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Weld Wire Surface Contamination and Porosity in GMA Aluminum

Welds Wire Contmaination in Al Welds Outline Motivation
specification for purchasing wire Hydrogen Solubility deviation...

Presentation · February 2019

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Los Alamos National Laboratory The Ohio State University
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 Weld Wire Surface Contamination and
Porosity in GMA Aluminum Welds

A.M. Barraza1,2, C.E. Cross1, J.N. Martinez1,

T.J. Baker1, and C. Fink2

1
LANL Sigma Division
2 The Ohio State University

UNCLASSIFIED Slide 1

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Wire Contmaination in Al Welds

Outline

Motivation
specification for purchasing wire

Hydrogen Solubility
deviation from Sievert’s Law
Weld Wire Surface Condition & Storage
lubrication, exposure to moisture

Experimental
• vary hydrogen on wire
• quantify contamination
• establish allowable limits

UNCLASSIFIED Slide 2

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Wire Contamination in Al Welds

Motivation

For purposes of establishing weld wire purchasing

specifications, a quantitative relationship between
hydrogen contamination and weld porosity is desired.

The goal is to establish an acceptable limit for

contamination to avoid experiencing unacceptable
levels of porosity.

UNCLASSIFIED Slide 3

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Hydrogen Solubility

Hydrogen in Hydrogen Dissolved in Molten

Aluminum Aluminum gets Partitioned during
Solidification due to Precipitous
liquid Drop in Solubility

solid

Talbot (2004)
UNCLASSIFIED Slide 4

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Hydrogen Solubility

Sources of Contamination

• initial hydrogen content of base metal and filler metal

• moisture in shielding gas
• hydrated oxides on weld joint or filler wire
• retained lubricant (hydrocarbon) on filler wire

UNCLASSIFIED Slide 5

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Hydrogen Solubility
Equilibrium Solubility of Hydrogen
in High Purity Aluminum

H2 (g) → 2H
pH2

AlL

Ransley and Neufeld (1948)

UNCLASSIFIED Slide 6

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Hydrogen Solubility
Equilibrium Solubility of Hydrogen
Hydrogen Solubility (cm3/100gr)
in High Purity Aluminum

1000°C

900°C

800°C

700°C

pH21/2 (mm Hg)1/2

Opie and Grant (1950)

UNCLASSIFIED Slide 7

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Hydrogen Solubility

Problem: Typical Solubility

for Hydrogen in Al Weld
Metal: 1-2 ml/100 gr

1000 ppm H2 in
Shielding Gas

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Hydrogen Solubility
Similar Experience with
Nitrogen pickup in
Stainless Steel Weld Metal

Observed behavior:
• higher solubility than at equilibrium
• no linear relation with (pN2)1/2
• plateau at maximum solubility due to
porosity formation

Kuwana, Kokawa, Naitoh (1984)

UNCLASSIFIED Slide 9

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Hydrogen Solubility

Plausible Explanations for Deviation from

Equilibrium Sievert’s Law:
• surface temperature of weld pool approaches
vaporization temperature
• some diatomic gas molecules become monatomic
atoms and ions

Ar, Ar+
H2 , H, H+
Hooijmans and den Ouden (1997)
Mundra and DebRoy (1995)
Palmer and DebRoy (2000)

UNCLASSIFIED Slide 10

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Hydrogen Solubility

Complicating Factors
1. Hydrogen absorption is influenced strongly by
welding parameters
• high heat input gives a large weld pool area that increases
hydrogen absorption.
• slow travel speed allows pores to grow and escape, whereas
fast travel inhibits growth and promotes engulfment
• welding position can influence pore entrapment (overhead
welding is worst case: impede escape from buoyancy)

2. Alloying affects hydrogen solubility

• Mg lowers hydrogen solubility; Cu and Si increase solubility

Devletian and Wood (1983)

Woods (1974)
Trevisan, Schwemmer, Olson (1990)
UNCLASSIFIED Slide 11

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Hydrogen Solubility

Hydrogen content
related to amount of
porosity, measured
using gravimetric
technique. GMA Welds
Shielding Gas:
Ar + H2 (190-5,700 ppm)
Woods (1974)

x-intercept:
tolerance for hydrogen
UNCLASSIFIED Slide 12

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Weld Wire Condition

Wire Fabrication

Controlled
Wire Wire Wire Application
Drawing Shaving Cleaning of Lubricant
& Spooling

Lubrication contains
Hydrocarbons:
source of hydrogen
contamination and porosity

UNCLASSIFIED Slide 13

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 Weld Wire Condition

Wire Lubrication
no lubrication →
poor feeding, low porosity
arc instability & arc out

excessive lubrication →
good feeding, high porosity

Helpful approach for low lubrication:

use high hardness
contact tip (CuCr1Zr)
to improve feedability.

UNCLASSIFIED Slide 14

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Weld Wire Condition

Packaging and Storage

“Do not use wire which has been

kept for any length of time outside
of desiccated storage”.
Welding Kaiser Aluminum (1967)

“A maximum storage duration of three to twelve

months is recommended… a deterioration of the
welding wire, which gives rise to porosity, is to be
expected after six months of storage even in
unopened packaging”.
Reisgen, et al. (2017)

UNCLASSIFIED Slide 15

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Nucleation of Pores

Location of Nucleation

• within the weld pool

• within the diffuse “unmixed” zone along fusion line
• between dendrites during solidification

[H]o
H S
Liquid L

UNCLASSIFIED Slide 16

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Nucleation of Pores

Pressure Needed to Fracture Molten Aluminum

(i.e. nucleate a pore):

Pf ≈ 1,760 atm (heterogeneous fracture)

Campbell (1968)

Sum of Internal and External Pressures in Weld Pool:

atmospheric pressure Patm
hydrostatic pressure Phydro
Small relative to
shrinkage Pshrink
1,760 atm
thermal strain Ptherm
arc pressure Parc
hydrogen partial pressure PH2

∴ PH2 ≈ 1,760 atm

Coniglio and Cross (2009)

UNCLASSIFIED Slide 17

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Nucleation of Pores

1760 atm [Ho] = 1.6 ml/100g

~
[Ho] = 0.8 ml/100g

Interdendritic Partitioning of Hydrogen

[Ho ]
[ H L ] = K PH 2 =
(1 − k H )(1 − f s ) + k H [Ho] = 0.5 ml/100g

[Ho] = 0.3 ml/100g

[Ho] = 0.1 ml/100g

Coniglio and Cross (2009)

UNCLASSIFIED Slide 18

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Nucleation of Pores

Threshold Weld Metal Hydrogen to Achieve Porosity

Woods (1974)

Martukanitz, et al. (1982)

UNCLASSIFIED Slide 19

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Quantification of Contamination

Residual Analyzer:
Compares amount of smoke
evolved when wire is heated
(i.e. vaporized surface oil)

E.G. Eichhorn (1968)

UNCLASSIFIED Slide 20

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Quantification of Contamination

Residual Analyzer Data

Commercial Wire 0.9 mm

109 A, 500 ms

peak: 0.161 mg/m3 peak: 0.283 mg/m3

total: 0.954 mg/m3 total: 1.732 mg/m3

UNCLASSIFIED Slide 21

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Quantification of Contamination
LECO RHEN602
Carrier Gas Hot Extraction

Sample Details:
0.030” 4047 weld wire wrapped
on 0.2” rod, 24 mm length

Two Stage Heating:

• below Tmp for surface H
• above Tmp for bulk H Total Bulk Surface
Commercial 3.0 0.2 2.9
Wire #1
Commercial 4.2 0.2 4.0
Wire #2
Extruded & 0.9 <0.1 0.9
Cleaned Wire
units: ppm by wt. (≈ ml/100g)
UNCLASSIFIED Slide 22

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Experimental Variation in Hydrogen

Immersion in Boiling Water

5083 Al
0.030” Wire

UNCLASSIFIED Kammer, et al. (1963) Slide 23

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 Experimental Variation in Hydrogen

H2 added to Shielding Gas

mix
GTA Edge Weld on 1/8 inch thick 6061 Al plate
Ar + variable (Ar + H2) shielding gas Ar Ar + ppm H2
0.1% H2 total
0 cfh 30 cfh 1000
5 25 833
10 20 667
15 15 500
20 10 333
25 5 167
30 0 0

UNCLASSIFIED Slide 24

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 Experimental Variation in Hydrogen
5”

Ar + 0 ppm H2
H2 added to Shielding Gas

Ar + 167 ppm H2

Ar + 333 ppm H2

Ar + 500 ppm H2

Ar + 833 ppm H2

UNCLASSIFIED Slide 25

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Experimental Variation in Hydrogen

167 ppm H2 133 ppm H2 100 ppm H2

67 ppm H2 33 ppm H2 17 ppm H2

H2 added to Shielding Gas

UNCLASSIFIED Slide 26

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Experimental Variation in Hydrogen

H2 added to Shielding Gas

[H] ppm by wt.

ppm H2 in Shielding Gas

Welding Parameters: 65 A, 12 V, 6 ipm

UNCLASSIFIED Slide 27

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Limits of Acceptance
Measuring Hydrogen in Plasma
using Arc Spectroscopy

GMAW Al Welds:
Comparison of
Commercial Wires
500 ppm H2
Area Fraction
Porosity

1200 ppm H2

Plasma Hydrogen Content (ppm by atom)

100 ppm H2
Burgardt and Kanner (1999)
UNCLASSIFIED Slide 28

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Limits of Acceptance

Summary

Porosity Wire Shielding Plasma Weld Metal

Level Hydrogen Gas Hydrogen Hydrogen
(area %) (ppm wt.) (ppm atom) (ppm atom) (ppm wt.)

Acceptable < 0.02 <2 < 200 < 200 <1

Unacceptable > 0.02 >3 > 300 > 300 >1

Problem: Limits are not well enough defined.

More work is needed!

UNCLASSIFIED Slide 29

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Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful for internal LANL funding provided by Program
Manager Mike Steinzig with the backing of Sigma-2 Group Leader
Pat Hochanadel.

Experimental support in Sigma Division was provided by J.D. Montavo

and Eric Tegtmeier (metallography) and Randy Edwards (chemical
treatment).

A special thanks goes to Robert Lahnsteiner with MIGAl.CO GmbH, who

has provided helpful insight to the wire hydrogen issue.

UNCLASSIFIED Slide 30

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References
D.E.J. Talbot, The Effects of Hydrogen in Aluminium and Its Alloys, Maney (Pub.) (2004).
C.E. Ransley and H. Neufeld, J. Inst. Metals, 74, p.599 (1948).
W.R. Opie and N.J. Grant, “Hydrogen Solubility in Aluminum and Some Aluminum Alloys”, J. Metals, 188, 1237-
1241 (1950).
T. Kuwana, H. Kokawa, and K. Naitoh, “The Nitrogen Absorption of Stainless Steel Weld Metal by Gas Tungsten Arc
Welding”, J. Jap. Weld. Soc., 2 (4), (1984).
J.W. Hooijmans and G. den Ouden, “A Model of Hydrogen Absorption During GTA Welding”, Welding J., 76 (7),
264s-268s (1997).
K. Mundra and T. DebRoy, “A General Model for Partitioning of Gases between a Metal and its Plasma
Environment”, Metall. Mater. Trans., 26B (2), 149-157 (1995).
T.A. Palmer and T. DebRoy, “Numerical Modeling of Enhanced Nitrogen Dissolution During Gas Tungsten Arc
Welding”, Metall. Mater. Trans., 31B (12), 1371-1385 (2000).
J.H. Devletian and W.E. Wood, “Factors Affecting Porosity in Aluminum Welds- A Review”, Welding Research
Council Bulletin 290, December (1983).
R.A. Woods, “Porosity and Hydrogen Absorption in Aluminum Welds”, Welding J., 53 (3), 97s-108s (1974).
R.E. Trevisan, D.D. Schwemmer, and D.L. Olson, “The Fundamentals of Weld Metal Pore Formation”, in Welding:
Theory and Practice, Elsevier (Pub.), 79-115 (1990).
Welding Kaiser Aluminum, Kaiser Aluminum and Chemical Sales (Pub.) (1967).
U. Reisgen, K. Willms, and S. Wieland, “Influence of Storage Conditions on Aluminum 4043A Welding Wires”,
Welding J., 96 (6), 220s-227s (2017).

UNCLASSIFIED Slide 31

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References
J. Campbell, “Pore Nucleation in Solidifying Metals”, in The Solidification of Metals, Iron and Steel Institute
(Pub.), 18-27 (1968).
N. Coniglio and C.E. Cross, “Mechanisms for Solidification Crack Initiation and Growth in Aluminum Welding”,
Metall. Mater. Trans., 40A (11), 2718-2728 (2009).
R.P. Martukanitz and P.R. Michnuk, “Sources of Porosity in Gas Metal Arc Welding of Aluminum”, in Trends in
Welding Research, ASM (Pub.), 315-330 (1981).
E.G. Eichorn, “Tests for Evaluating the Cleanliness of Aluminum Weld Wire”, Welding J., 47 (11), 875-880 (1968).
P.A. Kammer, M.D. Randall, R.E. Monroe, and W.G. Groth, “The Relation of Filler Wire Hydrogen to Aluminum-
Weld Porosity”, Welding J., 42 (10), 433s-441s (1963).
P. Burgardt and G.S. Kanner, “Monitoring of Hydrogen in GMAW of Aluminum using Optical Spectroscopy”, Los
Alamos National Lab Report: LAUR-99-1490, presented at AWS Professional Program (1999).

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