Sensitivity of Hot Cracking to Weld Procedure Parameters and Transverse Traction

The paper focuses on hot cracking susceptibility analysis and a post-processor for a computational weld mechanics (CWM) framework to identify the transient 3D region susceptible to hot cracking for a welded structure. The Sigmajig hot cracking analysis analyzed by Zacharia in [1] is used. The specimen is 50 × 25 × 0.25 mm 316 stainless steel sheet welded with a TIG process with a constant transverse force applied on the side surfaces. The tensile traction, welding power, welding speed, and 4 double ellipsoid shape parameters are varied in a sensitivity analysis of hot cracking wrt the transverse tensile traction and several welding speeds for which power per unit length is kept constant. A control problem solved to adjust 4 double ellipsoid shape parameters for different welding speeds with constant power per unit length. The analysis includes 117 analyses for the control part and 28 analyses for the sensitivity part that are implemented in an automated mode of the CWM framework to save user time in implementation. The user prepares one single base project setup and 117+28 CWM analyses by the user specifying a DOE-matrix.