ISSN: 0090-3973
Page Count: 7

Acoustic Emission Monitoring of Weldments
Hopwood, T
Senior research engineer and director of research, Division of Research, Bureau of Highways, Department of Transportation, Commonwealth of Kentucky, Ky.

Havens, JH

Abstract

Weld tests were performed on low-carbon and high-strength, low-alloy steel weldments. The weldments were monitored with an acoustic emission detector during both the “in-process” and the “in-cooling” phases of the welding operation. Artificial defects were induced in several of the welds to promote cracking. Some high-strength weldments were designed to produce welds subject to high restraint. Nondestructive and destructive evaluation of the completed weldments revealed that high acoustic emission activity during in-cooling could be correlated with embedded defects and cold-cracking. Copious emission activity was also detected from unflawed weldments. Acoustic emissions were detected in high-strength steel weldments for periods up to 265 h. However, there was no clear relation between the duration of acoustic emission activity and cracking. On a per-electrode-deposited basis, high-stressed welds produced more emissions than low-stressed welds.

Keywords:
acoustic measurement, fractures (materials), weldments, nondestructive evaluation, restraint, steel

Paper ID: JTE11383J
DOI: 10.1520/JTE11383J
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