John,
We had a rather interesting repair (it wasn't at the time)on the titanium lined C/S Fleater Vessels.
When they hydrotested the vessels in South Korea they had problems with water getting in under the titanium lining so they ground a small groove into the C/S at the edge of the lining and filled with epoxy for the duration of the hydrotest.
A local contractor then ground out the epoxy on site and inadvertently overground in places so it required rewelding in numerous locations.
Every time a GTAW weld was completed it was full of transverse cracks ? Grind it out, weld again - more cracks.
It was the same Korean welders using exactly the same equipment, same welding machines, same filler metal they had used in fabrication so everyone was pretty lost for answers - this went on for days.
Tried SMAW, same result.
We eventually cut a "boat" sample out of the vessel wall and sent it away for analysis.
Cause of the cracking - high levels of titanium in the C/S weld !!
When the local contractor had originally ground out the groove they apparently turned the grinder 45 degrees to direction of travel (to enable a U shaped groove free of epoxy) and in doing so just "nicked" the edge of the titanium plate with the grinding disc.
The grinding disc then "smeared" titanium metal onto the C/S surface and the welders were then attempting to weld onto this surface.
A very expensive lesson for all involved,
Cheers,
DD