• Journal of Welding and Joining
• /
• v.27 no.1
• /
• pp.65-70
• /
• 2009

Ir-192 radiation sealed sources are widely employed to the therapeutic applications as well as the non-destructive testing. Production of Ir-192 sources requires a delicate but robust welding technique because it is employed in a high radioactive working environment. A GTA(Gas Tungsten Arc) welding technique is currently well established for this purpose. However, this welding method requires a frequent replacement of the electrode, which results in the delay of the production to take a preparatory action such as to isolate the radiation sources from the working place before getting access to the welding machine. Hence, a resistance welding technique is considered as an alternative method of the GTA welding technique. The advantages of resistance welding are high welding speed and high-rate production. Also it has very long life of electrode comparing to GTA welding. In this study, the resistance welding system and proper welding conditions were established for sealing Ir-192 source capsule. As a results of various experiments, it showed that electrode displacement can be employed as a indicator to predict welding quality. We proposed two mathematical models(linear and curvilinear) to estimate electrode displacement with process parameters such as applied force, welding current and welding time by using regression analysis method. Predicting results of both linear and curvilinear model were relatively good agreement with experiment.

• Journal of Power System Engineering
• /
• v.19 no.6
• /
• pp.75-81
• /
• 2015

A deposited metal specimen of ER2594 which is a super duplex steel welding wire used to investigate the effect of sigma(${\sigma}$) phase on electrochemical corrosion characteristics was prepared by gas tungsten arc welding. Aging treatment was conducted for the specimen at the temperature range of $700^{\circ}C$ to $900^{\circ}C$ for 5 to 300 minutes after annealing at $1050^{\circ}C$. Corrosion current density has decreased a little with an increase of aging time over 60 minutes at $700^{\circ}C$ to $900^{\circ}C$ and the uniform corrosion of deposited metal had more influence on the precipitation of ferrite than the precipitation of sigma phase. Therefore, the precipitation of sigma phase did not have much effect on the uniform corrosion. Pitting potential representing pitting corrosion has shown decreasing tendency as the precipitation of sigma phase increased. The degree of sensitization representing intergranular corrosion has shown increasing tendency as the precipitation of sigma phase increased at $700^{\circ}C$ to $800^{\circ}C$, while it has decreased at $900^{\circ}C$ for 60 to 300 minutes.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
• /
• v.28 no.4
• /
• pp.323-330
• /
• 2008

High cycle bending fatigue of socket welded small bore pipe was characterized, and also the fatigue crack initiation of small bore pipe was monitored in situ by the acoustic emission (AE) technique. The STS 316L stainless steel specimens were prepared by gas tungsten arc welding (GTAW) process having the artificial defect (i.e., lack of penetration) and defect free at the root. The fatigue failure was occurred at the loc for high stress and root for relatively low stress. The crack initiation cycles ($N_i$) was defined to the abrupt increase in AE counts during the fatigue test, and then the cracks were observed by the radiographic test and electron microscope before and after the fatigue crack initiation cycles. The socket welded pipe damaged by bending fatigue was studied regarding the welding defect, failure mode, and crack initiation cycles for the diagnosis and monitoring.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
• /
• v.54 no.11
• /
• pp.4072-4083
• /
• 2022

Ultrasonic impact treatment (UIT) is carried out on the Ni-based alloy stainless steel pipe gas tungsten arc welding (GTAW) girth weld, the differences of microstructure, microhardness and shear strength distribution of the joint before and after ultrasonic shock are studied by microhardness test and shear punch test. The results show that after UIT, the plastic deformation layer is formed on the outside surface of the Ni-based alloy overlayer, single-phase austenite and γ type precipitates are formed in the overlayer, and a large number of columnar crystals are formed on the bottom side of the overlayer. The average microhardness of the overlayer increased from 221 H V to 254 H V by 14.9%, the shear strength increased from 696 MPa to 882 MPa with an increase of 26.7% and the transverse average residual stress decreased from 102.71 MPa (tensile stress) to -18.33 MPa (compressive stress), the longitudinal average residual stress decreased from 114.87 MPa (tensile stress) to -84.64 MPa (compressive stress). The fracture surface has been appeared obvious shear lip marks and a few dimples. The element migrates at the fusion boundary between the Ni-based alloy overlayer and the austenitic stainless steel joint, which is leaded to form a local martensite zone and appear hot cracks. The welded joint is cooled by FA solidification mode, which is forming a large number of late and skeleton ferrite phase with an average microhardness of 190 H V and no obvious change in shear strength. The base metal is all austenitic phase with an average microhardness of 206 H V and shear strength of 696 MPa.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
• /
• v.9 no.1
• /
• pp.56-72
• /
• 1999

Airborne concentrations of welding fumes in which 13 different metals such as Al, Cd, Cr, Cu, Fe, Mn, Mo, Ni, Pb, Si, Sn, Ti, and Zn were analyzed were measured at 18 factories including automobile assembly and manufactures, steel heavy industries and shipyards. Air samples were collected by personal sampler at each worker's worksite(n=339). Blood levels of Cd, Cu, Fe, Mn, Pb and Zn were also measured from samples taken from 447 welders by atomic absorption spectrometry and compared with control values obtained from 127 non-exposed workers. The results were as follows ; 1. Among various welding types, $CO_2$ welding 70.2 % were widely used, shielded metal arc welding(SMAW) 22.1 % came next, and rest of them were metal inert gas(MIG) welding, submerged arc welding(SAW), spot welding(SPOT) and tungsten inert gas(TIG) welding. 2. Welding fume concentration was $0.92mg/m^3$($0.02{\sim}15.33mg/m^3$) at automobile assembly and manufactures, $4.10mg/m^3$($0.02{\sim}70.75mg/m^3$) at steel heavy industries and $5.59mg/m^3$($0.30{\sim}91.16mg/m^3$) at shipyards, respectively, showing significant difference among industry types. Workers exposed to high concentration of welding fumes above Korean Permissible Exposure Limit(KPEL) amounted to 7.9 % and 12.5 %, in $CO_2$ welding and in SMAW at automobile assembly and manufactures and 62.7 % in $CO_2$ welding, and 12.5 % in SMAW at shipyards, and 66.2 % in $CO_2$ welding and 70.6 % in SMAW at steel heavy industries. 3. Geometric mean of airborne concentration of each metal released from welding fumes was below one 10th of KPEL in all welding types. Percentage of workers, however, exposed to airborne concentration of metals above KPEL amounted to 16.8 % in Mn and 7.6 % in Fe in $CO_2$ welding; 37.5 % in Cu in SAW, 30 % in Cu in TIG; and 25 % in Pb in SPOT welding. As a whole, 76 Workers(22.4%) were exposed to high concentration of any of the metals above KPEL. 4. There were differences in airborne concentration of metals such as Al, Cd, Cr, Cu. Fe. Mn, Mo, Ni, Pb, Si, Sn, Ti and Zn by industry types. These concentrations were higher in shipyards and steel heavy industries than in automobile assembly and manufactures. Workers exposed to higher concentration of Pb above KPEI amounted to 7.4 % of workers(7/94) in automobile assembly and manufactures. In shipyards, 19.2 % of workers(19/99) were over-exposed to Mn and 7.1 % (7/99) to Fe above KPEL. In steel heavy industries, 14.4 %(21/146), 7.5 %(11/146) and 13 %(19/146) were over-exposed to Mn, Fe and Cu, respectively. As a whole, 76 out of 339 workers(22.4%) were exposed to any of the metals above KPEL. 5. Blood levels of Cd, Cu, Fe, Mn, Pb, and Zn in welders were $0.11{\mu}g/100m{\ell}$, $0.84{\mu}g/m{\ell}$, $424.4{\mu}g/m{\ell}$, $1.26{\mu}g/100m{\ell}$, $5.01{\mu}g/100m{\ell}$ and $5.68{\mu}g/m{\ell}$, respectively, in contrast to $0.09{\mu}g/100m{\ell}$, $0.70{\mu}g/m{\ell}$, $477.2{\mu}g/m{\ell}$, $0.73{\mu}g/100m{\ell}$, $3.14{\mu}g/100m{\ell}$ and $6.15{\mu}g/m{\ell}$ in non-exposed control groups, showing significantly higher values in welders but Fe and Zn.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
• /
• v.35 no.1
• /
• pp.46-51
• /
• 2015

Stainless steel is a popular structural materials for liquid-hydrogen storage containers and piping components for transporting high-temperature fluids because of its superior material properties such as high strength and high corrosion resistance at elevated temperatures. In general, tungsten inert gas (TIG) arc welding is used for bonding stainless steel. However, it is often reported that the thermal fatigue cracks or initial defects in stainless steel after welding decreases the reliability of the material. The objective of this paper is to clarify the characteristics of ultrasonic guided wave propagation in relation to a change in the initial crack length in the welding zone of stainless steel. For this purpose, three specimens with different artificial defects of 5 mm, 10 mm, and 20 mm in stainless steel welds were prepared. By considering the thickness of s stainless steel pipe, special attention was given to both the L(0,1) mode and L(0,2) mode in this study. It was clearly found that the L(0,2) mode was more sensitive to defects than the L(0,1) mode. Based on the results of the L(0,1) and L(0,2) mode analyses, the magnitude ratio of the two modes was more effective than studying each mode when evaluating defects near the welded zone of stainless steel because of its linear relationship with the length of the artificial defect.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
• /
• v.26 no.2
• /
• pp.147-158
• /
• 2016

Objectives: The objective of this study was to evaluate the assessment of exposure to welding fume and heavy metals among construction welders. Methods: Activity-specific personal air samplings(n=206) were carried out at construction sites of three apartment, two office buildings, and two plant buildings using PVC(poly vinyl chloride) filters with personal air samplers. The concentration of fumes and heavy metals were evaluated for five different types of construction welding jobs: general building pipefitter, chemical plant pipefitter, boiler maker, ironworker, metal finishing welder. Results: The concentration of welding fumes was highest among general building pipefitters($4.753mg/m^3$) followed by ironworkers($3.765mg/m^3$), boilermakers($1.384mg/m^3$), metal finishing welders($0.783mg/m^3$), chemical pipefitters($0.710mg/m^3$). Among the different types of welding methods, the concentration of welding fumes was highest with the $CO_2$ welding method($2.08mg/m^3$) followed by SMAW(shield metal arc welding, $1.54mg/m^3$) and TIG(tungsten inert gas, $0.70mg/m^3$). Among the different types of workplace, the concentration of welding fumes was highest in underground workplaces($1.97mg/m^3$) followed by outdoor($0.93mg/m^3$) and indoor(wall opening as $0.87mg/m^3$). Specifically comparing the workplaces of general building welders, the concentration of welding fumes was highest in underground workplaces($7.75mg/m^3$) followed by indoor(wall opening as $2.15mg/m^3$). Conclusions: It was found that construction welders experience a risk of expose to welding hazards at a level exceeding the exposure limits. In particular, for high-risk welding jobs such as general building pipefitters and ironworkers, underground welding work and $CO_2$ welding operations require special occupational health management regarding the use of air supply and exhaust equipment and special safety and health education and fume mask are necessary. In addition, there is a need to establish construction work monitoring systems, health planning and management practices.

• Plant Journal
• /
• v.10 no.2
• /
• pp.48-59
• /
• 2014

Coupons which have same figure as weld joint of the forged steel valves and 1 inch nominal weld thickness were manufactured using ASTM A182 F92 material. After welding with GTAW method, the welded specimens have been post-weld heat treated at $705^{\circ}C$, $735^{\circ}C$, $750^{\circ}C$, $765^{\circ}C$, $795^{\circ}C$ and $825^{\circ}C$ for 1 hour per 1 inch nominal weld thickness each (Group 1) to evaluate characteristics of welds based on various holding temperature. Indeed, 3 welded specimens were post-weld heat treated for 30 minutes, 1 hour and 2 hour (Group 2) at $735^{\circ}C$ to evaluate characteristics of welds based on various holding time. Hardness values were measured at the weld metal, heat affected zone and base metal to observe hardness change depending on the condition. As a result of the evaluation, appropriate holding temperature for PWHT is proved as $750^{\circ}C$ and $765^{\circ}C$ for 1hour per 1 inch nominal weld thickness. Indeed, holding for 1 hour per 1 inch nominal weld thickness was insufficient for PWHT effect when the holding temperature was at $735^{\circ}C$. The microstructure of post-weld heat treated weld metal was determined as tempered-martensite structure.

• Journal of Welding and Joining
• /
• v.28 no.3
• /
• pp.92-98
• /
• 2010

Ferritic stainless steels, which have relatively small thermal expansion coefficient and excellent corrosion resistance, are increasingly being used in vehicle manufacturing, in order to increase the lifetime of exhaust manifold parts. But, there are limits on use because of the problem related to cosmetic resistance, corrosions of condensation and high temperature salt etc. So, Aluminum-coated stainless steel instead of ferritic stainless steel are utilized in these parts due to the improved properties. In this investigation, Al-8wt% Si alloy coated 409L ferritic stainless steel was used as the base metal during Gas Tungsten Arc(GTA) welding. The effects of coated layer on the microstructure and hardness were investigated. Full penetration was obtained, when the welding current was higher than 90A and the welding speed was lower than 0.52m/min. Grain size was the largest in fusion zone and decreased from near HAZ to base metal. As welding speed increased, grain size of fusion zone decreased, and there was no big change in HAZ. Hardness had a peak value in the fusion zone and decreased from the bond line to the base metal. The highest hardness in the fusion zone resulted from the fine re-precipitation of the coarse TiN and Ti(C, N) existed in the base metal during melting and solidification process and the presence of fine $Al_2O_3$ and $SiO_2$ formed by the migration of the elements, Al and Si, from the melted coating layer into the fusion zone.