ISSN: 1945-7553
CODEN: JTEVAB
Page Count: 7

Acoustic Emission Monitoring of Weldments

Hopwood, T
Senior research engineer and director of researchmember of ASTM, Division of Research, Bureau of Highways, Department of Transportation, Commonwealth of Kentucky, Lexington, Ky.

Havens, JH
Senior research engineer and director of researchmember of ASTM, Division of Research, Bureau of Highways, Department of Transportation, Commonwealth of Kentucky, Lexington, Ky.

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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