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March 2017
AFRICAN FUSION
Steel
Welding 5% Ni steel
Welding 9% Ni steel
DIN EN ISO
15609-1
AWS- Norm
Product (and current)
AWS-Standard
Product (and current)
SMAW
process 111
E316L-15 (Mod)
Thermanit 19/15
E NiCrMo-6
UTP Soudonel D (AC/DC+)
E NiCrMo-6
UTP Soudonel D (AC/DC)
E NiCrMo-3
UTP 6222 Mo (DC+)
E NiCrMo-6
UTP 7013 Mo (AC/DC)
E NiCrMo-6
UTP 7013 Mo (AC/DC+)
SAW
process 12
Wire/flux
n.a.
Thermanit 17/15 TT + Marathon 104
Thermanit 19/15 + Marathon 104
ER NiCrMo-3
UTP UP 6222 Mo +
UTP UP Flux 6222 Mo (AC/DC+)
Thermanit 625 +
Marathon 104 (AC/DC+)
ER NiCrMo-4 Thermanit Nimo C276 +Marathon 104
(AC/DC 1,6 mm and AC 2,4 mm)
ER NiCrMo-4 Thermanit Nimo C276 +Marathon 104
(AC/DC+ 1,6 mm and AC 2,4 mm)
GMAW
process 135
n.a.
Thermanit 17/15 TT (DC+)
ER NiCrMo-3
UTP A 6222 Mo (DC)
Thermanit 625 (DC+)
FCAW
process 136
ENiCrMo-3 T1-4
UTP AF 6222 Mo PW (DC/AC)
ENiCrMo-3 T1-4
UTP AF 6222 Mo PW (DC+/AC)
Consumables for welding 5% and 9% Ni tanks.
describing low temperature toughness
behaviour of a metal.
Simply explained, lateral expansion
is a measure of the plastic deformation
of a material during impact testing. The
most common requirement for lateral
expansion is a minimum of 0.38 mm.
There is in general a linear correlation
between impact toughness and lateral
expansion. The higher the impact tough-
ness (joules, J), the higher the value of
lateral expansion. This correlation is also
influenced by the welding process and
slag-systems.
Welding of 9% Ni Steel
The 9% nickel steels used in LNG stor-
age tanks are quenched and tempered
or so-called double nor-
malised and tempered. The
latter involves heat treat-
ment in which the steel is
heated to the two-phase
region several times and
thus undergoes partial aus-
tenitising. During this heat
treatment, the small aus-
tenite areas absorb, through
diffusion, large amounts of
the available carbon and
nitrogen. Consequently,
carbon and nitrogen con-
tents in the martensite/
ferrite are reduced and both
hardness andbrittleness are
decreased. The high carbon
and nitrogen contents also
contribute to the austenite
areas remaining stable at
lower temperatures. This
gives the steel its excel-
lent toughness at cryogenic
temperatures. Martensite
that is not converted into austenite is,
of course, also tempered during heat
treatment, thereby also contributing to
the increased toughness of this phase of
the structure’s material.
When it comes towelding 9%nickel,
the options are matching and non-
matching filler metals. For nearly all
actual fabrication, non-matching fillers
are chosen. This is due to the need to
match the thermal expansion of the par-
ent material, while optimising the weld
metal strength. Nickel alloys match this
requirement closer than stainless steels.
Welding must be done with the par-
ent plates fully restrained to prevent
weld strength being lost after distortion.
9% Ni steel can be prepared for
welding by flame cutting and grinding.
Weld joints need to be slightly wider
than for conventional steels to ensure
good root access and to accommodate
the sluggish behaviour of the nickel-
based welding consumable. The most
commonly applied welding methods
are SMAW, SAW and FCAW and depend-
ing on the region, GTAW. The strong
magnetic nature of 9% Ni can pose arc
blowproblems, which can be controlled
by applying alternatingwelding current
(ac) and by demagnetising on site. Pre-
heating of the weld zone is not neces-
sary although the maximum inter-pass
temperature should be limited to a
maximum of 150 °C.
In tank construction, stick elec-
trodes and flux-coredwire are predomi-
nantly used for vertical (PF, 3G) welds
and submerged-arc welding for hori-
zontal (PA, 1G) and horizontal-vertical
(PC, 2G) welds.
Because the 9%nickel steels contain
a certain amount of austenite, there is
little risk of hydrogen cracking. Filler
metals that give an austenitic or nickel-
based weld metal absorb hydrogen
easily. Nonetheless, to minimise the
width of the heat-affected zone (HAZ),
the heat input during welding is usu-
ally restricted to 2.0 kJ/mm. The HAZ is
kept as narrow as possible because the
favourable structure of the parentmetal
would typically be destroyed here.
Anotherwelding recommendation is
applying multi-pass welding to achieve
‘weld normalisation’ of the HAZ. For the
weldmetal to acquire the desired tough-
ness at low temperatures, nickel-based
filler metal must be used. For welding
of 5% and 9% Ni steel, the most com-
monly used consumables are covered