DISTORTION

NON UNIFORM EXPANSION AND

CONTRACTION OF WELD METAL
AND PARENT METAL
TYPES OF DISTORTION
LONGITUDINAL
TRANSVERSE
ANGULAR
BUCKLING
TWISTING
BENDING
LOCAL

TYPE OF DISTORTION
SHRINKAGE IS PARALLEL TO THE WELD AXIS--
LONGITUDINAL
SHRINKAGE IS PERPENDICULAR TO WELD
AXISTRANSVERSE
CHANGE IN THE ANGLE -ANGULAR
WHILE WELDING THIN SHEETS USING MMAW--
BUCKLING
IN BOX STRUCTURES AND DUCTS--TWISTING
IN PANEL ASSEMBLIES--BENDING
IN A PARTICULAR PLACE A DENT OCCURS-
DENTS
Longitudinal distortion
Types of distortion
d
d
N A
Transverse distortion
Types of distortion
Angular distortion
Types of distortion

Buckling distortion
Types of distortion
WHY TO BE MINIMIZED

MISMATCHING
REPAIR/ REWORK TIME AND COST
MAY AFFECT THE FUNCTIONAL
REQUIREMENTS AND LOAD CARRYING
CAPACITY
AESTHETICS IS LOST
FACTORS INFLUENCING
PROCESS RELATED PARAMETERS
GEOMETRY RELATED PARAMETERS
MATERIAL RELATED PARAMETERS
FABRICATION RELATED PARAMETERS
Factors Affecting Distortion
If a metal component was
uniformly heated and cooled there would
be uniform tri-axial expansion during
heating followed by
uniform tri-axial contraction during
cooling and
no thermal distortion evident upon return
to ambient temperature.
PROCESS
HEAT INPUT RATE
NO OF PASSES
PROCESS EFFIENCY
PENETRATION
GEOMETRY
LENGTH
THICKNESS
AREA OF CROSS SECTION
SYMMETRIY
MATERIAL
CO-EFFICIENT OF THERMAL EXPANSION
THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY
MICRO STRUCTURE
YIELD STRENGTH
Carbon steel expands less than stainless steel
which expands less than aluminium
Carbon steel expands < stainless steel expands
<aluminium
Lower thermal expansion lower distortion

Higher thermal expansion higher distortion
Specific heat per unit volume

Specific heat, c, is the amount of energy
required to raise the temperature of one
kilogram of the substance by one kelvin
and is expressed as expressed as joule per
kilogram Kelvin.
Lower specific heat lower distortion
Higher specific heat higher distortion
Thermal conductivity coefficient
The coefficient of thermal conductivity, is a
measure of the rate at which heat flows
through a material.

CONTROL OF DISTORTION
DESIGN STAGE
FABRICATION STAGE
CORRECTION STAGE
FABRICATION
ROOT GAP
TACK WELD
JOINT DESIGN
FIXTURES
PRE-HEATING
DESIGN STAGE
MINIMUM WELDING
PROPER JOINT PREPARATION &FITUP
INTERMITTENT WELDS IN LIEW OF
CONTINUOUS WELDS
AVOID OVER SIZE WELDING
PLACE WELD NEAR NUETRAL AXIS

Prevention of Distortion by Design
Elimination of welding by
Forming the plate,
Use of rolled or extruded
sections,
intermittent welds, attaching
stiffening plates,

Weld placement
Place the welds around the
neutral axis,
Balance welds intermittently
on either side of joint,
Weld alternatively on opposite
sides of the joint,
Prevention of Distortion by Design
Reducing volume of weld Metal
Shrinkage is proportional to
the amount of weld deposit,
Reduce angle of V joint,
Reduce no. of passes to
reduce angular distortion,
Cross-sectional area of double
V nearly half that of single-
V,
Use of balanced welding
The adjacent figure gives an
effective means of controlling
distortion in multi-pass butt
welding by arranging the
welding sequence
Joint design
Locate weld near NA
FABRICATION STAGE
WELD FEWER PASSES WITH LARGER SIZE
ELECTRODE.
BACK STEP TECHNIQUE.
BACK SKIP TECHNIQUE
WELD FROM CENTRE TOWARDS END.
USE JIGS & FIXTURES.
WELDING ALTERNATIVELY ON BOTH SIDES OF
BUTT WELDS.
BALANCING INTERMITTENT WELDS.
PRESET THE COMPONENTS.
PREBENDING.
BREAK WORK INTO SIMPLE COMPONENTS.
Use of pre-setting & pre-bending
Pre-setting of parts
To achieve correct alignment
after welding in order to prevent
angular distortion in
a) fillet joints b) butt joints

Also pre-set Tapered gap to
prevent closure

Pre-bending of parts Using
press breaks and wedges to
accommodate angular distortion
in thin plates
1 2 3 4
Back Step Welding
Intermittent Welding
Positioning welds
1 2
3
5
4
6
7 8
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
Distortion control methods
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
10
1
2
3
4
5
6
8
7
9
11


Weld Pass
Minimize
number of
passes
Prevention of Distortion by Fabrication
Technique

Longitudinal stiffeners welded along
each side of the butt-welded seam
prevents bowing
Back-to-back assembly clamping
two identical components back-to-
back for tacking and welding
Use balanced welding about the
neutral axis
Keep the weld deposit to the
minimum specified size
Use MIG in preference to MMA
Keep time between runs to a
minimum and deposit weld metal as
quickly as possible
Use least number of runs to fill the
joints
CORRECTION STAGE
THERMAL / FLAME STRAIGHTENING.
PRESSING / MECH. STRAIGHTNING.
PREHEATING.

Distortion correction techniques
Mechanical techniques
Hammering
Pressing

Distortion Correction Techniques
Thermal technique by
localised Heating

Spot heating used mainly
to remove buckling in thin
sheet

Line heating components
heated along the line of weld
to correct angular distortion

Restrict the area of heating
to avoid over-shrinkage of
the component
Distortion Correction Techniques
Wedge shaped heating
Used to correct distortion in
large complex fabrication
including box-shaped structures

For the heat to penetrate evenly
through the plate thickness,
heat from the base

Limit the temperature to 650
0
C
to prevent metallurgical damage
and to avoid over shrinkage