Cutting & Welding seminar

Oktober 2009

By Christian Sahl
Technical manager
SSAB Plate have 4 Brands

 HARDOX – Wear plate

 WELDOX – Structural steel
 ARMOX – Protection steel
 TOOLOX – Tool steel

100% of production is quenched and tempered steel

”OX” stands for Oxelösund – City of location in Sweden

Name 2009-02-25 2
 High Strength Steel (HSS)
What is that?

3
KEY FACTORS FOR HARDOX

Clean raw material Chemical composition

Modern rolling mill Quenching technique

4
HARDOX wear plate

 Only one producer of the

HARDOX, SSAB Oxelösund.

 HARDOX wear plates meet

the very high level of product
properties and customer value.
 (outstanding precision, smooth
and flat surface, excellent
impact resistance, predictable n f i
s
rm X
Co RDO
lifetime and uniform wear), HA

 Guaranteed by SSAB
Oxelösund.

5
The HARDOX Standard product program
Rp0.2 MPa HBW

1600 600

1400
500
1200

400
1000
HARDOX® HiTuf

HARDOX® 400

HARDOX® 450

HARDOX® 500

HARDOX® 550

HARDOX® 600
800 300

600
200
400
100
200
HiTuf 400 450 500 550 600
0 0

Editor: Jonas Högström. Date: 04/09/2008. Version: uk 01. Page 9

This document is the property of SSAB Oxelösund and must not be reproduced, disclosed to any third party or used in any
unauthorized manner without the written consent. HARDOX is a registered trademark of SSAB Oxelösund AB.

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HARDOX – when and why
Wear resistance
Save weight
High surface demands
Mistreatment

Very good Weldability

Bendability
Guaranteed hardness
Thickness tolerances
Impact toughness
Exellent surfaces

7
 HARDOX Wear plate

Useful lifetime
APPLICATIONS
HARDOX in a loader

10
HARDOX in buckets

11
HARDOX
Impact and sliding wear

12
HARDOX APPLICATIONS

13
 CUTTING HARDOX
Plate properties

14
 Cutting - Methods
HARDOX Wear Plates can be cut using any
of the
conventional cutting methods available

Thermal cutting methods

– Oxygen-fuel cutting
– Plasma cutting
– Laser cutting

Cold cutting methods

– Abrasive water jet cutting
– Shearing
– Disc grinding
– Sawing

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HAZ = Heat Affected Zone

HARDOX looses hardness in temperature > 200 degrees C

16
Risks involved in thermal cutting
When thermal cutting is applied it is important to
consider the risk for:

1. Reduction in hardness when cutting of small

components

2. Cut edge cracking

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Cut edge cracking

The risk for cut edge cracking increases with the total alloy
content of the steel and the plate thickness.

Three conditions must be fulfilled for cut edge cracking to

appear after thermal cutting:

Presence of hydrogen
Presence of residual stress
A sensitive microstructure
Cut edge cracking formation
Small cracks behind the cut edge
Step 1
Micro cracks are created in the
plate centre line behind the cut surface.
Not detectable for the eye.

Step 2
The cracks starts to propagate towards the
cut edge surface and in its longitudinal
direction. They now becomes visible.
48 hours

Step 3
Depending on the stress state the cracks
will either continue to propagate parallel o
the plate surface or divert to form the
classical feature of a cut edge crack.
Several weeks after
How to avoid cut edge cracking

• Preheating of the plate prior to cutting (Recommendations)

• Reduced cutting speed for oxyfuel gas

(Recommendations)

• Post heating of cut parts

• Slow cooling of the cut parts

• Never leave sharp corners in the plate

Sharp corners are bad when cutting !

• High concentration of residual stress in the corner

• Corners are a concentrator of stress
Hydrogen crack propagate in the corner
Design solutions for cutting

Cut off the entire plate Or cut with a radius in the corner

Waterjet cutted plate.

 WELDING

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 WELDING HARDOX
Can be welded with all conventional arc
welding methods intended for welding
ordinary and high strength plates.

Basic and rutile electrodes that gives

hydrogen content of ≤ 5 ml / 100 g.

Soft electrodes (yield strength below

500 N/mm² ). Such electrodes reduce
the residual stress level in the joint
and thus its sensitivity to cold
cracking.

To avoid preheating, austenitic filler

material can be used.

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MMA welding (Manual Metal Arc)
Welding – Selection of filler material

Undermatching welding consumables should always be used

for HARDOX steel grades. The yield strength of the welding
consumables should be up to about 500 MPa.

Important !! Read on the package !

The hydrogen content in the welding

consumables should be ≤ 5ml/100 g weld
metal.
Avoid hydrogen as much as
possible when welding

• Keep the opened packages of coated

consumables and fluxes heated according to
the manufacturer of the consumables

• Keep the work piece clean from oil and

other contaminations
MAG welding with solid wire (Metal Active Gas)
(MIG = Metal inert Gas, Stainless steel, Alumin)
Short arc

 Low voltage/low wire

feed speed
 Short circuiting material
transfer
 Suitable for thin material
 Low productivity
 Large droplets
 Out of position welding is
possible
Short Arc

Short arc.WMV
Spray arc

High prouctivity
High voltage/high wire
feed speed
For pt ≥ 5 mm
Non short circuting
material transfer
Small droplets
Only horisontal welding
is possible
Spray Arc

Spray arc.WMV
MAG welding with flux cored and metal cored wires
Hydrogen cracks in the HAZ
The risk of hydrogen cracks can be minimized

Hydrogen cracks can only be formed if these

three conditions are present at the same time
in the joint:

• Steel/consumable with a relatively high

carbon equivalent
• Presence of hydrogen in the joint
• High tensile stresses in the joint
The hydrogen level is always higher in weld metal compared to the parent metal

The issue is to keep the hydrogen level low enough in the joint in order to minimize
the risk for hydrogen cracks
Read the preheat recommendations
Variation depending grade and thickness

38
Measurement of preheat temperature

Measure the preheat temperature after

2min/25 mm of plate thickness
 Minimize the weld deformations and
the residual stresses by...

…balance the welding sequence …avoiding start & stop in corners

decreased risk for angular distortion and areas with
3 4 high stresses
1
2
5 6

… weld with lower heat input

…weld towards free ends
(use more passes to fill the
joint)
8
6
4 2
…use a ductile & low-strength
filler material 7 3 1
5
Reducing deformations and stresses in the joint

Back step techniques can be performed in order to

reduce deformations in joints. Examples of this procedure is
shown in the picture.
T=25mm T=25mm
Q=1 kJ/mm Q=2 kJ/mm
Number of passes: 12 Number of passes: 6
 Welding of buckets

Welding in the critical zones:

• Corners
• Teeth adapters
Sharp corners are evil when welding !

 The hydrogen level is always higher in weld metal

compared to the parent metal

The issue is to keep the hydrogen level low enough in

the joint in order to minimize the risk for hydrogen
cracks

Do start and stop sequences ~ 5-10 cm

Away from corners if possible
Design solutions to avoid hydrogen cracks in corners

 JCB,
Excavator
Welding in the critical zones
Right Wrong
Grinding of the weldment in the critical zones
Checklist for welding of HARDOX:

Choose the right filler metals that also corresponds

to your requirements.
Are the prepared joint cleaned before welding.
Use the recommended preheat- and interpass
temperatures.
Preheating of tack welds are as important as for
ordinary welds. Minimum length of these should be
50 mm each.
Use the right level of heat input.
Pay attention to welding in critical zones
Control the wear
Minimize the wearcosts
Design solutions against wear – the dead bed concept
 Stone

No support
rubber
Some suggestions for protecting hole edges. The
lower edge subjected to wear can be protected by
welding on stripes of hard facing

suspension
 Stone

No support
rubber

A welded bolt gives the best protection.

Keep the balance of your wear
When was the last service? Control it!

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Safety first !

SAFETY FIRST !

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 WWW.HARDOX.RU

Info also in Russian language !

WWW.SSAB.COM
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Thank you for your attention