataoka, R., and
Tsunetomi, E. 1980. Prevention of crackings in
multi-pass wel d. /. of Japan Welding Society
49(7):484-489.
8. Bada, T., Yatake, T., Yurioka, N., and
Kikuno, T. 1976. Steel and wel d material
requirements for the prevention of wel d
cracking in heavy wall pipe. Materials engi-
neering in the arctic, 216-222. American Soci-
ety for Metals.
9. Suzuki. H. 1978. Cold cracking and its
prevention in steel welding Rep. 1. Trans,
lapan Welding Society 9(2)440-149.
10. Satoh, K., and Ueda, S. 1976. Studies on
structural restraint severity relating to weld
cracking in lapan. IIW Document X808
76.
11. Suzuki, H. 1979. Cold cracking and its
prevention in steel welding Rep. 2. Trans,
lapan Welding Society 10(2):82-91.
12. Watanbe, M., and Satoh, K. 1965.
Study on restraint intensity and stress on wel d
joints. /. of Soc. Naval Arch. Japan 110:349-
358.
13. JSSC Study Group for Wel d Cracking.
1975. Study on an application of oblique-Y
groove restraint cracking test of extreme
heavy plate, lapan Steel Structure Construc-
tion 11(114):24-28.
14. Yurioka, N., Okumura, M., Ohshita, S.,
and Saito, S. 1981. On the methods determin-
ing preheating temperature necessary to avoid
cold cracking in steel welding. IIW Document
XH-E-10-81.
WELDING RESEARCH SUPPLEMENT 1153-s