Flash butt welding corrosion of mooring chains

Flash butt welding is a resistance welding process that offers great advantages due to its high thermal efficiency, simplicity and high speed, makes it ideal for welding mooring chains. Despite its advantages, numerous corrosion problems are still being found in practice, both in the heat-affected z...

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Detalhes bibliográficos
Autores: Damborenea, Juan de, Arenas, M. A., Expósito, A., Conde del Campo, Ana, Arredondo, A.
Formato: artículo
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2022
País:España
Recursos:Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC)
Repositorio:DIGITAL.CSIC. Repositorio Institucional del CSIC
OAI Identifier:oai:digital.csic.es:10261/287170
Acesso em linha:http://hdl.handle.net/10261/287170
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palavra-chave:Mooring chain
R3 grade steel
Preferential corrosion
Microstructure
Flash butt weld
Descrição
Resumo:Flash butt welding is a resistance welding process that offers great advantages due to its high thermal efficiency, simplicity and high speed, makes it ideal for welding mooring chains. Despite its advantages, numerous corrosion problems are still being found in practice, both in the heat-affected zone and the weld line. Literature is scarce about it, limiting mostly to state the problem. The majority of the studies attribute this preferential corrosion to local changes in the microstructure that induce a galvanic coupling effect. Mooring chain R3 grade steel with preferential corrosion along the weld line has been studied from both metallographic examinations and electrochemical methods. Small differences were found in the microstructure of the heat-affected zone and base material (mainly composed of tempered martensite) but nevertheless, significant with respect to its corrosion behaviour. The corrosion mechanisms are discussed with particular attention to the electrochemical differences around the welding line.