ASME SECTION VIII DIV 2

Article D-4 Welded Joints

• AM-400 Welded Joint Categories

– Category defines the location of a joint in a vessel
– Established for use in specifying joint type and
degree of inspection
– Based on service, material and thickness, special
requirements are specified in code
• Category A
• Category B
• Category C
• Category D
Article D-4 Welded Joints
 Article F-1 General Fabrication Requirements

• AF-104 Repair of defective materials

– Defect may be removed and material repaired by
vessel manufacturer or unless prohibited by
material specification may also be repaired by
material manufacturer with approval of vessel
manufacturer
– Material repair that exceed those permitted by
material specification shall be made to satisfaction
of inspector
Article F-1 General Fabrication Requirements

– AM-104.1 Examination of defective area

• By MPT (Article 9-1) or by LPT (Article 9-2)
– AM-104.2 Repair by welding
• Procedure & welds must be qualified in
accordance with Sec IX, including impact testing
• Repaired material shall be heat treated when
required
– AM-104.3 Examination of finished weld
• Article F-1 General Fabrication Requirements
• By Radiography (Article I-5) when depth of weld
deposit exceeds 10 mm or one-half material
thickness
 Article F-1 General Fabrication Requirements

• AF-112 Base metal preparation

• AF-112.1 Examination of materials
a Material examination before fabrication for
detecting defects which would affect safety of vessel.
Examination of edges of base materials (including
edges of openings cut through thickness)
b Cut edges of thickness >= 38 mm shall be examined
by MPT or LPT
c For openings, cut edges of all thickness, examination
by MPT or LPT
AF-220 Specific requirements for welded joints
Table AF-241.1
 AF-220 Specific requirements for welded joints

• AF-228 Liquid Penetrant Examination

– All austenitic Cr-Ni alloy steel welds, both butt &
fillet, which exceeds nominal thickness of 19 mm
shall be examined (Article 9-2)
– LPT after heat treatment, if performed
– All crack shall be eliminated
 AF-230 Miscellaneous Welding requirements

• AF-235 Identification markings or records for welders

or welding operators
– Stamp identifying number, letter or symbol on or
adjacent to and at intervals of not more than 1 m
along the welds in plates >= 6 mm in thickness or
record of welders / WOs employed on each joints
shall be kept
– For multiple welds, tube to tube sheet welds
• QA system shall have a procedure to identify
welders or welding operators
• Welds in each category are of same type and
configuration and are welded with same WPS
 Article I-5 Radiographic Examination

• AI-510 Acceptance standard for radiographs of welds

• AI-511 Unacceptable defects and repair requirements
– Imperfections are unacceptable under following
condition
• Any crack or incomplete fusion or penetration
• Any elongated indication which has length
greater than
– 6 mm for t upto 19 mm
– 1/3t for t from 19 mm to 56 mm
– 19 mm for t over 56 mm
 Article I-5 Radiographic Examination

• AI-511 Unacceptable defects and repair requirements

– Imperfections are unacceptable under following
condition
• Any group of aligned indications with aggregate
length greater than t in length of 12t, except
distance between successive imperfections
exceeds 6L where L is length of longest
imperfection in group
• Rounded indications in excess of that specified in
Appendix 4

t - thickness of weld excluding any allowable

reinforcement, including throat of fillet if any
Article T-2 Impact testing of welds and vessel test
plates of ferrous materials

• AT-203 Impact tests of vessel test plates

– When base material is required to be impact tested,
impact testing of weld and HAZ shall be made for
category A & B joints in accordance with AT-201
for each qualified procedure used in vessel
– Test plate shall be from one of heats of vessel or
group of vessels
– For category A joint, test plate shall, where
practicable, be welded as an extension to end of
production joint or welded as close to start of
production welding as practicable, utilizing
equipment, welding material and procedures which
are to be used on production joints
Article T-2 Impact testing of welds and vessel test
plates of ferrous materials

• AT-203 Impact tests of vessel test plates

– For category B joint (welded using different welding
procedure than used on category A joints, test plate
shall be welded under production welding
conditions used for vessel, using same type of
equipment and at same location and using same
procedures as used for joint and it shall be welded
concurrently with production welds or as closed to
start of production welding as practicable
Article T-2 Impact testing of welds and vessel test
plates of ferrous materials

• AT-203.1 Number of vessel Impact Plates required

– For each vessel, one test plate shall be made for each
welding procedure used for category A & B
– In addition, for category A & B joints, following
requirements shall apply
• For automatic or semi automatic welding, one
test plate in each position
• For manual welding, vertical upward welded test
plate qualify for all position.
• AT-203.2 Rejection
– If PTC fails to meet the impact requirements, welds
represented shall be unacceptable. Reheat treatment
and retesting or retesting only are permitted.
 Article 9-1 MPE – Article 9-2 LPE

• 9-130 Acceptance standard

– All surfaces to be examined shall be free of
• Relevant linear indications
• Relevant rounded indications greater than 5 mm
• Four or more relevant rounded indication in a
line separated by 1.5 mm or less, edge to edge
Article 9-3 Ultrasonic Examination of welds

• 9-320 Acceptance-Rejection standards

– Indications characterized as cracks, lack of fusion or
incomplete penetration are unacceptable regardless
of length
– Other imperfections are unacceptable if indications
exceed reference level amplitude and have lengths
which exceed
• 6 mm for t upto 19 mm
• 1/3t for t from 19 mm to 57 mm
• 19 mm for t over 57 mm
T-thickness of weld, excluding any allowable
reinforcement