Applied Welding Metallurgy

A weld can look flawless and still fail years later.
The appearance of a weld bead says little about the microstructure that formed as the metal was heated, melted and cooled within seconds, yet that microstructure decides whether a joint performs or cracks. Procedure tables help until a project falls outside them or a joint fails unexpectedly. Then understanding matters more than memorization.
What this book gives you
It explains the metallurgy behind the weld in a clear progression, from iron and steel transformations through heat flow, the heat-affected zone and the defect mechanisms behind most structural weld failures. Each chapter develops theory from first principles, then puts it to work in worked examples and practice problems with worked answers.
What you will be able to do

• Understand how welding thermal cycles create a localized, nonuniform heat treatment
• Relate heat-affected zone microstructure to hardness, strength and toughness
• Apply carbon equivalent and preheat reasoning to the weldability of hardenable steels
• Tell hydrogen cracking, hot cracking and lamellar tearing apart by mechanism
• Compare the weldability concerns of carbon, low-alloy and stainless steels and of aluminum and other nonferrous alloys
• Weigh filler metal selection, dilution and weld metal microstructure
• Match mechanical tests and nondestructive examination methods to the defects they can reveal