You are on page 1of 8

1

Introduction
The heat treatment given to a particular grade of steel by the steelmaker/
supplier should be shown on the material test certificate and may be
referred to as the supply condition.
Welding inspectors may need to refer to material test certificates and it is
appropriate that they be familiar with the terminology that is used and have
some understanding of the principles of some of the most commonly applied
heat treatments.
Welded joints may need to be subjected to heat treatment after welding
(PWHT) and the tasks of monitoring the thermal cycle and checking the heat
treatment records are often delegated to welding inspectors.

Heat Treatment of Steel


The main supply conditions for weldable steels are:
As rolled, hot rolled, hot finished
Plate is hot rolled to finished size and allowed to air cool; the temperature at
which rolling finishes may vary from plate to plate and so strength and
toughness properties vary and are not optimised;
Applied to
Relatively thin, lower strength C-steel
Thermo-mechanical controlled processing (TMCP), control-rolled,
thermo-mechanically rolled
Steel plate given precisely controlled thickness reductions during hot rolling
within carefully controlled temperature ranges; final rolling temperature is
also carefully controlled;
Applied to
Relatively thin, high strength low alloy steels (HSLA) and for some steels
with good toughness at low temperatures, eg, cryogenic steels
Normalised
After working the steel (rolling or forging) to size, it is heated to ~900C and
then allowed to cool in air to ambient temperature; this optimises strength
and toughness and gives uniform properties from item to item for a
particular grade of steel;
Applied to
C-Mn steels and some low alloy steels

Rev 1 January 2010


Heat Treatment
Copyright TWI Ltd 2010

Quenched and tempered


after working the steel (rolling or forging) to size, it is heated to ~900C and
then cooled as quickly as possible by quenching in water or oil; after
quenching, the steel must be tempered (softened) to improve the ductility of
the as-quenched steel;
Applied to
Some low alloy steels to give higher strength, toughness or wear resistance
Solution annealed/heat treated
After hot or cold working to size, steel heated to ~1100C and rapidly cooled
by quenching into water to prevent any carbides or other phases from
forming;
Applied to
Austenitic stainless steels such as 304 and 316 grades
Annealed
After working the steel (pressing or forging etc) to size, it is heated to
~900C and then allowed to cool in the furnace to ambient temperature; this
reduces strength and toughness but improves ductility;
Applied to
C-Mn steels and some low alloy steels
Figures 1 to 5 show the thermal cycles for the main supply conditions and
subsequent heat treatment that can be applied to steels

Post Weld Heat Treatment (PWHT)


Post weld heat treatment has to be applied to some welded steels to ensure
that the properties of the weldment will be suitable for their intended
applications.
The temperature at which PWHT is carried out is usually well below the
temperature where phase changes can occur (note 1), but high enough to
allow residual stresses to be relieved quickly and to soften (temper) any
hard regions in the HAZ.
There are major benefits of reducing residual stress and ensuring that the
HAZ hardness is not too high for particular steels with certain service
applications.
Examples of these benefits are to:
Improve the resistance of the joint to brittle fracture
Improve the resistance of the joint to stress corrosion cracking
Enable welded joints to be machined to accurate dimensional tolerances

Rev 1 January 2010


Heat Treatment
Copyright TWI Ltd 2010

Because the main reason for (and benefit of) PWHT is to reduce residual
stresses, PWHT is often called stress relief.
Note 1: There are circumstances when a welded joint may need to be
normalised to restore HAZ toughness. However, these are relatively rare
circumstances and it is necessary to ensure that welding consumables are
carefully selected because normalising will significantly reduce weld metal
strength

PWHT Thermal Cycle


The application standard/code, will specify when PWHT is required to give
benefits #1 or #2 above and also give guidance about the thermal cycle that
must be used.
In order to ensure that a PWHT cycle is carried it in accordance with a
particular code, it is essential that a PWHT procedure is prepared and that
the following parameters are specified:

4.1

Maximum heating rate


Soak temperature range
Minimum time at the soak temperature (soak time)
Maximum cooling rate

Heating rate
This must be controlled to avoid large temperature differences within the
fabricated item. Large differences in temperature (large thermal gradients)
will produce large stresses and these may be high enough to cause
distortion (or even cracking).
Application standards usually require control of the maximum heating rate
when the temperature of the item is above ~300C. This is because steels
start to show significant loss of strength above this temperature and are
more susceptible to distortion if there are large thermal gradients.
The temperature of the fabricated item must be monitored during the
thermal cycle and this is done by means of thermocouples attached to the
surface at a number of locations representing the thickness range of the
item.
By monitoring furnace and item temperatures the rate of heating can be
controlled to ensure compliance with code requirements at all positions
within the item.
Maximum heating rates specified for C-Mn steel depend on thickness of the
item but tend to be in the range ~60 to ~200C/h.

Rev 1 January 2010


Heat Treatment
Copyright TWI Ltd 2010

4.2

Soak temperature
The soak temperature specified by the code depends on the type of steel
and thus the temperature range required to reduce residual stresses to a
low level.
C and C-Mn steels require a soak temperature of ~600C whereas some
low alloy steels (such as Cr-Mo steels used for elevated temperature
service) require higher temperatures typically in the range ~700 to
~760C.
Note: Soak temperature is an essential variable for a WPQR. Thus, it is
very important that the it is controlled within the specified limits otherwise it
may be necessary to carry out a new WPQ test to validate the properties of
the item and at worst it may not be fit-for-purpose.

4.3

Soak time
It is necessary to allow time for all the welded joints to experience the
specified temperature throughout the full joint thickness.
The temperature is monitored by surface-contact thermocouples and it is the
thickest joint of the fabrication that governs the minimum time for
temperature equalisation.
Typical specified soak times are 1h per 25mm thickness.

4.4

Cooling rate
It is necessary to control the rate of cooling from the PWHT temperature for
the same reason that heating rate needs to be controlled to avoid
distortion (or cracking) due to high stresses from thermal gradients.
Codes usually specify controlled cooling to ~300C. Below this temperature
the item can be withdrawn from a furnace and allowed to cool in air because
steel is relatively strong and is unlikely to suffer plastic strain by any
temperature gradients that may develop.
Figure 6 is a typical PWHT thermal cycle.

Heat Treatment Furnaces


It is important that oil and gas-fired furnaces used for PWHT do not allow
flame contact with the fabrication as this may induce large thermal
gradients.
It is also important to ensure that the fuel (particularly for oil-fired furnaces)
does not contain high levels of potentially harmful impurities such as
sulphur.

Rev 1 January 2010


Heat Treatment
Copyright TWI Ltd 2010

Local PWHT
For a pipeline or pipe spool it is often necessary to apply PWHT to individual
welds by local application of heat.
For this, a PWHT procedure must specify the previously described
parameters for controlling the thermal cycle but it is also necessary to
specify the following:
Width of the heated band (must be within the soak temperature range)
Width of the temperature decay band (soak temperature to ~300C)
Other considerations are:
Position of the thermocouples within the heated band width and the
decay band
If the item needs to be supported in a particular way to allow movement/
avoid distortion
The commonest method of heating for local PWHT is by means of insulated
electrical elements (electrical mats) that are attached to the weld.
Gas-fired, radiant heating elements can also be used.
Figure 7 shows typical control zones for localised PWHT of a pipe butt weld.
Normalising

Temperature,C

Rapid heating to soak temperature (100% austenite)


Short soak time at temperature
Cool in air to ambient temperature

~900C

Time
Figure 1 Typical normalising heat treatment applied to C-Mn and some low alloy steels

Rev 1 January 2010


Heat Treatment
Copyright TWI Ltd 2010

TemperatureC

Quenching and tempering

Rapid heating to soak temperature (100% austenite)


Short soak time at temperature
Rapid cooling by quenching in water or oil
Reheat to tempering temperature, soak and air cool

~ 900C
>~ 650C

Quenching
cycle

Tempering
cycle
Time

Figure 2 Typical quenching and tempering heat treatment applied to some low
alloy steels

Slab heating temperature > ~1050C

Temperature,C

Austenite
()

~900C
Austenite + ferrite
(+)

~700C
Ferrite + pearlite
( )+ iron carbide)

As-rolled
or
hot rolled

Control-rolled
or
TMCP

Time
Figure 3 Comparison of the control-rolled (TMCP) and as-rolled conditions (= hot
rolling)
Rev 1 January 2010
Heat Treatment
Copyright TWI Ltd 2010

Solution heat treatment

Temperature,C

Rapid heating to soak temp. (100% austenite)


Short soak time at temperature
Rapid cool cooling by quenching into water or oil
> ~1050C

Quenching

Time
Figure 4 Typical solution heat treatment (solution annealing) applied to austenitic
stainless steels

Annealing

Temperature,C

Rapid heating to soak temperature (100% austenite)


Short soak time at temperature
Slow cool in furnace to ambient temperature

~900C

Time
Figure 5 Typical annealing heat treatment applied to C-Mn and some low alloy
steels

Rev 1 January 2010


Heat Treatment
Copyright TWI Ltd 2010

Temperature C

PWHT (C-Mn steels)


Controlled heating rate from 300C to soak temperature
Minimum soak time at temperature
Controlled cooling to ~300C

~600C

~300C
Soak
time

Controlled
heating & cooling
rates

Air cool
Time

Figure 6 Typical PWHT applied to C-Mn steels

Weld seam

temp.
decay
band

heated band

Figure 7 Local PWHT of a pipe girth seam

Rev 1 January 2010


Heat Treatment
Copyright TWI Ltd 2010

temp.
decay
band

You might also like