• Journal of Welding and Joining
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.87-93
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• 2015

This study was performed to develop repair technology for J-Groove dissimilar metal weld of pressurizer heater sleeve in nuclear power plants. Pad, J-Groove automatic welding and mechanical machining equipments to develop repair technology using 'Half Nozzle Repair' were designed and manufactured. To obtain the optimum welding process parameters during Pad temperbead overlay welding, several welding experiments using Taguchi method were conducted. Weldability of Pad overlay weld specimens was estimated by PT/RT test, FE-SEM, EDS and Vickers hardness test. Also, J-Groove welding to adjust weld shape conditions requiring in ASME Code was carried out and its integrity of weld specimens was evaluated through PT/RT test and optical microscope. Consequently, it was revealed that Pad and J-Groove overlay welding for dissimilar metal weld of pressurizer heater sleeve could be possible to meet Code standard without weld defect.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.300-307
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• 2002

Partial penetration welding joint is defined as groove welds welded from one side, without steel backing or groove welds welded from both sides but without back gouging. So it has an unwelded portion at the root of the weld. Study of partial penetration weldment fracture behavior includes residual stress analysis and fracture analysis. The J-integral loses its path independency in residual stress field. Therefore, it is necessary to introduce a new J-integral, J, which is defined including the effect of plastic deformation and thermal strain. In this study, theoretical formulation and program were developed for the evaluation of J-integral for the crack tip located in the weldment. Evaluations of fracture behavior were performed for partial penetration multi-pass weldment of 25.4mm thick plate by J-integral. From a point of fracture in partial penetration multi-pass welding, it seemed to be better to control root face smaller than 6.35mm.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.38 no.6
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• pp.637-647
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• 2014

In pressurized water reactors, the upper head of the reactor pressure vessel (RPV) contains numerous control rod drive mechanism (CRDM) nozzles. These nozzles are fabricated by welding after being inserted into the RPV head with a room temperature shrink fit. The tensile residual stresses caused by this welding are a major factor in primary water stress corrosion cracking (PWSCC). Over the last 15 years, the incidences of cracking in alloy 600 CRDM nozzles have increased significantly. These cracks are caused by PWSCC and have been shown to be driven by the welding residual stresses and operational stresses in the weld region. Various measures are being sought to overcome these problems. The defects resulting from the welding process are often the cause of PWSCC acceleration. Therefore, any weld defects found in the RPV manufacturing process are immediately repaired by repair welding. Detailed finite-element simulations for the Korea Nuclear Reactor Pressure Vessel were conducted in order to predict the magnitudes of the repair weld residual stresses in the tube materials.

• 제어로봇시스템학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2001.10a
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• pp.94.1-94
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• 2001

Arc sensor gives important groove information during welding. Automatic seam tracking control system with arc sensor has significant characteristics such that bead formation is given as decentralization of penetration and formation of concave bead profile and that a turning point of transverse weaving with constant arc length control is decided whether or not torch height reaches to a specified setting level. Furthermore, the rotating action of the arc prevents hanging of weld bead and forms flat bead surface under high speed welding condition. The variation of groove and deposition area can be detected from the trace of weaving. The area and width of weaving trace has close correlation with the area of groove and deposition. In this paper, main object of this system is to realize an adaptive microprocessor based controller ...

• International Journal of Korean Welding Society
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• v.3 no.1
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• pp.34-38
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• 2003

It has been used many kinds of horizontal butt-welding methods at block-to-block erection stage in shipbuilding companies. For examples, some companies use conventional FCAW process with one side or both sides groove joint welding, others use carriage with torch holder type mechanized welding method. Although lots of efforts were done until now, some problems in quality and productivity still remain in ship's hull welding. In this study, we have attempted to raise productivity and quality on horizontal position of welding with following 3 items. 1) Prepare groove condition with no root gap for making easy fit-up work. 2) Develop improved MAG (100% $CO_2$ gas shielding) welding process with solid wire for making sound root bead from one side. 3) Develop and apply quite new automatic welding carriage. The stability of new welding process was confirmed by conducting mechanical tests of weldments to verify the soundness of weldments.

• Journal of Welding and Joining
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• v.22 no.5
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• pp.38-45
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• 2004

The present study is to investigate the effect of heat input on the microstructure, tensile properties and toughness of single-pass submerged arc bead-in-groove welds produced on SA508 class 3 steels. The heat input was varied in the range of 1.6, 3.2 and 5.0 kJ/mm. The toughness of weld metals was evaluated by using subsize Charpy V-notch specimens in the temperature range of -19$0^{\circ}C$ to 2$0^{\circ}C$. The weld microstructure and fractography were observed by optical and scanning electron microscopies, respectively. With increasing heat inputs, tensile strength and hardness of weld metals were decreased while elongation was increased. The poor notch toughness at 1.6 kJ/mm was attributed to the formation of ferrite with aligned second phase and banitic microstructure with high yield strength while that at 5.0 kJ/mm was due to the presence of grain boundary and polygonal ferrites. The microstructure of the intermediate energy input welds consisted of a high proportion of acicular ferrite with limited polygonal ferrites, which provide improved notch toughness.

• Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology
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• v.16 no.9
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• pp.1033-1039
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• 2002

Partial penetration welding joint refers to the groove weld that applies to the one side welding which does not use steel backing and to both side welding without back gouging, that is, the partial penetration welding joint leaves an unwelded portion at the root of the welding area. In this study, we analyzed the residual stress and fracture on the thick metal plates that introduced the partial penetration welding method. According to the above-mentioned welding method, we could draw a conclusion that longitudinal stress and traverse stress occurred around the welding area are so minimal and do not affect any influence. We also performed the fracture behavior evaluation on the partial penetration multi pass welding with 25.4 mm thick plate by using the J-integral, which finally led us the conclusion that the partial penetration multi-pass welding method is more applicable and effective in handling the root face with less than 6.35 mm.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.56 no.2
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• pp.506-519
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• 2024

To simulate the verification process using materials from a decommissioned reactor, a mock-up of the bottom-mounted instrument nozzle in the Kori 1 reactor, where the nozzle was attached to a plate by J-groove dissimilar metal welding, was fabricated. The mock-up distortion was quantified by measuring the plate surface displacement after welding. The residual stresses formed on the support plate surface and the inner surface of the nozzle were then analyzed using the hole-drilling method, contour method, and neutron diffraction. Welding simulations were performed using a 3D finite element method to validate the measured results. The measured and computed stress distributions on the support plate exhibited reasonable agreement. Conversely, the stresses on the inside of the nozzle were found to have an indisputable difference in the contour method and neutron diffraction measurements, which demonstrated strong tensile and compressive hoop stresses, respectively. The possible origins of such differences were investigated and we have provided some suggestions for a precise evaluation in the simulation. This study is expected to be useful in future research on decommissioned reactors.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.5 no.2
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• pp.12-21
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• 1986

Generally, butt welds with plate thickness $30{\sim}40mm$ are welded with groove angle $40^{\circ},\;60^{\circ},\;70^{\circ}$, etc. In the detection of internal weld defects, oblique testing with single probe has been mainly used. But, recently, in acccordance with enlargement of welded structure, thick plate with 100-200mm are frequently required. Thus I-groove welding method was lately developed and often used. In this case, most frequently generated defects are the lack of weld penetration and incomplete fusion between base metal and welding material. If we would detect by oblique testing with single probe, detecting flaw is occassionally impossible or very underestimated. In this study, the limit for applying tandem method was studied in dise and band type flaws. The estimation of flaw size could be within 10% error compared to real flaws.

• Journal of Welding and Joining
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• v.33 no.5
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• pp.35-40
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• 2015

Characterization of microstructures and mechanical properties of 83mm thickness EH36-TM welds produced by the combined flux cored arc (FCA) and electro gas (EG) welding processes has been studied with the two different groove conditions, single-V (SV) and double-V (DV) bevels. The welding consumables used for FCA and EG welding processes were ASME/AWS A5.29 (E81T1-K2) and A5.26 (EG72T), respectively. Experimental results showed that all the mechanical properties of welds such as tensile property, CVN toughness and Vickers hardness met IACS requirements. The tensile strength of EG welded plates were reduced by approximately 4% (DV: 3.8%, SV: 4.2%) compared to the base metal. The hardness value of SV-beveled weld metal was slightly lower than that of DV-beveled one. There were no significant differences as per welding groove conditions except for the weld metal. In addition, at the fusion line, the toughness of SV condition was 20J lower and the weld metal was 40J lower than DV condition, respectively. On the basis of microstructural analysis, grain boundary ferrite (GBF) structures for SV condition were 2 times higher volume fraction than for DV condition and their packet sizes were coarsened to almost double. It was thus suggested that the GBF volume fractions and packet sizes in the weld metal of EH36-TM steel plates are the most important factors affecting the mechanical properties of the combined FCA and EG welded joint. Nevertheless, all the results of welds with both DV and SV conditions were found to be excellent.