This chapter discusses the properties and compositions of steels used in pressure vessels, piping, boilers, rebar, and other structural applications. It covers fine-grained steels, quenched and tempered steels, and controlled rolled (thermomechanical treatment) steels. It also compares and contrasts steels used for concrete reinforcement and in various types of pressure vessels, and presents a metallographic study of the effects of welding on the micro and macrostructure of steel.

This chapter examines the stress-corrosion cracking (SCC) failure of stainless steel pipe welds in boiling water reactor (BWR) service. It explains where most of the failures have occurred and provides relevant details about the materials of construction, fabrication techniques, environmental factors, and cracking characteristics. It includes a model that accounts for the primary factors involved in intergranular SCC, namely, tensile stresses above the yield stress of the base material, a sensitized microstructure, and reactor cooling water. The chapter also provides proven remedies and mitigation techniques corresponding to a wide range of issues related to stress, sensitization, and operating conditions.

This chapter discusses various factors that affect corrosion of stainless steel weldments. It begins by providing an overview of the metallurgical factors associated with welding. This is followed by a discussion on preferential attack associated with weld metal precipitates in austenitic stainless steels as well as several forms of corrosion associated with welding. The effects of gas-tungsten arc weld shielding gas composition and heat-tint oxides on corrosion resistance are then covered. Microbiological corrosion of butt welds in water tanks is also illustrated. In addition, the chapter provides information on corrosion of ferritic and duplex stainless steel weldments.

This chapter discusses the various methods used to join titanium alloy assemblies, focusing on welding processes and procedures. It explains how welding alters the structure and properties of titanium and how it is influenced by composition, surface qualities, and other factors. It describes several welding processes, including arc welding, resistance welding, and friction stir welding, and addresses related issues such as welding defects, quality control, and stress relieving. The chapter also covers mechanical fastening techniques along with adhesive bonding and brazing.

This chapter describes the nature of the problems arising from using advanced high-strength steels (AHSS) and discusses potential remedies to minimize the adverse effects that may limit the adoption of AHSS in the automotive industry. The discussion provides information on press energy, springback, residual stress, die wear, hot forming, downgaging limits, welding, binders, draw beads, and tool material wear.

This chapter briefly reviews the experience-based guidelines that were developed for forming and welding advanced high-strength steels (AHSS). It discusses the benefits of using HSS in car body structures and components that are analyzed by the performance indices developed for materials selection.

Weldments made by the various welding processes may contain discontinuities that are characteristic of that process. This chapter discusses the different welding processes as well as the discontinuities typical of each process. It provides a detailed discussion on the methods of nondestructive inspection of weldments including visual inspection, liquid penetrant inspection, magnetic particle inspection, radiographic inspection, ultrasonic inspection, leak testing, and eddy current and electric current perturbation inspection. The chapter also describes the properties of brazing filler metals and the types of flaws exhibited by brazed joints.

Arc welding applies to a large and diversified group of welding processes that use an electric arc as the source of heat to melt and join metals. This chapter provides a detailed overview of specific arc welding methods: shielded metal arc welding, flux cored arc welding, submerged arc welding, gas metal arc welding, gas tungsten arc welding, plasma arc welding, plasma-GMAW welding, electroslag welding, and electrogas welding. The basic characteristics of gases used for shielding during arc welding are briefly discussed.

Resistance welding is a group of processes in which the heat for welding is generated by the resistance to the flow of an electrical current through the parts being joined. This chapter discusses the processes, advantages, and limitations of specific resistance welding processes, namely resistance spot welding, resistance seam welding, projection welding, flash welding, and upset welding.

This chapter discusses the fusion welding processes, namely oxyfuel gas welding, oxyacetylene braze welding, stud welding (stud arc welding and capacitor discharge stud welding), high-frequency welding, electron beam welding, laser beam welding, hybrid laser arc welding, and thermit welding.

During fusion welding, the thermal cycles produced by the moving heat source causes physical state changes, metallurgical phase transformations, and transient thermal stresses and metal movement. This chapter begins by discussing weld metal solidification behavior and the solid-state transformations of the main classes of metals and alloys during fusion welding. The main classes include work- or strain-hardened metals and alloys, precipitation-hardened alloys, transformation-hardened steels and cast irons, stainless steels, and solid-solution and dispersion-hardened alloys. The following section provides information on the residual stresses and distortion that remain after welding. The focus then shifts to distortion control of weldments. Inclusions and cracking are discussed in detail. The chapter also discusses the causes for reduced fatigue strength of a component by a weld: stress concentration due to weld shape and joint geometry; stress concentration due to weld imperfections; and residual welding stresses. Inspection and characterization of welds are described in the final section of this chapter.

This chapter reviews materials issues encountered in joining, including challenges involved in welding of dissimilar metal combinations; joining of plastics by mechanical fastening, solvent and adhesive bonding, and welding; joining of thermoset and thermoplastic composite materials by mechanical fastening, adhesive bonding, and, for thermoplastic composites, welding; the making of glass-to-metal seals; and joining of oxide and nonoxide ceramics to themselves and to metals by solid-state processes and by brazing. The classification, types, applications, and the mechanism of each of these methods are covered. The factors influencing joint integrity and the main considerations in welding dissimilar metal combinations are also discussed.

Beryllium has been successfully joined by fusion welding, brazing, solid-state bonding, and soldering. This chapter describes these processes in detail along with their advantages and disadvantages. It also addresses application considerations such as surface preparation, joint design, and testing.

This chapter provides a basis for understanding the influence of stainless steel alloy composition and metallurgy on the welding process, which involves complex dynamics associated with melting, refining, and thermal processing. It begins with an overview of the welding characteristics of the categories of stainless steels, namely austenitic, duplex, ferritic, martensitic, and precipitation-hardening stainless steels. This is followed by a discussion of the selection criteria for materials to be welded. Various welding processes used with stainless steel are then described. The chapter ends with a section on some of the practices to ensure safety and weld quality.