Acceptance criteria for porosity in welding

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This question is probably the most asked in interviews for Quality/NDT Professionals who Inspect
welds and even in day to day inspection activities this may be a doubt for many of you. But
before I answer this question, I would like to caution you that it is very important what is the
construction code from which your welding is being done, Because Acceptance criteria is
completely dependent on the construction code. Below I am listing here with the Acceptance
criteria for Porosity for different cases


Acceptance Criteria for Porosity in welding of Pressure Vessels



Acceptance criteria for welds which are being done in Pressure vessels is listed in ASME
SECTION VIII, Division 1- Mandatory Appendix 4

Thickness (3mm to 50mm) Random Porosity t/4 or 4mm shall be accepted, whichever is
less

Thickness (3mm to 50 mm) Isolated porosity t/3 or 6mm shall be acceptable , whichever is
less

Thickness > 50 mm Isolated Porosity 10mm shall be acceptable

Cluster Porosity : Lesser of 25mm or 2t whichever is lesser, where 2 or 3 clusters are present ,
the sum of clusters shall not exceed 25 mm in a length of 150mm

where t is the thickness of the weld excluding reinforcement

You May have a doubt now, what is meant by random porosity and isolated porosity

Random Porosity: Random porosity is porosity oriented randomly at uneven distances

Isolated Porosity : Porosity separated by 1 inch distance from all the sides is called isolated
porosity.

Z-Grade Quality Material (Through
Thickness Property)
In the welding process, will produce a voltage (stress) on the parent plate. Where the
voltage can cause cracking defects. Crack / opening material having a direction parallel to the
metal surface is referred to as lamellar tearing, this defect would cause material damage to
the upright position the plate thickness. Lamellar tearing, the dictionary meaning of the
word "lamellar" is a thin layer, membrane or plate-shaped network. While the "tear" is
interested nicked widened some parts. So that lamellar tearing the material can be
interpreted as a result of welding cracks berbetuk material layer located at the surface of the
material and the direction of the plate material. Lamellar tearing it generally occurs in rolled
steel plate material, where this is a dangerous condition that occurs when a plate material
having a low elastic properties (low ductility) is welded perpendicular to the direction of the
plate thickness.


This rift can occur where:
- Strain (strain) due to contraction due to temperature changes occur in the plate thickness
direction (through thickness direction of plates)
- Or the inclusion / non-metal material inserts in the form of a thin layer of the field where
the main form of insertions (planar ) is in line with the pipe surface. So that the strain (strain)
due to the contraction will force the inclusion of non-metal earlier as a trigger to form a
planar aperture in the direction parallel to the surface of the plate. At welded steel
structure, where the position of the load is borne perpendicular to the surface of the plate,
lamellar tearing may be the cause initial damage larger structures. At the level of quality steel
plate normal, usually testing has been done in the direction rollingnya (elongated plates - the
x-axis) and perpendicular to the direction rollingnya (wide plates - the y-axis), and the
material properties in the direction perpendicular plate thickness ( z axis) is not
mentioned. With special production technology at this time and the reduction of sulfur
content, most of the steel manufacturers have capacity to produce steel plates with the
property for plate thickness direction (z-axis), wherein the plate with this type of material is
referred to as the Z-grade quality. Z-grade Quality Material This minimizes the risk of lamellar
tearing, since this material has a resistance (ductility) is more in the direction of thickness
compared to the normal quality grade material. To determine the extent of toughness
properties (property) material is high grade Z, performed specific tensile test (Z-axis direction)
of the sample material, wherein if the high yield area reduction then this material can be
considered to have a good quality grade Z. course testing procedures and how much value
reduction of at least the area must be obtained so that the material can be categorized good /
not, should refer to the applicable industry standards. Several al industry standards: ASTM
D7291, EN 10164 or Rule classification bodies such as GL, BV, LR, ABS or DNV also provides test
procedures and acceptance criteria for materials with Z-category This high grade. glance
when reviewing the GL Rules for Materials and Welding - Section1: Steel Plates, Strips and
Bars, wherein there to category Z-grade material is determined based on the resulting area
reduction during tensile testing of unidirectional orientation of the sample with thicker
materials (such as image above). There are 2 categories of Z-grade material according to GL
rules, the Z25 and Z35, where Z25 is if the resulting area reduction of 25% minimum, looking
for Z35 reduction resulting area must be a minimum of 35%. Tests were conducted at 3
tensile test specimen ( Z direction), one of which shall be not less than 25% but still must be
greater than 20% for the Z25. As for the Z35 one specimen shall be not less than 35% but still
must be greater than 25%. use of this material commonly applied to offshore structures,
ships or floating units just as FPSO, FSO and FSRU, which is usually used in the structure had
vertical load to the plate thickness / material, such as doubler plate at the connection
between the deck plate with stool topside production modules