Submerged Arc Welding of SA387
Submerged Arc Welding of SA387
(OP)
Running into a problem passing tensile and bend tests (incomplete joint penetration) on a Vee groove coupon of 1 1/2" SA387 gr. 22 class 2 plate with 1/4" land. FCAW backing pass, and sub arc welded with 1/8" dia OK Autrod 13.20SC with OK Flux 10.63 at approx. 550 amps, 31 volts, 15 IPM. My first reaction is that I need to increase amps, but I'd appreciate any input you all can give.





RE: Submerged Arc Welding of SA387
RE: Submerged Arc Welding of SA387
RE: Submerged Arc Welding of SA387
RE: Submerged Arc Welding of SA387
RE: Submerged Arc Welding of SA387
RE: Submerged Arc Welding of SA387
RE: Submerged Arc Welding of SA387
RE: Submerged Arc Welding of SA387
RE: Submerged Arc Welding of SA387
RE: Submerged Arc Welding of SA387
What is your electrical stick out? Too large can really cut down on penetration, and make your weld look cold. How does your bead profile look? Is there a root gap? Are you butting the 1/4" land up with 0 root gap and then welding the back side with FCAW?
What you need to do is get a plate and run it like you are doing a test, but just weld the FCAW backing and the root pass. Then cut a weld cross section to examine the cross section of the SAW root pass. If is not fused all the way to the bottom, you need to increase your penetration. Turning your amps up is usually an easy way. If you are worried about heat input, you can increase your travel speed. You can also increase your chance of full penetration by incresing your root opening, decreaseing your land, or increasing your FCAW penetration from the back.
Also, 60 degrees is considered penty of groove angle for SAW welding. Anything beyond that just makes extra work. If you go beyond 1 1/2" plate, do consider a different prep as Metengr suggests to cut down on welding. Double sided welding would more than cut the amount of welding in half.