Defects and Discontinuities
Defects and Discontinuities
Defects and Discontinuities
Types of Discontinuities
Discontinuities are generally categorized according to the stage of the manufacturing
or use in which they initiate.
Therefore, discontinuities are categorized in four groups which are:
Inherent discontinuities
Primary processing discontinuities
Secondary procession discontinuities
Service discontinuities
INHERENT DISCONTINUITIES
This group refers to the discontinuities that originate during the initial casting process
(when the metal is casted into ingots for further processing) and also it includes the
discontinuities that are produced when metal is casted as parts of any given shape. The
initial casting discontinuities are usually removed by chopping the ingots but some of
Gouging
Gouging is surface tearing found on the inner surface of
seamless (extruded) tubes and it is caused by excessive friction
between the mandrel and the inner surface of the tube.
Hydrogen Flakes
Hydrogen is available during manufacturing operations (from decomposition of water
vapor or hydrocarbons oil, atmosphere, etc.) and it dissolves in material at
temperatures above 200 C. Hydrogen flakes are thin subsurface discontinuities that
develop during cooling of large size parts produced by forging or rolling because of the
entrapment of hydrogen resulting from rapid cooling.
Welding Discontinuities
Several types of discontinuities result from welding operations. Only the discontinuities
associated with fusion welding processes (arc welding, gas welding, etc.) are presented
here.
Cold Cracks
Cold cracks, also known as delayed cracks, are hydrogen induced
surface or subsurface cracks that appear in the heat affected zone or
Hot Cracks
Hot cracks include several types of cracks that occur at elevated temperatures in the
weld metal or heat affected zone. In general, hot cracks are usually associated with
steels having high sulfur content. The common types of hot cracks include:
Solidification Cracks: This type occurs near the solidification temperature of the
weld metal. They are caused by the presence of low melting point constituents
(such as iron sulfides) that segregate during solicitation then the shrinkage of the
solidified material causes cracks to open up.
Centerline Crack is a longitudinal crack along the centerline of the weld bead.
It occurs because the low melting point impurities move to the center of the
weld pool as the solidification progresses from
the weld toe to the center, then shrinkage
stresses of the solidified material causes cracking
along the centerline. The likelihood of centerline
cracking increases when the travel speed is high
or the depth-to-width ratio is high.
Crater Crack which occurs in the crater formed at
the termination of the weld pass. Crater cracks are
mostly star shaped and they are caused by three
dimensional shrinkage stresses. The likelihood of
crater cracks increases when welding is terminated
suddenly.
Liquidation Cracks: This type, also known as hot tearing, occurs in the heat affected
zone when the temperature in that region reaches to the melting temperature of
low melting point constituents causing them to liquidate and segregate at grain
boundaries. As the weld cools down, shrinkage stresses causes the formation of
small micro-scale cracks which later might link up due to applied stresses to form a
continuous surface or subsurface crack.
Hydrogen Cracks
Hydrogen cracking, also known as hydrogen embrittlement, results from the presence
of hydrogen medium and usually occurs in conjunction with the presence of applied
tensile stress or residual stress. Hydrogen can be already present in the metal due to
previous processes such as electroplating, pickling, welding in moist atmosphere or the
melting process itself. Also, hydrogen can come from the presence of hydrogen
sulfides, water, methane or ammonia in the work
environment of a component. Hydrogen can diffuse in the
metal and initiate very small cracks at subsurface cites
(usually at the grain boundaries) subjected to high values
of stress. The presence of such cracks at several locations
causes ductile materials to show brittle fracture behavior.