C Sridhar,

Advance Institute of Welding Technology,

Chennai.

Pre heating for Low alloy steels:

LAS are defined as consisting of less than 10.5% Ni, Cr, Mo, and other alloy elements. In
general, low alloy steels are required to be preheated to some temperature (TPH), prior to
welding. It has been suggested that TPH for any given steel should be about 32 0 C above
the martensite start temperature (MS) for the particular steel being welded. Most low alloy
steels, however, have fairly high MS temperatures, making welding at or above them
somewhat uncomfortable to the welder, thereby potentially compromising weld quality.
For such steels, therefore, manufacturers often opt for TPH temperatures below MS. A case
in point is AISI 4130 with an MS of 682 C; for this steel, typically list PH temperatures in the
180 – 580 0 C range, all below MS.
More importantly, preheating serves to reduce the rate at which the metal cools down from
the welding temperature to TPH. This is so whether preheating is above or below MS.
Cooling rate reductions will lead to a general reduction in residual stress magnitudes, and
also allow more time for hydrogen removal.
Most low alloy steels that may be susceptible to hydrogen-induced cracking transform
from austenite during cooling through the 800 – 500 0 C temperature range. The length of
time a steel spends in this range during cooling, will establish its microstructure and,
hence, its susceptibility to cold cracking. To maximize cracking resistance, a
microstructure that is free of un-tempered martensite is desired; that is, the austenite
would have transformed to ferrite + carbide and no austenite will be available to transform
to martensite upon reaching MS.

The purpose of pre-heat:

1. Reduce the risk of hydrogen cracking

2. Reduce the hardness of the weld heat affected zone
3. Reduce shrinkage stresses during cooling and improve the distribution of residual
stresses.
4. If preheat is locally applied it must extend to at least 75mm from the weld location
and be preferably measured on the opposite face to the one being welded.

Parent Metal:
A hydrogen crack requires a hard microstructure which is created by a hardenable
material subject to fast cooling from 800°C to 500°C. Cooling can be slowed down by:

1. Applying preheat,
2. Maintaining a high interpass temperature,
3. Increasing welding power and reducing travel speed.

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Influence of Heat Input and Preheating on Microstructure and Mechanical Properties of
Coarse Grain Heat-Affected Zone of Metal Arc Gas-Welded Paralytic Rail Steel (as an
example):

Influence of varying heat input (0.66-1.43 kJ/mm) and different preheat temperatures
(150-350 °C) on microstructure and mechanical properties of the coarse-grained heat-
affected zone (CGHAZ) of MAG-welded pearlitic rail steel has been investigated.

Results show that at low heat inputs (0.66-1.00 kJ/mm), microstructures are mainly
composed of martensite, whereas high heat inputs (1.29-1.43 kJ/mm) have coarsened the
grains and formed cracks. 1.16 kJ/mm of heat input is found optimum which has produced
a crack-free surface with the least martensite.

Afterward, by using the optimum heat input of 1.16 kJ/mm samples are welded at different
preheat temperatures ranging from 150 to 350 °C, which has reduced the martensite and
increased the pearlite, successively.

Preheat temperatures of 250 °C are found optimum, where grain size and t 800-3000 C
t800−3000 C cooling rate are 38.1 ± 9.8 μm and 3.1 °C/s, respectively. Furthermore,
hardness is 659 ± 7 HV, tensile strength is 1349 ± 16 Mpa, and toughness is 6.4 ± 0.5 J,
respectively. Finally, the confocal scanning laser microscopy analysis, at optimum heat
input of 1.16 kJ/cm and 250 °C of preheat temperature, is also presented.

The entire study concludes that preheating is inevitable in MAG welding of pearlitic rail
steel. 1.16 kJ/mm of heat input with 250 °C of preheating temperature is suitable in MAG
welding of pearlitic rail steel where microstructure is composed of pearlite, ferrite, and
sorbite having no martensite and no cracks.

Above article was published in the year 2019 in Springer Nature Journal and will give you an idea towards what
you are asking.
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